Fear and Grouting In New York - by Eliot Brown, New York Observer
The level of construction in New York is soon to drop off a cliff, a plunge that will leave many a contractor and union member desperate for work. While construction is still at relatively high levels as projects move toward completion, the economic collapse and accompanying credit freeze has dried up the once plentiful well of new work, as even those developers still willing to build apartment towers cannot find banks willing to lend.
“If you talk to the major general contractors and construction managers today,” said Ray Quartararo, a director at Jones Lang LaSalle, “most of them are O.K. through the majority of 2009; 2010 is when they really have a problem because they don’t have backlog.”
All corners of the industry are eager to see work continue, so numerous groups have come together to hone in on one main factor that is within their control: the cost of labor."