Javits Center Redo Gets the Green Light

NEW YORK CITY-The head of the New York Building Congress tells GlobeSt.com he’s optimistic that the long-planned, much-debated renovation and expansion of the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s West Side will at last move forward. Gov. David Paterson announced on Thursday that construction on the site would begin immediately, following the state Public Authorities Control Board’s approval of $463 million in financing for the project.

“They’ve been going through all these steps in very deliberate fashion, so I’m confident that the work will proceed,” says Richard Anderson, president of the Building Congress. For the city’s construction industry, the Javits Center project is expected to generate approximately 9,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the PACB.

What it doesn’t provide, in Anderson’s view, is evidence of forward momentum on other large-scale infrastructure projects that have been stalled at the starting gate, such as Moynihan Station. “This project is proceeding apart from any other project,” he says. “It’s had a life of its own for more than a decade.” He adds, “While it’s encouraging that significant work is under way, it’s nothing like what was originally contemplated.”