H.B. McClure parent buys Florida company

Harrisburg-based H.B. McClure Co., one of the region's largest commercial and residential mechanical contractor, is taking another big leap outside Central Pennsylvania.

The employee-owned contractor's parent company, HB Global LLC, said today it has acquired Nash Plumbing and Mechanical LLC, a Florida-based provider of commercial plumbing and mechanical services.
The deal will help HB Global, a holding company created in October, extend the company's geographic reach and expand its offerings in the commercial construction industry, said Bob Whalen, president and CEO.

Y&F Campos Construction alleged to owe contributions to union funds

PHILADELPHIA – A Gaithersburg, Maryland employer is alleged to have failed to pay contributions to several labor union funds.

Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity Carpenters Pension and Annuity Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity, et al. filed a complaint on Nov. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Salvadora Yamileth Marroquin Reyes, individually and doing business as Y&F Campos Construction, and Francisco Campos citing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Labor Harmony on a Mixed-Trade Project

Construction projects that have a mixture of union and non-union trades are becoming more prevalent. A contractor undertaking a mixed-trade project must understand that harmonizing these two groups may present challenging issues. (This article does not address area-wide strikes, only strikes specific to a single, mixed-trade project.)

As with many problems, those involving labor harmony often begin with the owner-contractor agreement. Owners are increasingly insisting on labor-harmony provisions that obligate the contractor to staff the job despite the occurrence of picketing activity and prohibit the contractor from obtaining extra time or money for delay or disruption occurring as a result of picketing activity. Therefore, contractors must understand their risks and know how to manage a mixed-trade project in order to minimize the risk of delay and disruption.
If the owner is responsible for supplying the nonunion labor, the contractor may want to consider negotiating the prime contract for entitlement to time and cost increases in the event of a picketing delay or disruption. However, if the contractor hires the nonunion labor, the owner will likely expect the contractor to bear the risk of time and cost impacts due to delay or disruption as a result of picketing activity.

Summary of NLRB Decisions for Week of November 20 - 24, 2017

HMR3-7141 LLC d/b/a Carl’s Jr.  (31-CA-192343, et al.; 365 NLRB No. 148)  Los Angeles, CA, November 21, 2017.

The Board granted the General Counsel’s Motion for Default Judgment based on the Respondent’s failure to file an answer to the consolidated complaint and compliance specification.  The Board found that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(1) by prohibiting employees from speaking with union representatives, interrogating employees about their protected concerted activities, prohibiting employees from speaking with other coworkers about their terms and conditions of employment, threatening employees with job loss for engaging in protected concerted activities, soliciting grievances from employees, and instructing employees to speak with the Respondent’s owner concerning complaints about their terms and conditions of employment rather than speaking with others.  The Board also found that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(3) by reducing the scheduled hours of an employee because he engaged in union activity, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.

Summary of NLRB Decisions for Week of November 13 - 17, 2017

Republic Silver State Disposal, Inc., d/b/a Republic Services of Southern Nevada, and Republic Dumpco, Inc.  (28-RC-192859; 365 NLRB No. 145)  Las Vegas, NV, October 30, 2017.

The Board denied the Employers’ Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of Election as it raised no substantial issues warranting review.  The Board rejected the Employers’ argument that a self-determination election was not appropriate in the voting group directed by the Regional Director (a group broader than that originally sought by the Petitioner)—rejecting the Employers’ contention that the Board should apply its framework set out in Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011) and Odwalla, Inc., 357 NLRB 1608 (2011), and  noting that neither of those decisions involved self-determination elections.  The Board also rejected the Employers’ contention that a self-determination election was not appropriate because the unrepresented employees constituted a separate, appropriate unit.  The Board majority (Members Pearce and McFerran) found that the Regional Director acted appropriately under Section 3(b) and Section 10269 of the Board’s Election Rule in issuing a certification of representative prior to the Board’s final resolution of election-related issues.  Chairman Miscimarra disagreed, finding that the Election Rule contemplates only that a Regional Director should proceed to an election despite a pending request for review.  He also expressed his continuing disagreement with the Specialty Healthcare decision and the Board’s Election Rule.

Inconclusive Zoning: Planning Commission not sold on changes to affordable housing bill

The inclusionary zoning bill that City Council spent all autumn crafting now appears to have morphed into what critics say would essentially be an impact fee on Center City development. In advance of November’s Planning Commission meeting, Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, the bill’s sponsor, circulated amendments that would radically reshape the legislation.

Neither developers or civic associations are happy with the changes. And on Tuesday, the Planning Commission decided the bill needed more work and voted to place a hold on it.

The consequences of that decision are slight — the commission is only an advisory body — but it signals that the bill is facing more serious headwinds than many observers anticipated. The hold vote will not prevent the City Council Rules Committee hearing on the bill scheduled for Monday, but it could give cover to any council members who feel pressure to vote against it.

New Comcast tower overtakes Comcast HQ in height

Comcast Corp.’s new, unfinished tower is now officially the tallest building in the city.

Construction and Comcast officials confirmed what the naked eye could tell in recent weeks. The new tower surpassed the old one in height: 1,050 feet for the new tower, or 75 feet taller than the Comcast Center, the company’s headquarters and until now the highest Philadelphia high-rise.

The new tower — which will house the cable giant’s engineering and product-development teams and will be topped with a luxury Four Seasons hotel — will eventually reach 1,121 feet.

That big landfill at South Jersey's Route 42/I-295 interchange? Imagine shops and a park there

A hulking, 150-acre landfill that looms at the busy Route 42 and I-295 interchange in South Jersey would be transformed into a commercial center with a park overlooking Big Timber Creek, according to the latest round of plans for the long-dormant site.

Bellmawr officials introduced a plan this week that still needs a second vote by council as well as approval from the Camden County planning board. But borough administrator Joshua Tregear called the updated plan good news and was hopeful the park would be open some time next year.

PennFirst: A new way to build is in the works in Philadelphia

Last spring, Penn Medicine announced what it calls Philadelphia’s “most sophisticated and ambitious healthcare building project.” The project has already set new precedents with its record-breaking concrete pour earlier this summer. 

The new Penn Medicine Pavilion will ultimately house 500 patient rooms and 47 operating rooms across its 17 floors and 1.5 million square feet. And while the $1.5-billion effort is already poised to take healthcare construction to new lengths, it’s also blazing new territory as one of the largest projects on the East Coast to design and build through an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach.

PennFirst/for PhillyVoice

Penn Medicine Pavilion 

So, what does it mean to design and build using IPD, and how does this method spark innovation?
 
A “team” way of thinking, for starters. Compared to the traditional approach in which each firm works on their respective project role separately and linearly, in IPD, the team literally works side by side from the beginning of the design process. The idea is that this collaboration saves time and money by solving challenges in real time. To help the intensely collaborative team understand how each other works, they participated in team-building exercises and took personality compatibility tests. The PennFirst team also developed guiding principles and signed a “covenant” that defines the team’s values, principles and collaborative processes and holds all project team members to them.

PennFirst/for PhillyVoice

PennFirst Colocation Space

At the center of this team dynamic is perhaps its most critical feature: the colocation space, also known as “the colo.” It’s a workspace designed for a balance of spontaneous collaboration and heads-down focus work, and it has space for testing the design using mock-ups. Half of the space contains open-concept work stations and half has working areas ranging from large, open meeting rooms to smaller conference rooms, huddle rooms, a “visualization, conceptualization and modeling” room and areas for mock-ups.
 
Already the team has saved time and money in innovative ways, from how the project is modeled in Revit to prefabricating components of the building off-site.
 
LF Driscoll is part of the PennFirst IPD team building the project, which also includes Penn Medicine as owner, Foster+Partners and HDR as architectural designers, BR+A as engineering designer and Balfour Beatty as construction management partner, as well as several trade contractor partners.

Stay tuned for more on how LF Driscoll is innovating in healthcare, workplace, cultural institutions and higher education construction.

Source: Philly Voice

Blackwell proposes transit oriented development around Provident Mutual Life Insurance building

On Thursday, West Philadelphia’s Jannie Blackwell became the first City Council member to take advantage of new zoning language to promote transit oriented development (TOD).
Blackwell introduced a bill to encourage dense developments around the Market-Frankford line’s 46th Street Station.

That Blackwell is the first council member to embrace TOD in their district is a bit of a surprise.  Throughout her 25-year tenure on City Council, Blackwell has clashed frequently with developers and other pro-TOD  interest groups, who generally back efforts to allow taller buildings with reduced parking minimums near mass transit stops.

Blackwell has opposed progressive parking policies and updates to the zoning code. In August, Blackwell tried to backtrack on the Chestnut Street protected bike lane she herself authorized, suggesting at the ribbon cutting that it should only remain open on a three-month “trial basis.” (The city has no plans to remove the bike lane.)

40 triplex units planned for Kensington industrial site

A South Philadelphia-based developer plans a complex of 40 residential units to replace a vacant one-story industrial building in an area of Kensington between the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line’s Huntingdon station and Frankford Avenue.

The project would consist of two rows of four-story triplex dwellings facing Emerald and Braddock Streets at Huntingdon Street, according to plans posted Wednesday to the website of the Philadelphia Civic Design Review board. The proposal also includes 10 parking spaces between the rows of triplexes.

Post Bros. acquires Apple Lofts warehouse redevelopment project in West Philly

Philadelphia’s Post Bros. property group has acquired the seven-story warehouse redevelopment project in West Philadelphia known as Apple Lofts, with plans for some 150 apartments in the 115,000-square-foot building.

Post Bros. purchased the property on 52nd Street south of Baltimore Avenue last week for $2.41 million from Iron Stone Strategic Capital Partners, also of Philadelphia, Ken Wellar, a managing partner at Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, which marketed the property, said in an email Monday.

“We really like the neighborhood and look forward to more projects there,” Post Bros. president Matthew Pestronk said in a separate email. “We are especially excited to resurrect a vacant eyesore that had no other use.

Source: Philly.com

City selects first 21 nonprofit 'project users' to put the 'build' in Rebuild

A lot of the consternation surrounding Mayor Jim Kenney’s mega-project Rebuild has focused on the desired delivery structure for the project.

From the start, it’s been the administration’s preference to utilize an inventive and lesser known way of doing capital improvement that utilizes nonprofit “project users” to oversee the day-to-day management of construction sites, in lieu of the city’s  sometimes slow and unwieldy procurement arm. During various stages of Rebuild planning, detractors of this method questioned whether the qualifications for nonprofits to participate as project users (including a capacity to manage grants of more than $1 million) would allow for only the largest nonprofits with a citywide presence, such as the Fairmount Park Conservancy (FPC), to become eligible. In turn, critics warned, the project user structure could undermine the spirit of inclusion, equity, and “all neighborhoods matter” at the heart of Rebuild’s mission.

New Construction Starts in 2018 to Increase 3% to $765 Billion According to Dodge Data & Analytics

Dodge Outlook Report Predicts Deceleration but Still Growth, Reflecting a Mixed Pattern by Project Type

CHICAGO – November 2, 2017 – Dodge Data & Analytics (https://www.construction.com/) today released its 2018 Dodge Construction Outlook, a mainstay in construction industry forecasting and business planning. The report predicts that total U.S. construction starts for 2018 will climb 3% to $765 billion.

“The U.S. construction industry has moved into a mature stage of expansion,” stated Robert Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “After rising 11% to 13% per year from 2012 through 2015, total construction starts advanced a more subdued 5% in 2016. An important question entering 2017 was whether the construction industry had the potential for further expansion. Several project types, including multifamily housing and hotels, have pulled back from their 2016 levels, but the current year has seen continued growth by single family housing, office buildings, and warehouses. In addition, the institutional segment of nonresidential building has been quite strong, led especially by transportation terminal projects in combination with gains for schools and healthcare facilities. As for public works, the specifics of a $1 trillion infrastructure program by the Trump Administration have yet to materialize, so activity continues to hover around basically the plateau for construction starts reached a couple of years ago. Total construction starts in 2017 are estimated to climb 4% to $746 billion.”

Dodge Momentum Index Recovers in October

NEW YORK – November 7, 2017 – The Dodge Momentum Index rose in October, climbing 13.2% to 130.9 (2000=100) from the revised September reading of 115.6. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. The move higher in October nearly reversed the erosion of the past four months (including September’s 7.9% decline), with October posting healthy gains in both sectors. From September to October the commercial portion of the Momentum Index advanced 16.8%, while the institutional portion grew 8.3%. On a year-over-year basis, the Momentum Index is now 6.1% higher, with the commercial portion up 5.5% and the institutional portion up 6.9%. October’s increase supports the belief that building activity has further room to grow during this cycle. While month-to-month activity could continue to be volatile, there are enough projects in the pipeline to sustain growth into 2018.

Cap on labor contracts, Amazon credits pending in lame duck

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The fate of expiring legislation that caps what police and fire officials can get in labor contract disputes and up to $5 billion in tax credits to attract Amazon's new headquarters is uncertain as New Jersey's government heads into Chris Christie's lame duck period.

Before Democratic Gov.-elect Phil Murphy takes over New Jersey's government from Christie, a Republican, the Democrat-led Legislature has roughly six weeks to wrap up business with the two-term incumbent.

University of Delaware eyes $60M facelift for football stadium, athletic complex

The University of Delaware is well on its way to raising the money for a $60 million project to renovate its football stadium and athletic complex, officials say.

Long an NCAA gridiron powerhouse among the second tier of Division I schools, UD has won seven national titles, and appeared in three championship games from 2003 to 2010.

Though the last seven seasons have been relatively subpar, under new coach Danny Rocco, the Blue Hens are back in playoff contention this season.

Now the school’s football program and other sports teams are getting what many consider a long-needed boost: modernizing Delaware Stadium and constructing a five-story glass-and-steel athletic center along its western facade.

The project is part of a $750 million fundraising campaign announced this month by the university.

Among the top goals of the endeavor, which UD has dubbed Delaware First, is enhancing graduate education, the fledgling Biden Institute, and other programs for innovation and entrepreneurship. The money will provide more financial support for scholarships, faculty support, research projects, and better facilities.

How many more dollars are needed to commence the athletic center project, at whyy.org.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill workers seek to overturn alleged forced SEIU representation

Employees at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill E. Norwegian Street in Pottsville, Pa., are asking the National Labor Relations Board to overturn a ruling they claim forced them into union representation.

The union dispute follows Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network's September 2016 merger with Pottsville-based Schuylkill Health. At the time of the merger, workers at the South campus were already unionized. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation claims workers at the East campus rejected unionization attempts, although the union disagrees, saying a number of workers from the previously unorganized East campus have voluntarily submitted union cards to join SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.

Amtrak reveals new designs for Station Plaza at 30th Street Station

Amtrak just revealed its preferred design concept for its “grand civic space” at 30th Street Station, swapping out proposed circular paving patterns for circular benches and planters, instead. That, plus a big plan to improve traffic and pedestrian flow around the station.

Sub-contract agreement at center of litigation between Philadelphia construction companies

PHILADELPHIA – A lawsuit between Philadelphia construction companies has reached state court over one of the businesses allegedly defaulting on a sub-contract agreement for work on a major apartment complex in Center City, Philadelphia.

Hunter Roberts Construction Group, LLC of Philadelphia filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 6 versus Torrado Construction Co., Inc., also of Philadelphia.

In 2015, Hunter Roberts contracted with HG ASB Property, LLC for the purposes of building an apartment complex at 1213 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. That December, Hunter Roberts sub-contracted with Torrado Construction in order for them to perform the Paints and Coating work, in exchange for the price of $949,000. Through additional necessary work and change orders, that price was later adjusted to $1,037,454.

“Torrado’s work was problematic for several reasons, including, without limitation, failure to maintain an appropriate workforce to timely complete the work, after multiple requests Torrado has refused to increase its workforce and failed to improve the progress of the work, Torrado’s own statement that it was unable to complete the remaining work, and the impact of the work on the final completion date and other trades,” the suit reads.

This caused default of the sub-contract, which Torrado did not correct in the allotted time between Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 of this year, which in turn, led to the sub-contract’s termination.

“As the sub-contract was not complete, Hunter Roberts had some funds to mitigate the cost of Torrado’s default and termination. However, the cost to complete the work exceeded the sums held by Hunter Roberts. Additionally, in significant part, Torrado failed to pay for the (wages or benefits) of its union workforce and important suppliers. To complete, repair and/or finalize the work, Hunter Roberts was required to spend sums exceeding the sub-contract price (as adjusted). These costs are not final at this time, but are in excess of $50,000, notwithstanding any contingent claims, attorneys’ fees and costs, all of which are collectable under the sub-contract,” the suit continues.

For counts of breach of contract, contractual indemnification and unjust enrichment, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus pre-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees, court costs and such other relief as the Court may deem equitable and just.

The plaintiff is represented by Gaetano P. Piccirilli of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg, in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 171100281
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com

Source: Penn Record