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Long Beach Port Expands with Building Trades Partn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Continuing its successful history of negotiating Project Labor Agreements with the Port of Long Beach, the Building Trades and its affiliated locals will see increased job growth now and in the future as the Port continues to expand and update. New jobs are expected in part due to a tentative lease agreement between the Port and Orient Overseas Container Line on the future Middle Harbor Development. This new partnership could make Long Beach the nations busiest seaport and create thousands of union jobs in the coming years. In addition, the LA/OC Building Trades Council has negotiated its third PLA with the Port to cover work on the Gerald Desmond Bridge. The announcement on the Middle Harbor Project was made during Port Executive Director J. Christopher Lytles State of the Port Address and comes after nearly a year of negotiations. This agreement will allow us to move ahead with construction of the most technologically advanced and greenest terminal in the world, he said during his address. The 40-year lease with the Hong Kong-based container shipping and logistics service company is a $4.6 billion commitment to the biggest port terminal project in North America, Lytle added. Work is currently under way on the $1.2 billion redevelopment project, which seeks to fuse two old shipping terminals encompassing 294 acres into a new 345-acre terminal. Improvements will include upgraded wharfs, water access and storage area and an expanded on-dock rail yard from 10,000 linear feet to 75,000, which means less local truck trips, Lytle said. The Middle Harbor Container Terminal Project will combine acres that include Pier F and Pier E. Long Beach Container Terminal has been operating out of Pier F since 1986. Orient Overseas Container Line and Long Beach Container Terminal will be investing about $500 million on cargo handling equipment. When completed in 2019, the Middle Harbor will increase cargo movement by more than double, cut air pollution by as much as half and add about 14,000 permanent jobs to the local economy by 2020. With the Middle Harbor, Long Beach has the potential to overtake Los Angeles as the nations busiest seaport.
New Federal Courthouse in Downtown LA Receives Gre
More than a decade after Congress first authorized construction of a new federal courthouse in Los Angeles, the project is on track to finally break ground this year, bringing thousands of prevailing-wage constructions jobs with it and promising to fill a glaring blight spot in downtowns Civic Center. The General Services Administration, the federal governments real estate arm, in January issued a request for qualifications with occupancy set for 2016. The 600,000-sq-ft, LEED Gold certified building will be erected on a government-owned lot between Broadway, Hill, First and Second Streets that has sat vacant since the previous structure was demolished in 2007. Conservative estimates put construction jobs for the three-year build-out at about 2,000. And while there is no Project Labor Agreement yet in place, the construction jobs will be prevailing wage, Trades officials say. News of the $322-million courthouse came as a welcome surprise to many, after years of bureaucratic tangles and rising costs kept shovels from hitting the ground. Current proposals, which have been scaled down from grander estimates in recent years that ballooned to over a billion dollars, call for 24 courtrooms and 32 chambers to house active district court judges and senior district court judges, as well as federal field offices. The breakthrough, said Council Executive Secretary Robbie Hunter, came with the help of two Congress members Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Los Angeles, and Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Florida who last year led efforts to approve federal funding for the courthouse. The L.A. Courts operations are currently split between two buildings the Spring Street Courthouse and the Edward Roybal Federal Building. In 2008 the Government Accountability Office reported that 11 of the Spring Street buildings 32 courtrooms do not meet the judiciarys minimum design standards for size or security needs. Roybal-Allard pointed to serious security concerns cited both by the federal judiciary and GSA, and overcrowding as factors led her to support the new courthouse. But, she added, this project also accomplishes what our country and Los Angeles needs most right now good paying jobs. Rep. Brown, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, highlighted the project as an example of infrastructure investment needed to keep the nations economic recovery on track. Construction of this courthouse would serve as a perfect way to create up to 5,000 well-paying construction jobs and jobs in related industries, as well as make the facility safe for the American public, which is of course, the governments chief responsibility, she said. For the skilled tradesmen and women who will be in line to build the courthouse, the work comes at a crucial time. The Building Trades have fought hard to ensure that this courthouse project moves forward, Hunter said. It is a project that not only will lead to jobs and economic stimulus, but also benefits our community by ensuring that people will have access to justice when they need it.
Westfield Topanga Project Moves Forward
After years of planning, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the Village at Westfield Topanga, paving the way for a project that will include an agreement with the Building Trades. The 13-0 vote in favor of the project will enable the Westfield Group, an Australian-based developer, to build out one of the largest remaining parcels in Warner Center in Canoga Park. It also solidifies the neighborhoods reputation as a business-friendly and growing retail area. Ron Miller of the LA/OC Building Trades Council spoke in favor of the project, noting the commitment from Westfield to use high-skilled labor from local communities. This project will create the job opportunities that this community so desperately needs, he said. The Building Trades, and the construction industry, have led our nation out of past economic downturns and it is projects like this that allow us to do that. The Village at Westfield Topanga is designed to be a dynamic mixed-use project. It will include over one million square feet, taking up slightly more than 30 acres of undeveloped land within the Warner Center complex. The Village will create approximately 3,000 construction jobs and 4,454 permanent jobs from the annual operation of the completed facilities. Westfield has agreed to work with the Building Trades and City Councilman Dennis Zines office on a jobs partnership program to provide local hiring opportunities for West Valley residents. The project will include a Costco and more than 50 different shops in the first phase, with the second phase bringing a hotel, an office complex and more retail shops. The Village will feature outdoor open spaces alongside a blend of 44,744 square feet of retail shops, 53,645 square feet of restaurants and offices, a 275-room boutique hotel, a 36,765 square foot grocery store and a 14,250 square foot community/cultural center. More than 50 members of Building Trades affiliated craft locals and representatives from Valley business groups packed the City Hall chambers in support of the project before the Council took its vote. Councilman Dennis Zine noted the amount of Building Trade representatives in attendance and asked them to stand, saying, they are here for jobs, we need to move forward with this project and put our residents back to work.
Farmers Field Construction Could Start by March 20
(ESPN, 4/3/12) Construction on Farmers Field, the $1.1 billion proposed football stadium in downtown Los Angeles, could begin as early as March 2013 but if there is no movement on the project within two years of that date, plans for the stadium will likely be abandoned. Playa Vista finally gets a downtown
(LA Times, 4/5/12) After clearing legal hurdles, builders will begin work on $260-million shopping and apartment complex. Big Grant for Budokan Project
(LA Downtown News, 4/11/12) The money will go toward construction of the 38,000-square-foot facility on Los Angeles between Second and Third streets. California bullet train plan approved by state rai
(LA Times, 4/12/12) The blueprint is amended at the last moment to include the goal of service to Orange County. White House threatens veto over Keystone amendment
(Politico, 4/17/12) House transportation bill would be vetoed because of bypassed permitting procedures. US housing market boosted by jobs, higher rents
(LA Daily News, 4/17/12) Builders are responding to the demand by laying plans for more homes this year than at any other point in past 3½ years. Villaraigosa wants voters to extend sales tax to f
(LA Times, 4/18/12) Villaraigosa also has pushed a plan to get the federal government to lend Los Angeles billions of dollars so officials can complete 30 years of transportation projects in 10 years and create thousands of jobs. |
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