Paths leading to activity for this NY Metro company

Real Estate Weekly, March 12, 2008 by Michele Medaglia

I'll start out by saying that I am very bullish on this market. As a leading construction management and general contracting firm in the New York Metro area, ACC Construction is enjoying a busy season.

From our signature build-out for Tiffany & Co. at 37 Wall Street to a wide range of office, retail and corporate interior projects, we are seeing a steady flow of work in diverse markets. Projects are coming from a variety of sources. In addition to individual tenant build-outs, we have completed a series of pre-built offices for several major real estate owners and operators that include Newmark Knight Frank and W&M Properties. The pre-builts have all been fast-track, state-of-the art spaces, reflecting the caliber of tenants they plan to attract.

Retail has been particularly rich for us, from luxury goods through corner banks to pharmaceutical chains. Whether it's a highly styled bank or a 5,000 s/f Walgreens on the Upper East Side with high-end millwork, a newly refurbished antique elevator and a sophisticated new A/C and heating system, the trend toward excellence is apparent.

Some banks with which we have developed strong relationships, such as Commerce, continue to expand. Recently, ACC completed a posh branch for them at 1633 Broadway, a triple Class-A building on the corner West 50th Street. And as part of Commerce Bank's expansion into Queens, we renovated an occupied, 11,250 s/f administrative office on Queens Boulevard with very high-end finishes and mechanical upgrades--all while the office remained fully operational. Working in active retail space requires the most meticulous of planning. In an office, work can be staggered and built around different portions of the space. But with retail build-outs, customers are in and out constantly, so the construction must be invisible.

We renovated the beautiful Tiffany & Co. store in the White Plains Mall, working with Tiffany's in-house design team and Ted Moudis Associates. We completed the store in two phases by dividing the space in half with a temporary demising wall covered in trompe l'oeil patterns. The wall was attractive; store customers did not know that a major renovation was occurring on the other side. When Phase I was completed, we simply opened the second half to customers and constructed Phase II.

In addition to retail, ACC constructed several corporate office build-outs for technology firms, such as Arbitron whose 14,000 s/f office was designed by The Switzer Group. Here the design included three conference rooms with radius glass office fronts, floating acoustical and drywall ceiling systems and a high-end lighting package.

More frequently these days, landlords are hiring us to execute individual tenant build-outs. At 5 Hanover Square, Swig Equities had us construct the 20th floor offices of Xcitek, a global software provider.

The project, which was a six-week fast-track, entailed high-end millwork, extensive carpentry and new interior finishes and flooring, as well as plumbing and HVAC installations. On the fourth floor of the same building, we simultaneously completed two separate offices for law firms, one a 7,900 s/f space and the other 7,300 s/f. Both projects were designed by DPM Architecture and entailed the installation of exotic wood floors, full-height doors, and high-tech finishes. ACC also renovated the elevator lobby area the men's and women's restrooms.

And of course, we were responsible for coordinating with all of the tenants' vendors, including security, voice/data and furniture.

As I mentioned earlier, owners are continuing to construct pre-built offices. For W&M Properties at the Lincoln Building, we completed a 3,000 s/f office build-out with nine separate offices, conference room, new pantry and upgraded plumbing and electrical systems. We worked with an excellent management team and the work was meticulously coordinated.

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It has been said that "activity begets more activity." I couldn't agree more. High profile retail projects, such as Tiffany, have inherently attracted additional retail work to ACC. The same applies to the pre-built office spaces we have successful completed for so many of the city's leading property owners and they continue to be a great source of work. With that said, remaining diverse, focusing on the positive and keeping with our mission to provide phenomenal service is the blueprint for a healthy--and bullish--year.

MICHELE MEDAGLIA, PRESIDENT CEO, ACC CONSTRUCTION