Work resumes at Beekman Tower with lower construction costs

Work resumed at Forest City Ratner’s Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan this week, thanks to the labor agreement in which the city’s construction unions cut costs for work. Work stopped at the Frank Gehry-designed tower two months ago, and Ratner had threatened to cap the planned 76-story tower at 40 stories. Officials said two dozen more projects are under consideration for the labor agreement. The unions said the agreement could save builders as much as 20 percent on labor costs, but some developers say it is only 8 percent in savings and not enough to get some stalled projects moving again, especially in cases where developers paid high prices for land.