Union Labor, Pension Fund Financing Fuel Historic Mall Project

Building and Construction Trades Council presidents officially commence the $150 million construction project to expand Tysons Corner mall. Shown are Laborers President Terry O’Sullivan, left, Plumbers and Pipefitters President Martin Maddaloni, President Hill, Teamsters President James Hoffa, Ironworkers President Joseph Hunt and BCTD President Edward Sullivan.

The first major all-union construction project in the state of Virginia officially kicked off February 3 with the ceremonial cutting of a red ribbon by several building trades leaders.

Five international building trades leaders joined IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill for the official commencement of the expansion and renovation of Tysons Corner Center in Northern Virginia, one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF), which provides retirement and related benefits to IBEW members and contractors, is a major investor in the $150 million project. NEBF’s large role in the Tysons expansion ensures it—like all real estate projects in which the fund invests—will be built 100 percent union. This is significant because Virginia is a right-to-work state that has traditionally been unfriendly turf for organized labor.

The other union presidents attending the ribbon-cutting were: Edward Sullivan of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO; James Hoffa of the Teamsters; Joseph Hunt of the Iron Workers; Martin Maddaloni of the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, and Terry O’Sullivan of the Laborers.

For the past four years, the NEBF has harnessed its significant financial capital to "recycle" pension dollars to invest in high-quality projects that produce solid returns and create union jobs—all while protecting the funds for future retirement benefits. The program, dubbed Project Millennium, generates new jobs that produce more pension contributions that make the fund even stronger. The win-win-win rationale of Project Millennium has resulted in the creation of more than 7 million man-hours of union electrical work and the investment of over $10 billion. And it gives the NEBF the freedom to invest in places that have not always embraced unions. Project Millennium helped build the Physicians Medical Office in Dallas, Texas, in the first all union project in Texas since the 1980s.

"I’m proud that we’re putting these funds to work in ways that create jobs," said IBEW President Edwin D. Hill.

In remarks before the ribbon cutting, IBEW Secretary-Treasurer Jerry O’Connor said that superior quality, technical expertise and efficiency are the hallmarks of union construction. "This Tysons Corner Center expansion will be just such an investment—a project we can all be proud of," said O’Connor, who is an NEBF trustee. Former NECA President Rod Borden, an electrical contractor who is a trustee of the NEBF, was also on hand for the ceremony.

With the help of the NEBF, what is now the tenth largest mall in the country will become the sixth-largest. The mall will add a 16-screen movie theater, a two-story Barnes and Noble bookstore, several restaurants, an upscale food court, additional retail stores and a parking lot. It is expected to be finished by August 2005. Within five years, annual sales at the mall are expected to exceed $1 billion.

Also participating in the ribbon-cutting were NEBF investment officials and leaders of building trades locals and unionized contractors from the Washington, D.C. area that will benefit from the work, including electrical contractor VarcoMac Electric, a NECA signator with Local 26. The project is expected to create 1,000 building trades jobs.

IBEW Local 26 Business Manager Chuck Graham said a union project of the scale of the Tysons Corner mall expansion, while commonplace in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, is unheard of in Virginia.

"I think it’s a great opportunity for the community of Northern Virginia to see that unions can work together and for the betterment of the community," Graham said.

IBEWCURRENTS

April 2004 IBEW Journal