Beacon Consulting Group was hired by a leading Surety to consult on a bond default matter related to "The Shed," a recently built, $500-million visual arts and performing arts exhibition center in New York City's Hudson Yards. The 170,000-sf facility (also knowns as The Bloomberg Building) opened just over one year ago and is the cultural centerpiece of Hudson Yards, a $25-billion-dollar development project in Manhattan, which includes massive office and residential buildings, retailers, restaurants, bars, as well as other entertainment and outdoor spaces. Ideally located at the northern end of NYC's popular elevated park / walkway, The High Line, Hudson Yards has quickly become one of New York's most popular attractions for tourists and locals...
Beacon Consulting Group has been providing independent construction loan monitoring services for a new office building construction project underway in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. In recent weeks, the project reached a significant milestone as the 12-story building's superstructure was topped out. New York City-based GDS Development is building the Class A tower in partnership with Klövern AB, one of Sweden's largest real estate companies. The project is located at the northwest corner of 7th Ave. and 28th Street, just south of Penn Station and a short distance east from the High Line and Hudson Yards...
I hope your summer is going well. We are keeping busy here at Beacon, assisting our clients on a wide range of projects, including consulting on a number of construction projects delayed by Covid-19 and finding ways to help get them back on schedule asap. The construction industry is adjusting to the "new normal," which includes dealing with many postponed / delayed projects, managing construction sites differently to protect workers, and, for some GCs and Subcontractors, finding ways to survive through a period of economic uncertainty. In this month's E-News, we highlight some of the consulting services Beacon provides which help sureties, insurers, and construction companies during this challenging period. In particular, we have been very active in recent months working on Subcontractor Default Insurance (SDI) consulting assignments.
Kieran O’Connor is a key member of Beacon's management and construction consulting team. He has extensive experience providing Surety Consulting & Construction Project Management on projects across the U.S. Kieran is a tenacious, detail-oriented professional who serves Beacon’s clients with a very high level of professionalism and proficiency across a wide range of consulting areas. Since joining Beacon in 2011, Kieran has taken a lead role on numerous construction consulting assignments.
Subcontractor Default Insurance (SDI) is an insurance product which can be very useful for construction companies seeking to reduce their risk related to subcontractors who might default on a project. SDI protects general contractors (GCs) with insurance coverage for direct and certain indirect costs in the case of a subcontractor default. Beacon provides a wide range of services to insurance companies to mitigate their risk both in underwriting an account or adjusting a claim related to Subcontractor Default Insurance.
Beacon Consulting Group has extensive experience undertaking construction defects assessments for insurance companies and sureties. One example of our experience in this area is a project we did for an insurance client which entailed claims review, construction defects assessment, and other construction consulting services related to structural issues found at a student housing / apartment complex located in Charlotte, NC. The associated project consisted of the construction of five new buildings containing a total of 189 apartments. These apartments are used primarily for student housing. During a large party in one of the units, the ceiling began to sag. As a result, it was discovered there were deficiencies in the wooden structural trusses.
In early June, Beacon Consulting Group joined with other members of the Philadelphia Surety Claims Association (PSCA) to contribute $10,000 to Philabundance, a charity committed to fighting hunger in the greater Philadelphia area. The PSCA donation will help to provide 20,000 meals to those in need in the Philadelphia area. Founded in 1984, Philabundance is a proud member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks leading the fight against hunger in the United States.
I hope this message finds you well and that things are beginning to feel more normal in your area. As the first half of 2020 comes to a close, we are living in a much different world compared to just 4 months ago. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to drastically change how we live and work. In the construction industry, we saw many job sites close down for weeks or months starting in early March, with re-openings varying on a state by state basis. As we enter the summer, many states have already given the green light for construction projects to restart. In some areas, construction never stopped (unless a project was directly affected by on-site personnel catching the virus). However, the pandemic continues to have a major impact on the industry...
Mike Kinahan joined Beacon's team in 2008, starting as a Project Engineer in Beacon's Medford, MA office. Over the past 12 years, Mike has developed into a highly seasoned construction consultant and a valuable member of Beacon's team. His experience has grown to include a wide range of construction project consulting engagements within the transportation, residential, commercial, education, recreation, government, municipal, and infrastructure sectors. Mike has extensive experience helping Surety companies with bond-default-related matters, including project assessments, bond claim analysis, project re-lets, and construction completion management...
Beacon was recently hired by a leading Surety company for a very unique bid review project, related to hull repairs on a retired WWII battleship. John Yeung led the bid review project for Beacon, which is described below. The USS North Carolina is a decommissioned World War II battleship which is now a Museum Ship and a National Historic Landmark docked in Wilmington, NC. The battleship, which is more than 728 feet long and has a displacement of 36,000 tons, was built at the New York Naval Shipyard (later renamed The Brooklyn Navy Yard) between 1937 and 1941. After the U.S. was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the ship was activated for the war effort, first in the Atlantic and then in the Pacific, where it engaged in numerous campaigns and even survived a torpedo attack by a Japanese submarine. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the ship helped to transport American troops back to the U.S...
