NEW YORK CITY-According to data released Monday from the New York Building Congress, construction starts in the city fell by 31% in 2011, compared to numbers from 2010. The numbers used were gleaned from analysis of McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge data.

Perhaps most striking is that non-residential starts—offices, hotels, schools and the like—had risen 41% in 2010, due in large part to several high profile construction projects. In all, 2010 saw seven construction starts valued at $500 million or more—including work at the World Trade Center and two major arenas.

“Given that 2010 was the year of the big-ticket construction project—with the World Trade Center, Madison Square Garden and Barclays Arena accounting for $6 billion in construction starts alone—it is not all that surprising to see a dip in 2011,” NYBC president Richard T. Anderson said in a prepared statement. “Still, the 31 percent decline in New York City is very troubling.”