Construction employment declined over the past year in 157 of 337 metropolitan areas, nationally, but the Binghamton area bucked the trend, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

Construction employment did stay steady in 60 regions and increased in 120 regions, including Binghamton and Utica–Rome.

The Binghamton area increased from 3,800 construction jobs in April 2011 to 4,000 jobs in April 2012 and the Utica–Rome area rose from 2,900 industry jobs in April 2011 to 3,000 jobs in April 2012. 

The Syracuse area declined from 11,000 construction jobs in April 2011 to 10,500 jobs a year later. New York State construction employment fell from 296,200 jobs in April 2011 to 291,600 jobs this April.

Construction employment continues to suffer from weak demand due to a decline in public-sector investments, the AGC contends.

“As public investments in infrastructure and other forms of construction continue to decline, construction employment is taking a hit in many parts of the country,” Ken Simonson, the AGC’s chief economist, said in a news release. “Even in places where the construction employment is increasing, the figures would have been better if the public sector wasn’t holding things back.”

The Chicago–Joliet–Naperville area of Illinois lost the most construction jobs, 6,500, or a 6 percent decline. The Indianapolis region gained the most jobs, adding 6,100 positions, or 16 percent.   

SYRACUSE — Construction has started on Dineen Hall, the new, $92 million home for the Syracuse University (SU) College of Law.

The 200,000-square-foot, five-story building is going up on the site of a parking lot on the SU main campus’ western edge, immediately to the west of the College of Law’s current buildings.

Dineen Hall is set to open in 2014.

It will include a central atrium on the main level, featuring natural lighting. The atrium will link the core elements of legal study including a library, a 330-seat ceremonial courtroom and auditorium, and collaborative areas and celebratory space, according to the university.

The building will also include a green roof that will feature a seasonal outdoor terrace. 

SU alumnus Richard Gluckman of the Gluckman Mayner architectural firm in New York City is the lead architect on the project. Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. of Syracuse is the construction manager.

SU broke ground on the project May 10.

The university built an addition to the current law school facilities in 1998, which provided much-needed classroom space. But it didn’t address the overcrowded library or the need for more faculty offices for the law school, which currently has 643 students and 65 faculty members.

Even though much legal research and many documents are available online these days, some scholarly works are available only in print and the library is out of shelf space, says Marc Malfitano, a College of Law alumnus, chairman of the school’s advisory board, and an adjunct professor.

The new building will also add more smaller-size classrooms, which will help the school offer smaller classes to promote more interaction between students and professors, Malfitano says. 

In addition, the current buildings have almost no spaces for students to work on group projects or study, the university says. Law students often spend their entire days within the law buildings and do most of their work there, Malfitano notes.

The law school’s current buildings total about 180,000 square feet, but only 98,000 square feet of that space is useable. The new building will include 135,000 square feet of useable space, Malfitano says.

The law school is aiming for gold-level certification of Dineen Hall in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, he adds.

But the building is really meant to help the school improve its programming and respond to how its students study and learn.

“This is not building bricks and mortar for bricks’ and mortars’ sake,” Malfitano says. “It really is how we address the mission of the College of Law to teach our students and to be able to do so in a dynamic environment. The students spend a lot of time there.”

The law school’s current buildings will be reused as the new home for SU’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. The current buildings include E. I. White Hall, Grant Hall, the Barclay Library addition, and Winifred MacNaughton Hall.

The Dineen family provided a naming gift of $15 million for the new law school building in 2010, in honor of College of Law
graduates Robert Emmet Dineen and Carolyn Bareham Dineen.

Robert Dineen graduated in 1924 and Carolyn Dineen in 1932. 

Carolyn Dineen, a Rochester native, was one of just two women in her class at the law school. She worked at the Syracuse–based law firm of Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC and met Robert when they were representing co-defendants in a lawsuit.

Robert Dineen, a Syracuse native, worked at the Syracuse law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC and eventually became a partner. He later served as superintendent of insurance for the state of New York from 1943 to 1950 and then joined Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Fifteen years later, he became the company’s president and CEO.