Dive Brief:
- Developers of a 56-acre, $1 billion mixed-use project in Glen Cove, NY, have selected international contractor Pizzarotti IBC as construction manager, according to Long Island Business News.
- The initial phase of the waterfront Garvies Point development will feature residential rental and retail space (25,000 square feet) in six four- to six-story buildings.
- Garvies Point will ultimately serve up 555 rental apartments, 555 for-sale units, 75,000 square feet of office and retail space, as well as public parks, three marinas and an amphitheater.
Dive Insight:
The project received the green light to begin construction after the dismissal of two lawsuits, one alleging that the project exceeded the area's development parameters and the other demanding environmental studies.
The Garvies Point team is not the only developer trying to make a former industrial site into a profitable mixed-use property. Related Cos. is building a portion of its 28-acre, $25 billion Hudson Yards project over existing New York City rail yards. That development is expected to inject at least $18.9 billion into the city's economy once it's complete. Related is taking the Hudson Yards concept to Chicago, where its Midwest branch is negotiating to build a 62-acre, multibillion-dollar mixed-use development on an abandoned rail yard. The spot, which is now a de facto homeless camp, will soon be the site of office, retail and residential developments.
Amtrak is also getting in on the act and has proposed taking 88 acres of Philadelphia rail yards around its University City station and turning them into a $6.5 billion mixed-use development featuring housing for 10,000 people and 1.2 million square feet of commercial space.
Related is taking it one step further in California and building a 240-acre, $6 billion residential and commercial mixed-use project over the site of a former city landfill in Santa Clara. The company is planning a 40-acre residential and retail "village," as well as approximately 200 acres of office campus. However, as Dennis Toft of New York City-New Jersey law firm Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi told Construction Dive in July, many developers cannot resist the lure of prime development land, even if it is a former dump. As long as potential risks like the buildup of methane gas are properly mitigated, he said, there's no reason that the public should feel unsafe using those developments.
