Plaza Construction Corp. win 2002 Award of Merit.

Overcoming difficult construction challenges, long one of its strong suits, is the reason why the trophy case at New York-based Plaza Construction Corporation is a liffle more crowded these days.

The firm's latest prize is the 2002 Award of Merit presented by New York Construction News (NYCN) in the Mixed Use Project category for its work as Construction Manager for the recently completed 50-story Broadway tower that serves as both the world headquarters of Random House and a luxury condominium apartment building.

A true mixed-use development, the $180 million Related Companies project features two distinct structural elements--a 25-story steel frame corporate headquarters building for Random House that has been topped by a 25-story concrete luxury condominium tower, The Park Imperial. It was those two distinct structural elements that posed the greatest challenge for the project's team, according to the NYCN jury, who also recognized that the project's fast-track schedule and type of trades involved "called for careful planning and a great deal of coordination," including bidding packages for long-lead trades early.

According to NYCN, the intricate logistics of the construction process was simplified by using steel climber cranes, one of two used for steel erection, then by the concrete contractor, and back again. The crane was jumped at the completion of every two stories, and when the steel framing was completed, was raised to the 27th story, where it was slid along horizontal tracks to a position one bay south of the footprint of the residential portion, a "feat rarely, if ever, performed on a structure in New York."

The jury praised this project; calling it "a major mixed-use structure whose project team was challenged by site logistics, requiring a redesigned foundation as construction pro gressed."