Dive Brief:

• After researching 2015 New York City building permits, The Real Deal reported that Tishman Construction — racking up three times the square footage of its closest competitor — completed the most building in the city last year.
• Tishman, owned by AECOM, obtained permits for eight projects, which translated to 8,242,865 square feet and 270 stories of construction, which includes the 30 Hudson Yards tower.
• The four other contractors responsible for the lion’s share of construction in the city in 2015 were Lend Lease Construction, Turner Construction, Two Trees Management and Hudson Meridian Construction.

Dive Insight:

According to a March report by the New York Building Congress (NYBC), the total of 2015 New York City construction starts reached nearly $41 billion — 53% more than 2014 and double the starts in 2013. The NYBC also reported that residential construction was the driver for the majority of the growth and made up 76% of all 2015 starts. Broken down by sector, the NYBC said the value of residential starts was $19.5 billion, which outpaced nonresidential ($18 billion) and public works ($3.4 billion).

The NYBC noted that residential activity saw an uptick in the run up to the expiration of the 421a tax credit, which gave residential developers tax breaks. The NYBC also warned that infrastructure starts in the city were not keeping up with the overall growth. In a separate report issued earlier this month, the NYBC also found that 2015 school construction and renovations totaled $3 billion, up 83% from 2014.

Developers broke ground on the high-profile Hudson Yards project in 2012, and, since then, it has attracted builders and contractors who are changing the city’s skyline with new office and residential towers. 

In a blow for the construction giant, New York prosecutors announced in December that Tishman Construction would pay more than $20 million in fines for mail and wire fraud conspiracy resulting from its alleged $5 million overbilling of clients for a period of 10 years. From 1999 to 2009, intentional overbilling occurred on multiple projects, including One World Trade Center, Aqueduct Casino and the expansion of the Javits Convention Center, according to prosecutors. Tishman officials said they cooperated with the investigation and have instituted safeguards as a result of flawed company policies.