Geoffrey Decker reports for Crain's that the unionized construction industry faces continued uncertainty as nonunion contractors erode its position--the subject of RPA-CUI's Construction Labor Costs in New York City: A Moment of Opportunity.

The concerns continue even after settlement of 23 construction labor contracts in 2011. Some union deals in the last round of talks yielded significant concessions, Decker reports, but "new contracts with the carpenters' union and concrete workers increased wages and offered concessions only on buildings that were no higher than 20 stories." Industry experts, including RPA-CUI's Hope Cohen, think "the most significant development may be the decision of the Building Trades Employers' Association, a large general contracting group and chief negotiator, to opt out of a plan that required its contractors work exclusively with unions."

Jon Lentz reports for City & State on what the $1.5 billion pricetag for Dubai's Burj Khalifa would--or wouldn't--build in New York. Could New York City's construction costs, which are among the highest in the nation, discourage investment and push developers to build elsewhere? "That's the big fear: Have we reached the threshold, or when will we reach the threshold, that people will chose not to build here and build somewhere else instead?" said Hope Cohen, the associate director of the Regional Plan Association's Center for Urban Innovation. "And that goes directly to a question of New York's competitiveness, within the nation and also globally."

Forum to examine the current model for financing transportation projects in New York State and develop a new paradigm for funding these projects.

8am-1pm, Friday, December 2, 2011 @ McGraw-Hill Conference Center

Program description: http://www.navigatingopportunities.com/money/program.php

Register: http://www.navigatingopportunities.com/money/register.php

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, prominent commentators argued that in an age of urban terrorism, tall buildings should become a thing of the past -- that cities should decentralize themselves and people should be encouraged to spread out around the country. New York magazine columnist Kurt Andersen contended that the Freedom Tower should be abandoned, calling it "a provocation to ambitious terrorists around the world."

Of course, Americans made their own decisions and -- contrary to all predictions -- moved to cities instead of away from them. Demand for living and working in tall buildings soared, and the race by developers to build the world's tallest resumed.

This is as it should be.

It was billed as the summer that would transform the city's $24 billion unionized construction industry. Two dozen contracts were expiring, and contractors vowed to negotiate a wide array of concessions to regain work lost in recent years to nonunion builders.

After down-to-the-wire bargaining and a brief concrete workers' strike, most of the deals got done--many with significant concessions on work rules and wages.