New York State extends design-build authority

New York State legislators recently passed a budget that includes a provision to allow state agencies to continue to use design-build on projects.

The legislation expands the use of design-build for four years in existing agencies and authorizes eight new projects at four more agencies. Design-build was extended for four years for these agencies:

New York State Thru-way Authority
Department of Transportation
Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic preservation
Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Bridge Authority

Design-build was expanded to include eight additional projects by these four agencies:

Urban Development Corporation
Dormitory Authority & Urban Development Corporation
New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority
Office of General Services

Among the eight projects are: several Olympic Regional Development Authority resorts, a new regional visitors center in Essex County, a new State Police forensics lab and a new Life Sciences Laboratory. New York has lagged behind many other states in approving design-build authority, but the state has had some impressive successes, particularly on roads and bridges, according to the Design-Build Institute.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.