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Government to Spend Millions in Building Here
Recent Appropriations for War
Construction Work in
FEDERAL building operations throughout the
country, and more particularly those scattered
along the Eastern seaboard, at the present time
completely overshadow all other phases of structural
activity either actually under construction or contemplated.
Data gathered by the Record and Guide indicates
that in the near future the Government will start in
the Metropolitan district building enterprises involv¬
ing an expenditure of at least $50,000,000.
Although it is fully realized that many military proj¬
ects are widely scattered over the United States and the
territories, there is no doubt about the fact that a large per¬
centage of the expenditures will center within a radius of
one hundred miles of New York and furthermore that a
relatively large proportion of the work will be actually
confined within the boundaries of the Metropolitan dis¬
trict.
A definite idea of the work to be undertaken by the
Government within the territory contiguous to New York
City may be had by a study of the following partial list
of the new building operations for which Federal funds
have recently been appropriated and working plans com¬
menced. The actual construction will be started shortly
on a large proportion of these projects.
More than $1,000,000 will be the cost of the proposed
barracks and officers' quarters to be built at the fortifica¬
tions protecting Long Island Sound and for which the War
Department has practically completed plans. The builders
of these projects will obtain contracts on the cost plus basis
and it is anticipated that the names of the contractors will
be announced at an early date. Of the twenty warehouses
planned last year for Governors Island, N. Y., to be used by
the Quartermaster Department, six have already been
completed and the remaining fourteen will be started im¬
mediately. This work was let in a single contract at a cost
said to be in excess of $2,000,000. Working plans have
been completed for the erection of a group of barracks and
officers' quarters at Sandy Hook, N. J., to cost approxi¬
mately $300,000 and the contractors for this operation are
likely to be selected within a few days. At Lake Denmark,
N. J., it is proposed to construct thirty additional hollow
tile and concrete storehouses at a total cost of $500,000.
Estimates are now being taken for this work, to close April
29, after which a contract will be let to the lowest respon¬
sible bidder.
Four buildings for the National Red Cross Society, con¬
structed according to standardized plans, are to be erected
in close proximity to this city. Each will cost in the neigh¬
borhood of $25,000. Pelham Bay, N. Y.; Hoffman Island,
N. Y.; Mineola, L. I., and Clifton, S. I., have been the loca¬
tions decided upon as the sites for these projects and un¬
doubtedly the plans of this organization include other sim¬
ilar projects in this territory. At Stapleton, S. I., more
than $300,000 will soon be expended in the erection and
equipment of a marine hospital. The appropriation has
been granted by Congress and the plans are now being pre¬
pared in the offices of the Acting Supervising Architect of
the Treasury Department, at Washington.
One of the largest and most important of the building
operations in the local territory to be undertaken by the
Government, the size and cost of which will place it in
a class by itself, will soon be started. The contractor for
the work has practically been selected and announcement'
will be made within the next few days. This project in¬
volves the construction of a group of eight-story reinforced
concrete warehouses, concrete piers and a number of auxil-
Plants Assure Large Amount of
Metropolitan District.
iary structures, at the Bush Terminal property, in Brooklyn.
It is generally understood throughout building trades that
the cost of this operation will exceed $25,000,000.
Housing accommodations for workers in the shipyards
and munition factories adjacent to Greater New York are
also included in the program of Federal building operations
that are shortly to be undertaken. Already the sum of
$50,000,000 has been placed at the disposal of the Emer¬
gency Housing Committee of the U. S. Emergency Fleet
Corporation and additional funds for the extension of this
type of construction will be made available through the
action of Congress. The project to build in the neighbor¬
hood of three thousand dwellings for shipyard employees
and their families on Staten Island is rapidly developing.
These buildings at the lowest estimate will cost at least
$1,500, thus bringing the total cost of this one housing de¬
velopment project in the neighborhbod of $5,000,000.
Housing projects at other nearby points are also to be a
part of the local building program and this phase of activity
alone will represent an expenditure of many millions of
dollars.
In order to give a more general comprehension of the
wide scope of the building plans now a part of the Fed¬
eral program of military preparation, it is necessary to con¬
sider the work scheduled over the entire national territory.
The magnitude of this work is evident upon a study of only
a part of the projects for which Congress lately appro¬
priated funds. The figures given include the work to be
undertaken at various locations throughout the country and
they give a graphic idea of the immensity of the labor
involved and the vast amounts of building materials and
supplies that will be required.
To provide for the erection of additional structures at
the naval training stations and camps the sum of $12,000,-
000 has been made available and for the purpose of build¬
ing and equipping four new shipyards an appropriation
of $50,000,000 has been made by Congress. The latter
work will come under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Emer¬
gency Fleet Corporation. Among other recent Congress¬
ional grants was $550,000 for the erection of post ex¬
change buildings at locations to be specified later and the
Coast Defence units will benefit by the expenditure of $3,-
565,000 recently allotted for the construction of greatly
needed barracks and quarters. The working plans for
these jobs have been completed under the direction of
Lt.-Col. F. B. Wheaton, architect, and Lt.-Col. F. M.
Gunby, engineer, and the contracts will be awarded on the
cost plus basis.
For the erection of additional hospital buildings a new
appropriation of $19,654,000 has been granted, and $2,500,-
000 was allowed for the erection of magazines and store¬
houses at various locations, which will be announced later.
In order to provide for temporary hospitals a total of $2,-
750,000 was allotted and $5,000,000 was placed at the dis¬
posal of the Navy Department for the construction of ter¬
minal storage and shipping buildings along the Atlantic
seaboard. An appropriation of $984,000 was provided to
build and equip rifle ranges at the training stations and
cantonments and for the installation of water supply and
sewer systems at the mobilization camps throughout the
country a total of $18,000,000 has been provided.
All of this, it must be understood, is in addition to the
immense amount of Government work already under con¬
tract. These projects are entirely new and add just that
much tp the grand total of the Federal expenditures made
(Continued on page 490.)