One Year Later, New York Distributors Still See Impact of Sept. 11 on Construction

The 9-11 attacks hurt the New York City construction market, according to electrical distributors there, but they see a surge in electrical work once the city finalizes plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.

Steve Mayer, chief financial officer of Liberty Electrical Supply, Brooklyn, N.Y., said that before Sept. 11, the company did a lot of work at the World Trade Center, delivering products to jobs in the Twin Towers every day for years.

“We used to get there on or about 7 a.m. every morning and deliver to upwards of seven contractors. With the destruction of the Trade Center, we didn't realize the volume of business we actually did in those two buildings alone.”

Liberty Electrical was also delivering supplies to several jobs in the area that shut down due to damage from the Sept. 11 attacks. However, the company has been working at other jobs in the Financial District since Sept. 11, including projects at 3 World Financial Center and an American Express facility in the area.

“It's ongoing,” Mayer said. “I don't know the completion dates, but all of these projects have been working since 9-11. There was an apartment building project at 20 Riverview Terrace that was supposed to start right on or about Sept. 11. It was put on hold for nine months. That started back in June, and we have been working on it ever since.”

Although Liberty Electrical is seeing more reconstruction business since the attacks, Mayer believes it won't be until after the Sept. 11 anniversary this year that the Big Apple's construction market improves in New York City. Even then, he doesn't see construction really picking up until after plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center are finalized.

“We think things will be quiet until after the anniversary,” he said. All signs are pointing to a positive direction. We are starting to see increases in sales. We feel things will start to break after the anniversary date. After that, we feel positive about business for the rest of the year.”

Still, Mayer believes construction will really pick up in New York once the rebuilding of the Trade Center begins. He sees that happening sometime in late 2003. The design for the massive project is scheduled for approval this November. Once it begins, it will be take between four and six years, he said.

“When it restarts, it's going to be a massive amount of construction and electrical requirements,” he said.

Ron Segraves, vice president-electrical sales for the New York District of Graybar Electric Co. Inc., St. Louis, is not as certain. “It is hard to tell when we will see any construction of the World Trade Center site. There is quite a bit of debate over what type of structures should be built on the site and the size of the Memorials that will be erected,” he said.

“Sept. 11 had a very negative effect on the construction market in New York City. Most of the Port Authority work was put on hold,” he said.