Redevelopment of Naval Station to Create 10,000 Jobs

By Peter Howe

U.S. Navy officials are set to sign papers next week to sell the old South Weymouth (Mass.) Naval Air Station – closed in 1997 – to developers planning to create a $2.5 billion new community during the next decade.

It promises to turn the old, 1,400-acre World War II anti-submarine blimp base into 3,000 homes close to MBTA commuter rail; an office park with as much space as Boston’s John Hancock Tower; a walkable village-square shopping complex totaling about 200,000 square feet, with 70 percent of the area saved as open space; wildlife habitat; and an 18-hole golf course. A four-lane parkway through the site will connect Routes 228 and 18, and reconnect neighborhoods of South Weymouth, Rockland, and Abington (all in Massachusetts) long separated by the base.

“The master plan, the smart growth community that we've all been planning for, will be able to come to fruition," Kevin Chase, VP of LNR and head of the SouthField development project, said in an interview.

Already, LNR is building out and selling and renting $130 million of new apartments, homes, and an assisted-living complex, all within walking distance of the South Weymouth rail stop that’s just 28 minutes, and two or three stops depending on schedule, from South Station in Boston. The $25 million purchase agreement to be signed next week with the Navy will cover the 700 acres at the heart of the base and clarify the Navy’s legal responsibility to clean up what are believed to be relatively minor fuel and cleaning solvent spills on the site from its days as an active military facility.

U.S. Representative William R. Keating, whose current district includes all three towns with property inside the air base zone, said he was thrilled the Navy’s finally come to terms on a sale.

“That was the last major hurdle in trying to really get a deal done. That's going to produce 10,000 jobs - construction jobs and permanent jobs in our region. That's a big deal,’’ Keating said. “It couldn't come at a better time for people who need work.’’

This article first appeared at www.necn.com.

White Paper on Workforce Regulations on Federal Contractors

Announcing in 2010 that it would increase enforcement efforts, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) appears to be in hot pursuit of workforce diversity compliance among federal contractors and their subs. So writes construction-industry recruiting expert and BirdDog VP of Marketing Doug Mitchell in a newly released white paper.

“Frankly, many contractors need a wake-up call,” says Mitchell of his motivation to write the paper. “I’d much rather they get it from a white paper than a compliance officer.”

According to Mitchell, industry recruiting firm BirdDog receives weekly contact from construction firms caught off guard by the workforce diversity requirements of their state and federal contracts. It was the commonality of confusion among contractors that inspired Mitchell to gather up insight from every corner of the industry and put it together in one place, easily accessible to contractors across the nation.

In addition to the team at BirdDog, Mitchell taps a federal road and bridge contractor with OFCCP audit experience, a state Department of Transportation compliance officer, and the OFCCP audit experts at consulting firm HudsonMann to round out the paper. Together, they read between the lines of agency documents to help federal contractors understand where the agency is focused, as well as the risks of failing to provide a fully documented good-faith recruitment effort.

The paper explores methods for maintaining quality documentation of all hiring, recruiting and promoting behavior inside a federal contracting firm. Among the tools described is BirdDog’s Candidate Acquisition Management System, which assists contractors not only in their efforts to achieve compliance with affirmative action and equal opportunity employment mandates, but helps them archive that effort, as well.

“Good record-keeping is the closest thing to bulletproofing yourself,” says Neil Dickinson, managing partner of HudsonMann. “It’s no longer those who discriminate that get into trouble. It’s those who look like they are discriminating, simply because they don’t have proof to the contrary.”

The white paper, “Ten Thousand Shades of Gray – The Impact of Workforce Regulations on Federal Contractors,” is available for free download at http://bit.ly/diversity-white-paper.

Construction Employment Increases in February Year-Over-Year

Construction employment increased in 141 out of 337 metropolitan areas between February 2010 and February 2011, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that the relatively positive figures were likely affected by significantly improved winter weather in February, combined with the benefits of ongoing stimulus and other temporary federal construction programs.

“With nearly half of all U.S. metro areas finally adding construction jobs, these numbers are welcome news,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But warm winter weather probably played a larger role in driving these numbers up than did any change in construction demand.”

Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas, added more construction jobs (7,500 jobs, 8 percent) than any other metro area during the past year while Battle Creek, Mich. added the highest percentage (27 percent, 300 jobs). Other areas adding a large number of jobs included Northern Virginia (5,400 jobs, 9 percent); Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (3,300 jobs, 12 percent); Philadelphia (3,200 jobs, 6 percent); and Richmond, Va. (2,700 jobs, 9 percent). Construction employment was unchanged in 49 metro areas.

Atlanta-Sandy-Spring-Marietta, Ga. had the largest job loss (-9,400 jobs, -10 percent) of the 147 metro areas that lost construction jobs during the past 12 months. Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (-32 percent, -1,300 jobs) lost the highest percentage. Other areas experiencing large declines in construction employment included New York City (-9,000 jobs, -8 percent); Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (-5,500 jobs, -12 percent); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (-5,100 jobs, -5 percent); and San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas (-4,100 jobs, -9 percent).

Association officials noted that, despite the generally positive outlook for construction employment in February, overall construction market conditions remain weak at best. They noted that construction spending hit an 11-year low as stimulus projects wind down and state, local and private demand for construction continue to shrink. They cautioned that without measures to boost private sector demand, repair aging infrastructure and cut red tape, it would be hard to see how the industry would continue to add jobs.

“Just because the weather was warmer doesn’t mean the construction market is heating up,” said Stephen Sandherr, the association’s CEO. “As much as we hope to see even more construction jobs being created, the market’s momentum just doesn’t appear to be heading in the right direction, yet.”

View construction employment figures by metro area and rank.