Building a better future. (Profile of the Week).

In 1993, an Upper East Side apartment building lost 12 floors. Not accidentally--the developer had built too high owing to an error in the zoning code, and what followed was nothing short of remarkable.

"This was one of the most challenging projects that my firm ever took on, very tough," said Vincent J. Bagnoli, president of VJB Construction Corporation, a boutique Manhattan-based firm.

The demolition proceeded brick-by-brick. Individual reinforced steel columns were burnt with acetylene torches. A water tower that previously perched on top of the 31st floor was relocated onto the 19th floor. Extensive netting was set up around the building to contain falling debris.

Big Apple Wrecking and Construction conducted the demolition under VJB's aegis.

Remote control robots did much of the work, as the risk to construction workers was great. What was lost on top was re-built alongside the tower, adding an additional 19 stories along the edge of the building. After this portion was erected, the two edifices were connected mechanically.

"If you can do that job, you can do anything," said Laurence Ginsberg, president of Algin Management, the building's owner. "It was a real mess at the time," said Ginsberg, who added that the building was an eventual success.

The job was a marked departure for VJB, a firm that's more in the business of building than knocking down. Over the past 13 years, VJB has worked on a number of high-profile Manhattan projects, including the Central Park Plaza and Gramercy Place. Three years ago, he began converting Park Central Hotel into Manhattan's first time-share building, The Manhattan Club (877 Seventh Aye). VJB replaced a 26-story curtain wall face with a new stone facade, installed new double-hung aluminum framed windows and re-did the 3,000-SF lobby.

Bagnoli has an engineering background. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College. After graduation he entered the business as a project engineer with HRH Construction Corporation in 1974, eventually becoming president of the firm. He founded VJB in 1989.

The construction business has changed in many ways since Bagnoli began working for HRH initially.

"Now the industry is experiencing a combination of both the general contractor and construction manager models," said Bagnoli.

Bagnoli said that the CM is called in at the start to perform pre-construction services. Then, the CM works with the owner and the architect to create a set of documents that are, in Bagnoli's words, "practical and cost efficient."

"When all of the subcontractors are closed, the CM then gives the developer a GMP, which takes the element of surprise out of the project while still keeping the team approach," he said.

Bagnoli is using this very approach on his latest project, a 15-story apartment building in midtown. The project is the first to be financed through the AFL-CIO's $750 million Community Investment Initiative. It will house 259 rental apartments when it completed.

A total of 52 units will be devoted to moderate income tenants under the New York State 80/20 program. According to Bagnoli, the total build-out cost for the project is $75 million.