Tower crane trivia at K2

I spent some time yesterday chatting with Marie, an 18-year veteran crane operator, who will be half of the team running the tower crane at K2 at K Station, a new 34-story apartment high-rise under construction in the Fulton River District.

I also met Mike Regal from Morrow Crane, a worldwide operation that rents 550 cranes. Morrow once had more rental agreements than cranes, with customers waiting 6 to 7 months for delivery. In the current building recession, about 200 of its cranes are rented.

Mike gave me a quick look at the schedule for completing the tower crane at K2 and shared some fascinating trivia about the cost of crane rentals and the history of this one. It was the east crane at Trump Tower, reaching as high as 1,386 feet, where they had to chip off “ice as thick as bricks” during the second winter it was in operation.

If you want to rent a crane like this one, you’ll have to fork over $15,000 a month – plus delivery, freight, labor, etc.

A hat tip to McHugh Construction‘s Brad Davis for introducing me to Mike and Marie.

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