GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Low-Profile Group Takes Lead Role in Rebuilding City

NEW YORK CITY-An ad-hoc coalition formed by a small cadre of construction-industry heavyweights and including representatives from every local trade association has been meeting without fanfare at ground-zero command centers to plan a large-scale restructuring of the entire New York City building process. The under-the-radar group aims to fast-track cleanup operations at the World Trade Center site while immediately ramping up development of three million sf of office space.

Louis Coletti, chairman & CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association and co-chair of the Construction Industry Partnership, is the driving force behind the group, which has held three organizational meetings since Monday with delegates from the city’s 23 trade associations, their affiliate organizations and representatives from the Real Estate Board of New York and the city and state governments.

“There are two levels to this,” Coletti says. “First, we need to get an agreement between labor and management for the cleanup at the World Trade Center site. Second, we are going to simultaneously rebuild three million sf of space. We have been working with the Real Estate Board to identify the specific locations so that we can mobilize manpower and contractors to see how we’re going to finish up existing work. We’re also going to reach out to building trades throughout the country to bring people in.”