Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
NYC job boosts area steel operations
Company has provided steel for a number of high-profile building projects that make up the city’s iconic skyline
A new job in New York City will once again keep steelworkers in Coatesville and Conshohocken busy.
ArcelorMittal recently announced on its website that the “ultra-modern” One Vanderbilt skyscraper will be built with ArcelorMittal plate made at its two area plants.
The skyscraper will soon be under construction in midtown Manhattan, on the corner of 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, the company said. At 58 stories, it will be New York’s fourth-tallest building, measuring 1,401 feet high, ArcelorMittal said. Once complete in 2020, the 1.7-million-square-foot One Vanderbilt will be used primarily for offices, with some space reserved for retail, dining and entertainment.
In the 1960s, then-Lukens Steel made the steel that was used in the construction of the World Trade Center towers. Steel tridents, or “trees,” from the rubble following the 9/11 attacks are now displayed in the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville.
Now, ArcelorMittal’s Coatesville and Conshohocken plate facilities are supplying all of the plate to its customer, Banker Steel.
Based in Lynchburg, Virginia, Banker is a steel fabrication company that began operations in 1997 and has facilities in Virginia, New Jersey and Florida.
“ArcelorMittal USA Plate is proud and honored to be a supplier to One Vanderbilt tower,” said John Battisti, chief operating officer at ArcelorMittal USA Plate. “We are currently in the process of producing the ‘heavy section’ plate products at our Coatesville facility. This project is another example of ArcelorMittal USA Plate being a force in the redefining of the New York City skyline in re-
cent years since 9/11, which also includes our supply of plate products to the majestic Freedom Tower.”
The work comes at an opportune time for the local operation, said Sheldon “Snoop” Gregg, unit president for United Steelworkers’ 1165-00 and Vonie Long, Local 1165 president.
Until recently, the company’s business had been slow for the last year or so, leading to temporary layoffs of around 70 union members. Now, most of those workers have been recalled, the union officials said.
“We always hope it brings in additional work,” Gregg said. “The first six floors are already made. This is one of a number of jobs” that have allowed the company to recall workers. “The steel business is cyclical. With the economy improving we’re starting to climb our way out” of the recent slump.
“The order book is filling up,” Long agreed, calling it “a steady incremental ticking up.”
All plate material will be delivered to Banker in the first half of this year, ArcelorMittal said. Demolition of the existing buildings on the site have been completed with construction that began in March.
“The addition of One Vanderbilt is significant, as the building – with its tapered form of sharp lines and bold angles – creates an open structure that utilizes natural sunlight to its fullest,” Battisti said.
“This also continues our history of not only being a main contributor to the skyline of New York City, but also the thoroughfare to and from the city with our 100 percent supply of plate products for the continued construction of the Tappan Zee bridge.”
Other New York projects ArcelorMittal has done with Banker Steel include: New York University’s Kimmel Center, City Point Brooklyn and Barclays Center in Brooklyn, said Fred Buckel, account manager of plate sales and marketing for ArcelorMittal USA.
“We had a relationship when the business was Montague Betts, Hirschfield, then Don Banker bought the company and it became Banker Steel,” says Buckel. “The relationship goes back to when predecessor company Bethlehem Steel supplied beams to them.”