Inside Third & Bond: Week 37

We wanted to follow up on our interview with Jonathan Marvel last month with a posting about another key player in Third & Bond. I (Alison) pitched David on an interview with our expeditor but David thought A Day in the Life of a Project Manager would be a good idea. So…

What’s it like to be a project manager for the Hudson Companies?

For me, it is non-stop problem solving, decision-making, personality-soothing, and looking forward to wine-and-cheese hour on Friday afternoons. I have four projects all at different stages in the development process. In addition to Third & Bond, I have an affordable housing project in Far Rockaway that’s finishing up construction, a market rate project in Far Rockaway that’s in permitting, and a market rate project in Dingmans Ferry, PA that’s waiting on a storm water permit and a better market.

Most days it feels like I’m laying out a complicated maze of dominoes with the goal of tipping one and seeing them cascade in sequence. But just when I think I’m ready to tip or some days just after I’ve tipped I find out that the maze has to change. One day, we can schedule the test piles, the next day the Department of Buildings wants us to ask for an unheard of test pile permit. First we want nothing but aluminum windows with recycled content, next vinyl Energy Star windows are best. One day David likes his coffee black, the next day he only drinks herbal tea.

Seriously though, my job is to have a handle on the big picture and on the details that fall under my oversight. Big picture items I have my eye on today: how the permitting is progressing, whether the construction manager is buying out the job quickly enough and getting the right scope. Hudson’s Director of Architecture and Director of Construction, respectively, are tasked with seeing these items through day-to-day but in the end if they miss something, it’s on me. Details that I oversee include the financial analysis, bank loans and requisitions, the condo offering plan, all things green (LEED/Energy Star), marketing, neighbor relations, 421-a/taxes, overall coordination and anything that isn’t clearly on someone else’s plate.

Take my work today for example…

At 5:13 AM, I got my first email of the day from a subcontractor. He wanted to make sure that his revised contract to haul excavated soil had been approved. I have to admit I didn’t get back to him until around 10, but that’s because I was at the Rockaway project for a construction meeting. And because I try not to get up before the sun.

Far Rockaway job first stop of the day

By 10, the construction manager’s site super sent me an email about a DOT permitting issue and a construction staging issue. This question merited a couple of follow up emails and phone calls to him as well as to our neighbors.

Work at Third & Bond

Then, Sally, our Director of Architecture, alerted me to additional new building permits for the project that were pulled. Now we have all the permits except for the new building permit for 404 Bond. That one is on hold by DOB until we get approval from the Department of Environmental Protection for our site connections. I drafted a sewer easement document and sent it over to DEP Legal to see if I can kick-start what could be a lengthy review process. Originally we submitted the paperwork for self-certification at DOB—but since our project is made up of multiple lots that use the same connection to the street, it turned out that we need DEP to approve it.

Permit!

Not long after, Jay, our attorney, sent over a revised draft of the condooffering plan. I skimmed the first hundred pages for the changes that I asked to be made and to see other additions/deletions. Then, the architect called to confirm that he could get me the unit lay-outs for the offering plan early next week. Haven’t gotten back to reviewing the offering plan yet.

At 3, David and I spoke with our swap guru at Wachovia about his latest terms for a swap, cap and collar. (Coming blog: what we finally decided was best for the project. Hint it wasn’t a swap.)

At 3:30, I went back through our proposed LEED points to make sure we are still on track. I also put together a reference manual for the construction manager to use at the job site. I tabbed, color-coded, and highlighted anything relevant to site work and materials. They haven’t done a LEED project before and I want it to be as straight forward as possible no way I’m losing points to a misunderstanding!

By 5, I’d returned all of my calls and email, solved a retaining wall issue, grilled a consultant, cleaned out some files left by the previous four project managers to work on the Dingmans Ferry job, and mailed a card to my grandmother. Next up is a memo to the organization that manages the subsidy on the affordable housing project, asking for an increase in the income cap so that more of the people who applied to purchase the homes will qualify to buy. Right now the limit is such that a single person household can’t make more than $71k in order to purchase a house that ranges from $282k-426k. That’s a pretty limited pool of buyers.

It’s close to 7 now as I wrap up this posting and I’m ready to get some dinner. As they say, tomorrow is another day.

View from my desk

Inside Third & Bond: Week 36 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 35 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 34 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 32 [Brownstoner]

From our lawyers: This is not an offering. No offering can be made until an offering plan is filed with the Department of Law of the State of New York.”