From NYC Landmarks To Data Center Giants: How One Construction Firm Navigates The Complexities Of Large-Scale Projects

Complex, large-scale construction projects call for an experienced team capable of handling whatever obstacles arise — whether it's navigating thousands of daily commuters or tackling transporting over 600 tradespeople to a project site without parking.

Clune Construction, a national general contracting firm with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., has tackled several complex projects over the years — from building a sonic sanctuary for the Chicago Cubs’ exclusive local television station to transforming New York’s LaGuardia Airport. This experience, paired with the staff's extensive technical knowledge, prepared the firm to tackle two recent massive builds. 

“We bring honesty to the table,” Clune Construction Senior Vice President and Project Executive Shane Murphy said. “We approach every challenge with an open mindset, creating long-term partnerships and pivoting our strategies when we need to — that’s what makes the real difference.” 

Murphy, Edward McCann, vice president and senior project manager out of Clune’s New York office, and Jake Backover, vice president and team leader from the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, walked Bisnow through two large-scale projects the contractor recently completed. They shared the challenges they faced along the way and how Clune’s unique approach helped drive successful outcomes. 

Breathing New Life Into An NYC Icon 

The MetLife Building at 200 Park Ave. has been a famed example of classic NYC architecture since it was built in 1963. In 2017, owners Tishman Speyer and The Irvine Co. set out to renovate the 57-story building’s lobby with a clear objective: to recapture the building’s mid-century grandeur while incorporating needed upgrades. They chose MdeAS Architects for the redesign and Clune to execute the modern vision while preserving the space’s cultural heritage.

Clune’s team tackled the massive scope of the updates, including the installation of high-end finishes, complete with travertine-cladded columns and impala granite pavers, enclosing a side of the building adjacent to the Park Avenue viaduct to create a new entrance and visitor center as well as exterior upgrades that included creating a light box at the west entrance to light the retail spaces along Vanderbilt Avenue. 

Another key element of the renovation was modernizing the elevator cabs and escalators. 200 Park has 10 elevator lobbies where Clune was tasked with upgrading 59 cabs. To minimize disruption of daily operations, however, the team was only allowed to work on one lobby at a time — only six cabs. The team encountered a similar challenge in their efforts to replace 10 escalators, as they could only install two at a time, coordinating night work with active train tracks directly below. 

Renovating an occupied building with tens of thousands of visitors each day meant the team had to divide the work into three stages. McCann said his team sat in the space and watched its day-to-day operations to get a sense of the traffic flow and determine which are the busiest times for the area. The team also had to consider the challenges of working above the Metro-North Railroad in Grand Central Terminal below the building, which not only sees a large amount of commuter traffic but also had its own demolition and electrical work being completed.

“Our goal was to do the work with the least amount of interruption,” he said. “We created new pathways to keep traffic moving and used temporary walls to minimize the visual impact.” 

As with many iconic NYC buildings, art plays a major role in what makes 200 Park so special. One of the lobby areas on the Vanderbilt Avenue side houses Richard Lippold’s “Flight”, a three-story site-specific sculpture which had to be wrapped and protected as work happened around it. 

The team also installed a re-creation of Josef Albers' Manhattan mural, the original of which had been hung in the lobby in 1963 and put in storage during a previous renovation project in 2000. McCann said his team used the original shop drawings to perfectly recreate the 20x20 mural, and received approval from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, which oversaw each part of the installation. 

“Teamwork was the key to the success of this project,” he said. “We had a great team behind us.” 

Navigating The Complex World of Data Centers

Clune used that same teamwork-forward approach to tackle one of the toughest challenges in CRE: data center construction. For two years now, the company has been working on a campus build where all projects to date are nearly $600M. These include 15 data halls at a total size of 800K SF. These projects total 150 megawatts of critical power on 34 acres. 

This is a secure facility, so along with navigating all of the other challenges of data center construction — including complex electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems and equipment storing and cooling — the Clune team faced an absence of on-site contractor parking. 

“The first challenge was to coordinate site logistics and offsite parking to include bussing services for our tradesmen,” Murphy said. “At the busiest stage of construction, we were moving more than 600 tradesmen to and from the site each day. When they arrived, it was a challenge to make sure everyone passed quickly through the security gate which had a mandatory ID check.”

Ensuring on-time delivery of critical electrical equipment was a challenge due to lingering supply chain issues. To combat this, Clune’s procurement team, led by its MEP coordinator, collaborated with the client’s in-house procurement team to immediately start the sourcing of materials. As the project progresses, they continue to hold weekly MEP coordination meetings and MEP tracking meetings. They can forecast the availability of materials up to 18 months to plan for future builds. 

“If at a certain point, we see that something is not going to arrive on time, we’re able to pivot and come up with a viable alternative,” Murphy said. 

The team takes the same approach with data center design. They can change course as needed as new tenants sign with the facility with their own unique requirements. 

“Whether it is client requirements, tenant needs or design updates, Clune works with everyone to ensure success,” Backover said. 

This project had an existing overhead power line that needed to be worked around without disruption. Clune worked with all stakeholders — the utility company, owner, design team and precast company — to build a schedule that worked within all parties’ timelines. The company began construction while the power line was still in place, and timed its relocation perfectly, Murphy said. 

The team also had to work long hours to prepare the site for the project, hauling away 100,000 cubic yards of soil before construction could begin. By prioritizing teamwork, the team was able to accomplish this quickly so as not to disrupt the project schedule. This focus, according to Murphy, is the key to Clune’s ability to successfully tackle projects of all sizes. 

“Clune has really smart and talented people working for us from top to bottom,” Backover said. “This project was an opportunity to showcase that talent. Every member of the Clune team put in very long hours and solved really challenging problems to be able to deliver for this particular client.” 

While these two projects may seem quite different, they share a common goal: to transform a large-scale site into an operational, beneficial facility with minimal disruption to schedule and risks to the budget. Clune was able to make this goal a reality for project stakeholders through coordination, teamwork and creative planning. 

This article was produced in collaboration between Clune Construction and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.