Trees have come down, and barricades and construction bulletins are going up, as one of the world's largest engineering and construction services companies starts site work on Southtown, the 2,000-unit complex planned for a 19-acre space between the Tram station and Roosevelt Island's existing housing block.

When work began last month, the company was still known as Morse Diesel, a proud name in U.S. construction history.  Now it's AMEC, having adopted the corporate identity of the $8 billion British-based multinational that bought Morse Diesel in 1995.

Southtown thus can count as its distant cousins the Millennium Dome in England and the Sears Tower in Chicago, not to mention the East London Sludge Incineration Project.

The developers are the Related Companies and the Hudson Companies.  AMEC is overseeing the project on behalf of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. Scott Weiss, an engineer who is listed as the contact person on the bulletins posted around the Island, is the project manager.  His supervisor is Vincent Arcuri, an AMEC senior vice president, who is overseeing several other projects in the area.

Arcuri said Wednesday that as far as he's concerned, "it's full speed ahead" on Southtown, despite lingering legal challenges – a view that was seconded by RIOC officials who are eager to get on with the long-awaited second phase of Roosevelt Island's development.

The work now is preliminary.  The west service drive, which runs past the subway station, will be widened to two lanes, with land being taken from both sides of the existing roadway.  The purpose is to close the cross road north of the long-vacant Central Nurses Residence (CNR), which will be demolished.  The walkway will remain on the west side of the road.

AMEC was mobilizing this week to start work on the demolition, which includes asbestos removal.  The CNR will be sealed and some minor debris removal will be done, along with pest extermination.  In about six weeks, Arcuri said, the demolition work should be visible to Island residents.

After the temporary west roadway is finished, the east service drive will be shut down, he said, adding that the debris from the CNR will be trucked off the Island.  "There's no vacant area to start dumping stuff" on the Island itself, he added.

As the work progresses, he said, the company will consider the possibility of transporting construction materials by barge.  But Robert Antonek, the RIOC vice president, said he didn't think it would make economic sense for the developers to use barges under the phased-in development planned for Southtown's nine buildings.

Hudson Vice President David Kramer discussed the project Wednesday night with the Planning and Development Committee of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.  Kramer also said that the cost of removing debris by barge was prohibitive, and that demolition of the CNR should be finished by May.  The work is being done by Monadnock Construction, a Hudson affiliate.

Vincent Kopicki, RIOC's director of engineering, said demolition has to be done before work can start on the new sports field, which creates a deadline of sorts for the initial phase of the project.  New soccer and baseball fields, to be built at the southeast corner of Southtown, near the steam plant, are supposed to be done by the fall to replace the current field.  Demolition will free up "laydown" space needed for the placement of equipment and materials for other elements of the overall project.

The new field will replace a sports area north of the CNR.  "Right now, if you try to go regulation-size on that field, you're running up against the fence and you're down on the hill," Kopicki said.

Because the project is in such an early stage, it hasn't been decided yet where AMEC will set up shop, although Arcuri said the company will have a presence here.  The full team is still being put together, and it's possible that AMEC might move in with RIOC.

Antonek said that in addition to the posted bulletins, construction updates and photos would be posted on the RIOC web site, RIOC.com, to keep residents informed.

"As far as we're concerned, the project moves forward," Antonek said.  "I think that's standard operating procedure for most construction in New York City, you move forward" even though legal questions may remain.  Appeals by Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD) and the Alternative Southtown Design Committee are pending in the Southtown case. (Click for aerial view of Southtown site and notations of area in dispute.)

Kramer told the RIRA committee that Southtown's first three buildings could be finished by the fall of 2002.  All three will provide housing for staff and faculty members of nearby medical institutions on the Upper East Side.

The first building, to be located south of Rivercross, will be 16 stories, with 256 units.  It will be owned by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  The second, also 16 stories, will have 135 units of two- and three-bedroom apartments for junior faculty members of Cornell University Medical College.  The third building, a market-rate rental, will also provide housing on the first to third floors for employees of the Animal Medical Center, Kramer told the committee.

Although the work so far has been minimal, it has already raised concerns from residents who fear that many of the large trees on the site will be lost.  Four trees have been cut so far near the CNR, to make room for a new bus stop.  Roosevelt Island is a Tree City USA, with an active Tree Board and a great variety of unusual specimens.  One of the planning committee members asked Kramer to "put red ribbons on those trees ahead of time so the community won't go into shock."

Kopicki said in an interview that Southtown will have an open, parklike landscape with many trees, and that for every tree cut, three would be planted to replace it.  Although nine buildings are going in, trees will be removed only from areas needed for immediate work.

Kramer also assured the committee that equipment and building materials would not be stacked over tree roots.