{"id":1004442040,"date":"2020-05-15T05:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T13:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004442040"},"modified":"2021-05-15T08:13:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T16:13:47","slug":"some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Some US Megaprojects Power Through in the New Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James McHugh Construction workers during a safety meeting at the Curio Hotel project on Chicago\u2019s Navy Pier. Image courtesy of James McHugh Construction<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Development was in for a bumpy ride going into this year’s second quarter, with local regulations, disrupted supply chains and workforce availability delaying progress on both existing and planned developments. Even so, some of the country’s largest commercial projects are powering through.  <\/p>\n

Oxford Properties Group’s U.S. development head Dean Shapiro told Commercial Property Executive<\/em> that St. John\u2019s Terminal, which the company is redeveloping alongside the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board<\/a>, just secured a nearly $1 billion construction loan in a Wells Fargo-led deal, and is being kept \u201cas close to the schedule as possible\u201d<\/em> despite unavoidable disruptions, including supply chain issues.<\/p>\n

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READ ALSO:<\/strong> An Industrial Developer\u2019s Insights on the Pandemic\u2019s Impact<\/a><\/p>\n

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St. John’s Terminal redevelopment. Image courtesy of COOKFOX Architects via Oxford Properties Group<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Shapiro said that the nearly 1.3 million-square-foot reimagined High Line freight terminal, slated to be occupied by Google, is \u201cemblematic\u201d of the future of work and more suited to Millennial tastes than a conventional office building. The health and wellness aspect of the project includes its location across from the Hudson River Park, an acre and a half of open space, and the ability to bring in fresh air make the redevelopment particularly well-suited to a post-COVID-19 world.<\/p>\n

While Oxford has already implemented measures to ensure worker safety, Shapiro expects that strict guidelines on how work is conducted on construction sites will be issued by the city and state very soon.<\/p>\n

Meantime, he said Oxford and Google are \u201cconstantly evaluating building systems and technology,\u201d<\/em> from touchless technology to air filtration. Despite the countless technologies surfacing in response to the pandemic, Shapiro advises megadevelopers to look more holistically at wellness and hygiene and then incorporate long-term desirable attributes into their projects.<\/p>\n

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READ ALSO:<\/strong> Sidewalk Labs Abandons Toronto Waterfront Megaproject<\/a><\/p>\n

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Vista Tower. Image courtesy of Magellan Development Group<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In Chicago, the 98-story, $1 billion Jeanne Gang-designed Vista Tower in Lakeshore East, a master-planned, mixed-use urban project being developed by Magellan Development Group in the Loop neighborhood, is another project that hasn\u2019t missed too many beats as a result of the pandemic. Michael Meagher, president of general contractor James McHugh Construction, said that Vista Tower currently has 330 construction workers on-site erecting the supertall structure, which will be the third-tallest in the city upon completion.<\/p>\n

Meagher pinpoints March 13, 2020 as the date the industry became \u201cgravely concerned.\u201d<\/em> It was then, in his role as president of Chicagoland Associated General Contractors, that he began reaching out to colleagues to figure out how to continue construction \u201cin a new way\u201d<\/em> given the fact that the industry would remain open as an essential business.<\/p>\n

For example, Vista Tower has five elevators distributing trade subcontractors to the floors. Given new CDC guidelines, the elevators went from carrying 15 to 20 people to two or three. Also, McHugh developed a very complex \u201cbus stop,\u201d staggering shifts to where some workers started earlier lessening demand on the lifts. \u201cIt worked out like wizardry\u201d<\/em> telling which subcontractors had to be at which elevators at what time, Meagher noted.<\/p>\n

Development shifting gears<\/h2>\n

Surveys by AGC of America show a steady increase since mid-March in the number of projects that have been halted, either by government orders or by project owners, and in cancellations of upcoming projects, according to AGC of America chief economist Ken Simonson. \u201cThese trends are likely to prevail through the rest of 2020 and possibly into 2021,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

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James McHugh Construction workers during a safety meeting at the Gately Park Indoor Track and Field facility project in Chicago\u2019s Pullman neighborhood. Image courtesy of James McHugh Construction<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Simonson also pointed to Procore data revealing that \u201cconstruction firms with revenue exceeding $200 million\u2014the sort most likely to work on multi-use or megaprojects\u2014had a slightly smaller decrease in hours than small firms, $20 million or under.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert Barone, CBRE senior managing director of valuation and advisory services, said that his company is working on a number of large projects of more than $1 billion in New York City and Las Vegas, as well as others in the $750 million range. \u201cSome have been shut down, while others have stayed open with the typical COVID-19 protocols,\u201d<\/em> he explained.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, anything of scale that is speculative or was not fully capitalized and ready to break ground before the pandemic will incur some delay, according to Transwestern Development Co. President Carleton Riser. \u201c(We have) speculative industrial projects and multifamily projects in various markets that we expect to proceed to groundbreaking in the third quarter based on previous plans and commitments.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Here to stay<\/h2>\n

Dean Schwanke, vice president of multifamily for the National Association of Home Builders, predicts that, in the short run, \u201cThere’s a lot of thought being given to what \u2018Do I really want to be in a high-rise office building or a high-rise apartment building downtown location in the current environment?’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While that thought process could be a draw for suburban megadevelopments in the near term, Schwanke noted that the pandemic will end and the long-term trend in design is on more placemaking found in large-scale developments will remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multibillion-dollar developments across the country are adapting to challenges brought by the health crisis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":887,"featured_media":1004442181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1491,21782,21808,21752,23891,1600,21742,21747],"tags":[33308,35237,49414,33104,42641],"class_list":["post-1004442040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago","category-development","category-featured","category-mixed-use","category-national","category-new-york","category-latest","category-office","tag-canada-pension-plan-investment-board","tag-magellan-development-group","tag-national-association-of-home-builders","tag-oxford-properties-group","tag-transwestern-development-co"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSome US Megaprojects Power Through in the New Normal - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some US Megaprojects Power Through in the New Normal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Multibillion-dollar developments across the country are adapting to challenges brought by the health crisis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-15T13:40:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-15T16:13:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/05\/2310West-Street_01-COOKFOX-Architects-e1589550513825.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"899\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sibley Fleming\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/\",\"name\":\"Some US Megaprojects Power Through in the New Normal - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/05\/2310West-Street_01-COOKFOX-Architects-e1589550513825.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-15T13:40:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-15T16:13:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3a9d5d9e59737711180fc14f7c1abf47\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/some-us-megaprojects-power-through-in-the-new-normal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/05\/2310West-Street_01-COOKFOX-Architects-e1589550513825.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/05\/2310West-Street_01-COOKFOX-Architects-e1589550513825.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":899,\"caption\":\"St. John's Terminal redevelopment. 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