Pavarini McGovern’s 400 Fifth Avenue project will be completed in late 2010.

Premier Business Partners:

Spectrum Painting

Pavarini McGovern Construction Co. provides a broad range of construction services with its “traditional goal of professionalism” administered on a variety of projects through the company’s “unique, hands-on approach,” according to the New York City-based contractor. “Whether budgeting, preconstruction, construction or post-construction services are required, Pavarini McGovern will specifically tailor its services to its clients’ exact needs.”

Such is the case for the $337 million 400 Fifth Avenue project in Manhattan. Pavarini McGovern is using its unique, hands-on approach to meet the building needs of Italian real estate firm Bizzi & Partners Development. When completed in December 2010, the 567,000-square-foot structure will include 157 hotel rooms, 57 hotel apartments and 190 condominium units, as well as a restaurant, two bars, a lounge area, meeting rooms and an approximately 12,500-square-foot spa, which will feature a Turkish-style hammam, hot and cold plunge pools, and an ice cave.

External Luxuries
400 Fifth Avenue is a 57-story structure, with two levels below-grade plus a mechanical penthouse for a total of 60 levels. Construction on the 775-foot-tall tower began in February 2008. Project Manager Anthony Cosenza describes the façade as “a combination of precast and limestone with stainless steel elements at the base bottom four floors and a crown at the top that splays at the 58th through 60th floors.”

In addition, two large stainless steel canopies will flank the building’s hotel and residential entrances, forming terraces for some of the hotel rooms on the fifth floor. The 11th floor, which has been allotted for amenities, also will include outdoor terraces, as well as outdoor fireplaces.

Cosenza points to the project’s window system as being a particularly unique feature. “The windows are faceted or angulated; they come to a point like a sideways ‘V’,” he explains. “It’s definitely not something that’s very common. The outside corners are all glass, which will give [residents] a nice view since it’s literally two blocks from the Empire State Building.”

High-End Interiors
Designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates of New York City, 400 Fifth Avenue features “very high-end millwork for both the hotel and hotel apartments,” Cosenza says. “Every room is intensive with millwork, walnut or similar; there is a lot of square footage of millwork per room. It’s truly a five-star hotel, and there are very few in New York.”

Intricate millwork details make any project exciting, he says, but with the current economy the way it is, they’re not always as easy to achieve. “Trying to get a project that’s so labor-intensive and has such expensive materials under budget is a challenge,” Cosenza admits. “But the design team wasn’t reevaluating the design or taking things out, they were looking for alternative ways to do things without skimping on the brand.”

Cooperative Trades
What’s interesting, Cosenza notes, is that the poor construction market has prompted developers in the area to discontinue some of their projects, which has made many contractors hungry for work. This has brought prices down “dramatically,” he explains. “I say ‘dramatically’ because with a lot of projects stopping, a lot of the trade contractors don’t have the backlog they did three or four months ago.

“We’re being afforded opportunities where we’ve been able to award trade contracts for less than we would have a couple of months ago,” he adds. “That’s the main thing that’s helped us stay within our budget.”

Cosenza says Pavarini McGovern is working with a stellar group of subcontractors, many of which have worked with the company on previous projects.

“We work based off a prequalified list of subcontractors, so we have established a track record with these subs,” he says. “We check out their current work load, we check out their financial strengths and we don’t award to people who don’t qualify or meet our standards. Because we consistently use some of the same contractors, we have a very good working relationship with them.”

Meeting Challenges
A good working relationship with its subcontractors has come in handy for the 400 Fifth Avenue project, in particular, because “there’s virtually no lay-down space,” Cosenza says. “The footprint is 16,700 square feet, and we’re right out onto the sidewalks – out on the property line of both 36th Street and Fifth Avenue. To the north of us is an eight-story landmark building, with other adjacent properties to the west.”

However, Pavarini McGovern has come up with a plan. “As soon as we get to the second floor, we route pedestrians off Fifth Avenue, route them through the building in a safe manner and back out,” he says. “That enables us to close the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue to use that area as lay down space. The other thing is that the building sets back – footprint wise – at the 11th floor, so we have a terrace that we will utilize for staging, as well.”

Cosenza says safety is the most important aspect of any Pavarini McGovern project. “We have a corporate safety director that’s been with the company since it started, and our superintendents have New York City site safety licenses,” he states. “We also have two full-time safety officers and that’s all they do – enforce safety and ensure things are being done in a safe manner.”

Because of the size and scale of 400 Fifth Avenue, the company has set up a medical trailer. “It basically serves as a safety orientation [space] for tradesmen when they start and also if there are any minor medical treatments needed, it will enable people to get treated in a timely manner so they can get back to work as soon as possible,” Cosenza says.

In addition, “The project a under an owner-controlled insurance program, so we have the owners’ safety personnel, as well as the insurance company’s personnel doing random inspections every couple of weeks,” he notes.