Manhattan House labor dispute looms over New School project

The New School’s planned University Center — a 16-story dormitory and classroom facility on the corner of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue — is being held up by a labor dispute over the Upper East Side’s Manhattan House condominium. Tishman Construction, which is the construction manager for the $215 million New School project, is also involved with the Manhattan House project. Because the Manhattan House painters are not unionized, the painter’s union is refusing to agree to a program that would reduce the costs of the New School’s project, for which the proposal is set to be unveiled this week. Tishman says contracts are out of its control on Manhattan House, but that it does plan to use union painters for the New School building if it can reach an agreement with the painter’s union. [WSJ]