Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

After 50 years of continuous use, in 2001, the Lincoln Center began the process of preparing for a major renovation of most of the public spaces. Valued at $1.2 billion dollars, the overall scale of the effort consisted of 37 individual, yet simultaneous projects, which required the services of 5 world-renowned architecture firms, 4 construction managers, and hundreds of sub-consultants and subcontractors. Completed in 2012, the project was credited with not having a performance impacted or canceled due to the reconstruction efforts.

Lincoln Center engaged Ron Austin to provide executive level management of the redevelopment’s in-house Project Management group consisting of 52 employees. The scope of work consisted of providing oversight and management leadership for each of the 37 project’s budgets, schedules, and quality control. With a significant number of the projects underway, each project was reevaluated with respect to management structure, scope, risk, schedule, cost, and priority. Project sizes range from $2 million to $400 million and each finished on time. Due to the overall size and complexity of the project, six world-class architects were utilized along with three construction managers.

Funding for the project was provided through Federal, State, and local grants, restricted and unrestricted gifts, private grants, naming rights, and philanthropy. Due to the number of financing instruments being utilized, a robust and economical system of controls had to be developed and implemented to accommodate regulatory and disclosure reporting.

Additionally, as the bulk of the construction efforts were undertaken during the 2009 recession, we were able to develop and implement strategies that reduced the overall project expense by $42 million. The success of the overall effort was widely acclaimed as evidenced by the twenty-one architectural and engineering awards bestowed upon the project.

Project Lead

Ron Austin

Managing Director