The steamfitters’ union has inked a new contract with officials from the construction industry as the deadline for some two dozen labor agreements looms, according to Crain’s. The three-year deal approved by Enterprise Associates of Steamfitters’ Local 368 this past weekend was only the second new union contract to be agreed upon prior to Thursday’s expiration of the industry’s labor agreements, following a deal with the painters’ union in the spring. Carpenters, concrete workers, mason tenders and brick layers have yet to reach an agreement, but operating engineers are the laborers expected to present the biggest hurdle. [more]

New York’s building contractors have voted to end a more than century-old pact to use only union labor on construction sites as a June 30 deadline nears for building trades contract negotiations in the city. According to Crain’s, Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, said yesterday that his board of governors voted to end the New York Plan for the Resolution of Jurisdictional Disputes, which is set to expire Dec. 31 but has always been extended in the past. The long-time agreement, with the Building and Construction Trades Council, requires contractors to hire only union workers and helps to resolve disputes between unions so that work is never interrupted during projects. [more]

From left: Steven Spinola, Lou Coletti, and Robert LiMandri

Construction and real estate industry organizations are in conversations with the city’s Department of Buildings to make the permitting and development process more predictable in the face of possible service reductions resulting from looming budget cuts, a trade group leader said.
Building Trades Employers’ Association chairman and CEO Louis Coletti said DOB commissioner Robert LiMandri asked his organization and the Real Estate Board of New York to identify major priorities such as ways to improve the city’s processing of building applications.
“A lot of the concerns we have is the department’s ability to respond quickly [during the permitting process], especially in an economic era where [it is likely] most city agencies are going to have less resources,” he said. [more]

From the February issue: As New York City construction firms get slammed by the downturn, they are turning to more modest projects, in some cases taking on multimillion-dollar renovations rather than the multibillion-dollar skyscrapers. While it’s clear that the collapse of the New York development market has taken a toll on builders and brokers, there may be nobody in the industry hit as hard as construction firms. As banks have largely cut off financing for new projects and cranes have been mothballed, thousands of contractors have lost their jobs. “It’s having a devastating impact on the construction market,” said Lou Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, which represents 1,700 construction management and contractor firms. “There are very few, if any, new projects moving forward.” To combat that lack of work, major New York construction firms are bidding for much smaller projects and diversifying into public-sector work, while other firms have been forced into bankruptcy protection.[more] [more]

From left: 360 Smith Street, 73 Pineapple Street, 303 East 51st Street, Beekman Tower and 189 Schermerhorn Street

From the February issue:Hundreds of dormant construction sites still dot the city, but a
handful of these beleaguered projects are finally seeing new life –
even if it’s not what was once dreamed of for the location. Those that
have seen some type of resolution were able to do so by selling off
their debt at steep discounts, slimming their construction costs or
setting their sights way lower.
This month, The Real Deal tracked down 20 stalled projects
that have seen some type of resolution within the past several months
(see chart after the jump).  [more] [more]

In an effort to try to equalize the playing field for builders on public construction projects, the city is encouraging small contractors to take advantage of the recently-increased bond guarantees by the Small Business Services Department, which could allow them to bid on at least $370 million in city projects per year. Previously, many builders were priced out of the market on large projects because they couldn’t qualify for the necessary bonds that guard the city against financial losses in case builders do not carry their assignments to completion. With the bond guarantees now up to $5 million, small building companies will have a fighting chance at landing public contracts. The policy change is especially important for small businesses because public construction activity is likely to outpace activity in the private sector over the next couple of years, said Lou Coletti, CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association.

From the October issue: If Lou Coletti looks familiar there’s good reason for it. As president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, the mega-organization that represents union contractors in the city, he’s visited most major construction sites with hard hat in hand. In this union town, he manages interests and lobbies for 1,700 city contracting companies, helping them negotiate pay with developers. The new Yankee Stadium bears his fingerprints. Yet Coletti’s Midtown office, with brown carpets and candy bowls, is comparatively modest. Click here to see the desk of Lou Coletti. [more]