John Gallagher, who served as first deputy press secretary for Mayor Bloomberg until he quit in early June, is moving into the real-estate and development business, taking a newly created job with the title Director/Vice President of Public Affairs for Tishman Construction.

Mr. Gallagher's not a stranger to the development world; his City Hall job included work on economic development, PlaNYC and the city budget. He starts his gig at Tishman early next month, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The move comes as the city is tightening its oversight of the construction industry, an industry where Tishman is a giant, responsible for building the Freedom Tower, the new Goldman Sachs headquarters and the Bank of America tower near Bryant Park.  read more »

A former project accountant at Tishman Construction Corporation has pleaded guilty to stealing $2.8 million from the company in a phony invoicing scheme, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office announced this afternoon.

John Hoeffner will get seven to 14 years in prison and must pay $1,420,214.66 in restitution for forging vendor invoices and altering vendor checks related to Tishman work at Yeshiva University in Upper Manhattan.

Full release from the DA's office below.  read more »

For the second time in three months, construction-related equipment has fallen from of Douglas Durst’s Bank of America Tower, located at the northeast corner of Bryant Park.

This afternoon, a horizontal post that was supporting netting fell from the 27th floor of the 54-story tower, dropping onto the seventh floor, according to the Department of Buildings. No injuries were reported.  read more »

Editor's note: This is an update to an earlier breaking news story.

A construction accident at the site of Goldman Sachs’ new world headquarters downtown injured one worker this morning, as a crane dropped a seven-ton cargo load on a trailer, according to preliminary reports from the Fire Department and Department of Buildings.  read more »

The Real Estate Board of New York held a luncheon at the Sheraton in midtown today, with members of a panel stacked with CEOs coming to a general consensus that the market’s temperature has dropped substantially from the searing hot days of early 2007.

That concept is hardly shocking for anyone who’s picked up a newspaper any time since August, but it seems relatively significant that some top members of the industry–a profession normally dominated by bullish, positive statements, at least on the record–candidly acknowledged the rough climate.  read more »

I got your numbers - right here!

With projected 2006 revenues of $10.4 billion and 22,500 employees, Trump is the only real estate-related company to make the top 10. (Tishman Construction Corporation is the next closest one, at no. 13.)

Which might render the Trump Organization's top perch a tad shaky as its namesake may have a jones for pumping up his numbers.