A 320-unit luxury apartment complex is coming to the Hudson River in Yonkers, N.Y. With a view of the cliffs on the Palisades, just about a mile or two off the Sawmill River Parkway and a 25-minute drive to midtown Manhattan, this project comes with a $100 million price tag.
When completed, the structure will have three stories of below-ground parking and 10 stories of above-ground apartment complexes.
WD Excavation & Contracting Inc. is handling all of the excavation and footing work for the construction of River Tides at Yonkers. This includes the relocation of the main sewage line that feeds the Yonkers sewage treatment plant.
According to William Dubray, WD Excavation’s President, one of the biggest challenges of the project was the moving of the 4 ft. (1.2 m) sewage transmission line, which handled 13,000 gal. (49,210 L) of sewage a minute. The line actually had to be diverted without interrupting the flow of sewage.
Another challenging aspect of the job was a 30 ft. (9 m) cut of solid hard New York City granite, much of which required blasting and 20,000 cu. yds. (15,291 cu m) of excavating. Due to the location of the nearby New York City aqueduct and concerns about disrupting train travel, the blasting needed to be carefully timed and done with great precision.
The project started in March 2014 and is scheduled for completion by Jan. 1, 2016.
The equipment being used by WD Excavation on this site has been purchased primarily from Westchester Tractor in Brewster, N.Y. Equipment includes a Kobelco 260; a Kobelco 210 with a thumb; a Volvo 240 equipped with an Okada 6,000 lb. (2,721 kg) hydraulic breaker; a Kubota 80 compact excavator; and a Doosan DL300 wheel loader that was purchased new specifically for this project, along with a New Holland LW110 telehandler, which among other things, Dubray has modified with a water tank and pumps for dust control.
WD Excavation & Contracting Inc. and Westchester Tractor
WD Excavation & Contracting Inc. was founded in 1978 and focused primarily on residential excavation work. Over the years, with the careful guidance of Dubray, the company has grown to tackling significant commercial site work projects, many of which are for Ginsburg Development LLC.
William Dubray has a relationship with John Apple, the founder of Westchester Tractor, that goes back 40 years.
In 1978, Dubray purchased his first machine from Westchester Tractor, a Ford 555 tractor loader backhoe.
“I was just getting started in business and John Apple developed a rental purchase program for me. At that time rental purchases were nearly unheard of, but it was an ideal way for me to get my business started,” said Dubray.
“Since then, I have purchased over 50 pieces of construction equipment from Westchester Tractor. I can’t say that I have done all of my business exclusively with Westchester Tractor, but I have done the bulk of it with them. Frankly, I have found that anytime I do business with any of the big boys, when it’s all said and done, John Apple and Westchester Tractor have treated me the best of any of them. Any time that I have had a piece of equipment go down or need service the Westchester Tractor staff fixes it on the spot or leaves me a comparable piece of equipment so that our work flow is not interrupted. The Westchester Tractor service staff is impeccable and John Apple’s word has been golden. If he says it, it’s done.
“I pride myself on really knowing my machines. I run them all so I have a good knowledge of what’s performing on the job site and what isn’t. Our latest machine, the Doosan DL300, is solid. It has great visibility, good speed, strong breakout force. We have been running Kobelco machines for quite some time and we are very impressed. I was a little bit apprehensive about our move to Tier IV engines and I’m happy to say that with both the Doosan and Kubota machines we have experienced no Tier IV engine issues.”
For more information on WD Excavation, visit wdexcavationandcontractinginc.com.
For more information on Westchester Tractor, visit www.wtractor.com.
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