Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 101, no. 2614: Articles]: [April 20, 1918]

Text version:

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.)