Unions slap Toll, Starwood Capital for condo contractor choice

UPDATED, 6:13 p.m., July 31: Unions are raising safety concerns in a protest over the choice of contractor for the mixed-use hotel and condominium project under way at Brooklyn Bridge Park — a joint venture between Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital — the New York Daily News reported.

A selected contractor, Empire Pile and Foundations, lacks a Department of Buildings license as well as workers’ compensation and disability coverage for the project, the News said. Concerned for their safety, union workers are expected to protest at Wednesday’s meeting of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation’s board.

Empire’s Building Department license expired in 2009, according to city records, the paper said. Any company performing excavation work must have a valid license.

A spokesperson for Toll Brothers told the News that the company was not actually at work on the 10-story project. Equipment from the firm was onsite because it has been rented by a different subcontractor, the spokesperson said.

The complex, designed by Rogers Marvel Architects, is slated to open in fall 2015. Empire did not respond to the paper’s requests for comment. [NYDN] – Mark Maurer