The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York opened 14 bids on August 7 for the Center 3 Infrastructure Upgrades at CUNY's LaGuardia Community College, Building C, 29-10 Thomson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. It is solicitation 3370809999 CR41, one contract carrying general construction, fire protection, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical and telecom work. A.K.S. International Inc. is the apparent low at $73,847,000.

The next three bids stacked up almost on top of each other: Infinity Contracting Services at $84,666,000, E&A Restoration at $84,900,000 and Navillus Tile, doing business as Navillus Contracting, at $84,980,000. Iannelli Construction was fifth at $92,797,230. The top of the tab was Litehouse Builders at $126,118,000, with Gilston Electrical Contracting at $115,252,202 and J-Track at $111,522,000 just under it. The rest of the field: KG Construction Services $96,133,000, Technico Construction Services $96,334,000, AWL Industries $96,440,000, Constructomics $97,579,000, C&L Contracting $104,117,241 and Whitestone Construction $109,700,000.

Run the tab. A.K.S. sits $10,819,000 under Infinity, a 14.7 percent gap between first and second, while second through fourth are separated by $314,000. Low to high is $52,271,000, a 70.8 percent spread. The median bid is $96,387,000. DASNY advertised the construction cost at $77,000,000 to $81,000,000. The low came in $3,153,000, or 4.1 percent, under the bottom of that range. Every other bid came in above the top of it. The contract carries goals of 18 percent MBE, 12 percent WBE and 6 percent SDVOB, and it runs under a Project Labor Agreement. An apparent low is not an award.

The scope is the guts of a building. The ad lists selective demolition, asbestos removal, concrete, masonry, structural steel and new elevators on the general construction side, chilled water and condenser water systems with controls on the HVAC side, and packaged emergency generators, switchboards, transformers, transfer switches, panelboards and fire alarm on the electrical side. When DASNY hired a construction manager for this upgrade in 2019, its notice described Center 3 as the former Sunshine Biscuit Company building, built in 1913, nine stories and 882,768 gross square feet, acquired by CUNY in 1998. That notice said the building's systems were already running at full capacity just to serve the occupied floors, and that CUNY planned to fill the vacant fifth, eighth and ninth floors once the infrastructure was upgraded and expanded. TDX Construction was awarded that construction management contract in November 2019.

This is not the first contract on the building. DASNY bid a Collateral Moves package at LaGuardia in 2024, described as the first phase of a multi-phase set of projects, building out academic and administrative space on the first, third and seventh floors to replace spaces the Infrastructure Upgrades project will demolish. Holt Construction was awarded that package in June 2024 at $8,069,838.15. The job on our board, RFI-000962, is the heavy phase that work was clearing the way for.

Why this matters. This is a $74 million mechanical, electrical and vertical transportation job inside a partly occupied nine-story building in Long Island City, and it is a PLA job, so every sub tier signs on. Elevator, generator, switchgear, chilled water piping, fire protection and abatement subs all have a piece. The $10.8 million hole between A.K.S. and the three bids bunched at $84.7 million to $85 million is the number DASNY will be looking at before it makes an award.

What to do next. Subs and suppliers who priced this job should get their numbers in front of A.K.S. International now, and track the award before treating any of it as booked. The plan holder list and the bid results sit on DASNY's own opportunity page for the solicitation. If you missed this one, the building has a history of phased work: watch DASNY's LaGuardia Community College listings for the next package.

Update, Sept. 28, 2026: DASNY's award table for the solicitation shows the contract went to A.K.S. International Inc. on November 18, 2025, at $73,847,000, the amount it bid.