PWC Chiefs invite participation in downtown's revival.

Industry leaders and government officials took to the podium at Professional Women in Construction's "Meet the Construction Chiefs" event on Tuesday, February 21, to invite suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, professionals and other industry representatives to take part in the much-awaited rebuilding of lower Manhattan.

The evening networking and business-to-business table exhibit attracted a full crowd to La Maganette Ristorante. The message from the honored guests was uniformly upbeat and impassioned.

New York City Commissioner of Buildings Patricia Lancaster, FAIA, noted that the agency issues 110,000 permits a year.

"We're transforming the agency and doing away with the bureaucracy," she said. Though landmark improvements have been made, Lancaster pledged to do "even more in the next four years than we did in the last."

PWC president Lenore Janis introduced Andy Frankl, president and CEO of Ibex Construction and a PWC board member, as the head of "New York City's fastest-growing construction company." Frankl said that Ibex meets client needs and works primarily in the corporate, retail, residential and institutional markets. "We're constantly looking for people," he said.

Rosemarie Subasic, director of the Division of Facilities Management & Construction with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, pointed out that "the City of New York is the largest property owner in the City." To maintain its massive amount of facilities, the DEP is spending about $1.6 billion annually on capital construction contracts and over $460 million per year on purchased goods and services. And accordint to Subasic, "these numbers continue to grow each year" as facilities expand and age and "as we increase our focus on ensuring the environmental health and safety of our own employees and the public."

As a result, the DEP "continues to look for ways to increase competition, reduce costs, attract minority and woman-owned businesses and streamline the procurement of construction services and related purchases." Subasic invited everyone to visit the New York City website at www.nyc.gov.

Frank Pampalone, director of design and construction for Wal-Mart Realty, noted that out of the 3,857 U.S. units operated by the retail giant, 186 are from the tri-state area. In this region, 15 new stores are under construction and an additional 80 approved projects are in various stages. Saying that he hopes the attendees will support Wal-Mart's Big Apple plans, Pampalone noted that every New York project would create over 300 jobs, generate $5 million in property and sales taxes and reap donations of $30,000 to $50,000 to community charities.

He invited subcontractors and suppliers to attend Wal-Mart Construction Open Houses.

Rodney Pope, vice president and operations manager with Turner Interiors, Turner Construction Company, noted that Turner is a $1.2 billion company with a $350 million annual business through Turner Interiors. According to Pope "Turner Construction Company's goal for contracts to W/MBEs is set at 20% for 2006 and we intend to reach it."

He praised Turner's "exceptional" W/MBE program as "one of the best anywhere."

Charles Maikish, executive director of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, expressed strong support for women and minority-owned firms, saying that "the intellectual capital has to come from a diverse workforce." He stressed his belief in the importance of recognizing talent without gender or other biases, adding, "Diversity of thought is the product of diverse talent."

Maikish left the audience with a strong message: "One of the biggest successes would be if we could say we changed the demographics of the industry downtown."

East Coast Restoration & Consulting, Turner Construction Company and MSD Visuals were the sponsors for this event.