Yonkers Development Gets a Boost

FCRC agrees to finance $630 million Ridge Hill development. Also, New York City Department of Buildings focuses on safety..

Major Financing for Ridge Hill

Forest City Ratner Companies recently agreed to finance a $630 million mixed-use project in New York, the largest construction loan in company history.

The beneficiary of the loan is Ridge Hill in Yonkers, New York. The new 81.4-acre facility “will be the new town square of Westchester County,” said Bruce Ratner, President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies.

“The announcement [of the loan] brings us one step closer to making Ridge Hill and its estimated 9,500 jobs and $60 million annually in tax revenue a reality for everyone,” said Ratner.

Bank of America, ING Real Estate Finance and Key Bank Real Estate Capital will collectively provide the loan for the project.

Not only will Ridge Hill secure the largest construction loan for Forest City Ratner Companies, it is also one of the largest projects for the company.

“Obviously previous projects like the Atlantic Yards [in Brooklyn] was the biggest, while the MetroTech Center projects combined were the most expensive to build, but land-wise Ridge Hill is one of the biggest projects for us,” said Loren Riegelhaupt, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Forest City Ratner Companies.

Ridge Hill ran into a few zoning issues earlier in the year, according to Riegelhaupt, who confirmed that Forest City was having trouble receiving approval from Yonkers City Council, which delayed an intricate vote for the project and produced litigation surrounding Ridge Hill, but all issues have now been resolved.

The consulting team for Ridge Hill is comprised of Studio 5 Partnership, the working drawing architects, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, the design architects, Divney Tung Schwalbe, land planners and site engineers and Philip Habib & Associates, the traffic engineers.

Ridge Hill will be comprised of 1.3 million sq ft of retail, restaurant, movie theater and entertainment space. The facility will also have 1,000 residential units, including 135 affordable units and 200 residences for people over 55 years of age. There will be 156,000 sq ft of office and research space as well as a hotel and conference center. Ridge Hill will have a transportation network that serves all of its components and both covered and uncovered parking spaces will also be constructed.

“This is an exciting development for Yonkers, and we are running right on schedule,” said Riegelhaupt.

Ridge Hill is expected to open in 2009.

Department Heads Align to Protect Scaffold Workers

Scaffold-worker accidents increased by 85 % in just one year, according to statistics recently released by the New York City Department of Buildings.

The DOB found that the 20 incidents in 2006 stemmed from use of “c-hook” scaffold, use of scaffolds that do not require permits or notification to the city as well as non-use or misuse of required safety harnesses.

In an attempt to protect the scaffold workers, New York City Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster and a team of city and federal officials collaborated to form a Scaffold Worker Task Force to develop a four-year, $6 million safety plan. The team included New York City Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Guillermo Linares, Michael Yarnell Compliance Assistance Specialist for the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health, Executive Director of El Centro de Hospitalidad Gonzalo Mercado and Reverend Terry Troia of El Centro de Hospitalidad.

On December 2, 2006 the Task Force presented its safety recommendations to Mayor Bloomberg, who adopted the plan in full on February 7, 2007.

The main safety goals proposed by the task force include measures to enhance enforcement, worker outreach and training procedures to ensure the safety of the workers and the public.           

“Scaffold safety continues to be a focus of the Buildings Department. With the proper protocols in place, we can ensure that contractors and riggers provide a safe working environment for those who are building and maintaining our city,” said Lancaster.

The latest report was delivered on August 17, 2007. “The progress report reflects additional significant steps that have been taken towards achieving this goal and implementing the recommendations of the Scaffold Safety Task Force,” Lancaster added.

The recommendations implemented this year are legislation requiring notification of “c-hook” scaffolds, cross-training held for DOB inspectors by OSHA officers, Training Requirements Working Group created to review scaffold training curricula, new Buildings Scaffold Safety Team created and staffed at 80%, monthly OSHA/DOB incident reporting system created and Intro 555 signed into law, which requires rules to stagger cycles for required inspection of building facades.

The team found “speaking English as a second language or speaking a language other than that spoken at the job site was a factor in fatal construction accidents,” according to the August report. As a possible remedy, the task force intends to work closely with Immigrant Affairs to minimize incidents throughout the city.

Department of Buildings on Hiring Spree

The New York City Department of Buildings is looking to hire 67 additional employees by March 2008 as part of an effort to increase construction safety standards citywide.

The DOB is looking for architects, engineers, inspectors, attorneys, analysts and investigators. The industry split will be 39% inspectors, 36% engineers, architects, plan examiners and 25% analysts, attorneys, investigators and administrative.

The new employees will regulate construction sites and use disciplinary enforcement to thwart repeat offenders and ultimately carry out the DOB’s Special Enforcement Plan, which is taking strides to raise construction standards in New York City.

DOB officials anticipate the cost of the plan, which includes the additional employees who will be housed in the department’s downtown office, to be around $6 million. The funding for new payroll will come from the city’s expense fund, according to DOB spokeswoman Kate Lindquist.           

“Over the past five years, my staff and I have rebuilt an agency that is now able to operate with efficiency, transparency, and accountability, said DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster. “Our hard work has paid off. Last year, a record 116,947 permits were issued for new buildings and major alterations, representing a continued boom in construction in all five boroughs. But with the increase in construction activity, we recognize the need to use innovative solutions to overcome the challenges posed by a growing industry,” said Commissioner Lancaster.

The new codes will require sprinklers installed in more building, smoke detectors to be hardwired in all residential buildings and tall buildings to incorporate stronger connectivity to better withstand extreme events and weather.

In terms of sustainability, the new regulations will provide free rebates for green design, require white roofs and encourage plumbing systems that conserve water. To ensure compliance, the guidelines will offer electronic submissions and digital documents, enable online application filing and have longer license timeframes. The codes will enable the DOB to devote its resources to conditions and buildings that present public safety hazards and also provide increased penalties for violations.

“For too long the Buildings Department didn’t have the resources or the tools necessary to effectively ensure safety and compliance, and over the past several years we’ve been working to reverse that. With [The Special Enforcement Plan] we are taking another big critical step towards that end,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

The Special Enforcement Plan is the first overhaul of the City’s Building Codes since 1968. To ensure that a repeat lapse in review is not a pattern, the plan has included a national three-year revision cycle to incorporate new developments and technology.