The city's Department of Citywide Administrative Services opened five bids at 2 p.m. on August 27 to modernize the elevators at 2 Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan (PIN 85625B0010). Gramercy Group Inc came in low at $16,188,000. CLS Project Solutions Inc was second at $20,545,357.47. That is a $4,357,357.47 gap between first and second, or 26.9%.
The rest of the tab: Iannelli Construction Co. Inc. was third at $22,711,000 and Centennial Elevator Industries Inc. fourth at $25,964,684.27. The Scalamandre-TEI joint venture was high at $26,194,959. That puts $10,006,959 between low and high, a 61.8% spread. Iannelli's middle bid sits about $6.5 million above the low, so Gramercy came in roughly 29% under the center of the field.
This one took a while to reach the opening. DCAS first published it in the City Record on February 25 as a competitive sealed bid, with an estimated three-year contract term. By opening day it had 15 addenda. Addendum 8 moved the bid date to July 9, Addendum 10 moved it to July 30, Addendum 12 to August 19, and Addendum 15 to August 27. A second site visit was added for July 16. Addendum 13 brought updated drawings, added specifications and a new bid sheet, and Addendum 14 replaced that bid sheet again. The City Record notice lists no cost estimate and no M/WBE goals. Anyone pricing the work should check the bid documents in PASSPort for those.
The same names keep showing up on DCAS elevator tabs. At the June 11 rebid for the seven elevators at the Queens Criminal Court Annex, 125-01 Queens Boulevard, Ashnu International was low at $13,111,919 and Gramercy was second at $13,986,000. Scalamandre-TEI JV was fourth of four there at $16,513,000, and it finished last again here. At the January 22 opening for 1 Centre Street, Nouveau Elevator Industries was low at $32,982,000, Iannelli was third at $62,400,000 and Gramercy was fifth of six at $78,623,000. Over three DCAS elevator openings this year, Gramercy has gone from fifth to second to first.
Why this matters. Elevator modernization is a steady line of DCAS work. Its tabulations page shows elevator jobs at 1 Centre Street, the Queens Criminal Court Annex, 210 Joralemon Street and now 2 Lafayette, all bid in 2026. A 27% gap between first and second is wide enough that the next thing to watch is the city's review. DCAS's own tabulation says the amounts are subject to verification and that bids go through responsiveness and responsibility checks, which can change the result. Under the city's sealed-bid rules, the contract goes to the lowest bidder that passes those checks.
What to do next. An apparent low is not an award. Watch the City Record for DCAS's award notice on PIN 85625B0010. Elevator, electrical and finish subs should price to Gramercy Group, and should get the Addendum 14 bid sheet and the Addendum 13 drawings before quoting anything. If you missed this one, DCAS posts every elevator tab on its recent bid tabulations page. The same firms have now met three times this year, so that page is a good way to learn who you will be pricing against next.