Six general contractors bid the Walter Gladwin Recreation Center on Feb. 12, and Andron Construction Corp. came in lowest at $63,485,000.02. The Department of Design and Construction is building it for the Parks Department on the north side of Walter Gladwin Park in the Bronx (project P-1TREREC, EPIN 85026B0010, Community Board 6).

This is a ground-up building, not a renovation. DDC's solicitation describes a 40,000-square-foot recreation and community center with a gymnasium, cardio, strength, dance and spin rooms, and educational and administrative space. The structure is mostly mass timber, glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT, wood panels glued up in layers and used like concrete slabs), wrapped in brick with large glazed openings. DDC first advertised it in City Record in November 2025 with a January due date; bids finally came in Feb. 12.

The full field: Andron Construction Corp. $63,485,000.02; E&A Restoration Inc. $67,000,000.00; Technico Construction Services Inc. $67,463,000.00; Iannelli Construction Co. Inc. $69,599,964.00; KG Construction Services Inc. $82,777,000.00; and Neelam Construction Corp. $97,764,000.00.

Andron beat E&A by $3,514,999.98, or 5.5%. The top four sit inside a $6.1 million band, then the field breaks: KG is $13.2 million above Iannelli, and Neelam's number is 54.0% above the low. The median is $68,531,482.

No engineer's estimate appears in the public bid record. An apparent low is not an award. DDC still runs its responsiveness and responsibility review, and the award will be published in City Record. The job is on our board as RFI-000804.

Why this matters. Mass timber is still rare on New York City public work, and the city's bidders priced the risk very differently. Four firms landed within 10% of each other; two were 30% and 54% above the low. For timber suppliers, erectors and anyone selling into the structural package, this is a data point on how city GCs are carrying a structural system most of them do not build every day.

What to do next. Glulam and CLT suppliers, masonry, glazing, MEP and sitework subs should get their numbers to Andron now, before an award locks in the buyout. Watch City Record for DDC's award notice.