NYC construction starts climb 15 percent

Renderings of World Trade Center transit hub (left) and the Barclays Center

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A New York Building Congress analysis of data from McGraw-Hill Construction data found that $19.5 billion worth of construction projects started in 2010, a 15 percent increase from 2009, when $16.9 billion in projects began. The 15 percent increase was a direct result of gains in the non-residential buildings sector, which includes offices, hotels, schools, hospitals, transit stations, power plants and other institutional buildings. Construction starts in this sector increased 34 percent to 13 billion, from $9.7 billion in 2009. However, residential construction starts reached just $2.2 billion in 2010, a decline of 14 percent from the previous year and 63 percent from 2008. The top 10 construction projects started, by value, represented 55 percent of all project starts for 2010. The World Trade Center accounted for $4.3 billion in construction starts, with the transit hub accounting for $3 billion in estimated construction spending, followed by 3 WTC with $1.2 billion in hard construction costs and the initial underground portion of 2 WTC at $110 million. Other major construction starts included the redevelopment of Madison Square Garden at $850 million, construction of Barclays Arena at $800 million and the $650 million Weill Cornell Medical Research Building. TRD