NEW YORK CITY CONSTRUCTION STARTS REACHED $32.2 BILLION IN 2016

The value of New York City construction starts reached $32.2 billion in 2016, a decline of 22 percent from 2015, according to a New York Building Congress analysis of construction data from Dodge Data & Analytics.

While the overall value of last year's construction starts is down from $41.1 billion in 2015, the 2016 total easily outpaced the annual average of $24.1 billion in construction starts achieved during a five-year period stretching from 2011 through 2015.

"Despite our inability to match the epic pace of new project starts achieved in 2015, private sector developers and real estate investors maintained their incredibly bullish outlook on New York City in 2016," said New York Building Congress President and CEO Carlo A. Scissura. "With government work included, the five boroughs have been home to more than $70 billion in new construction projects over the past two years, with much of that work continuing to course through our economy today in the form of new jobs, additional consumer spending, and increased tax revenue."

The data used in this report encompass all project starts, including new ground-up construction, alterations and renovations to existing structures, and public infrastructure. The data reflect the total estimated value and square footage of each initiated project throughout the entire period of construction.

From start to completion, the construction projects initiated in 2016 will encompass 51.3 million square feet of new floor space. That total is down nearly 38 percent from the 82.2 million square feet of new space started in 2015, but remains well above the five-year average of 44.4 million square feet in construction projects initiated between 2011 and 2015.

TOP PROJECT STARTS
For the second consecutive year, the top three project starts by value involved new office construction. The list was headed by 3 Hudson Boulevard and One Vanderbilt in Manhattan, followed by Tishman Speyer's new office project in Long Island City, Queens.

The fourth most valuable project to begin construction last year