Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Javits Center Owner Seeks Developer for 'Dramatic' $1B Expansion: Cuomo

By Maya Rajamani | April 13, 2016 10:00am
 A rendering of the Javits Center after its planned $1 billion expansion.
A rendering of the Javits Center after its planned $1 billion expansion.
View Full Caption
Flickr/Governor Andrew Cuomo

HELL’S KITCHEN — The owner of the Jacob K. Javits Center is looking for a developer to carry out the center’s planned $1 billion expansion.

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that state subsidiary New York Convention Center Development Corporation — which owns the convention center on Manhattan’s West Side — has put out a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for design-build teams for the redevelopment.  

The design-build method, which allows a single team to design and build a project through a single contract with the owner, is a “cost-saving” approach that “accelerate[s] the completion of large scale infrastructure projects,” Cuomo’s statement said.

“Javits is the busiest convention center in the nation — but we need to keep building and growing if we want to remain competitive, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Cuomo said in the statement.

In addition to a new 60,000-square-foot ballroom, the project will include upgrades like a new truck facility, a green roof terrace with views of the Hudson River and a 34,000-square-foot solar panel that will make the center LEED Platinum certified.

The Javits Center hosts a number of large-scale events throughout the year, including New York Comic Con and the American International Toy Fair.

Design-build teams interested in signing on to the project must respond to the RFQ by May 10.

The NYCCDC will select three "qualified" finalists toward the end of May, all of whom will be asked to respond to a Request for Proposal. The project’s developer will be chosen by the end of the year, Cuomo said in his statement.

In January, the governor said the "dramatic" expansion would likely generate $393 million in new economic activity each year and create thousands of jobs.

“We’ve set the bar very high — not just rebuilding what it is, but building for what can and should be — and the massive expansion of the Javits Center is proof that we are building for the future,” Cuomo said.