Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Carol Masser and Tim
Speaker 2: Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Earlier in our program, we want to kind of go
Speaker 1: back to getting a good idea of what's going on
Speaker 1: in the US economy, and early in our program, we
Speaker 1: spoke with billionaire developer Rick Caruso. He's founder and executive
Speaker 1: chair of Caruso, and he did talk about the economy,
Speaker 1: particularly in southern California.
Speaker 2: Tim, we wanted to continue with the building and the
Speaker 2: economy and bring back Cheryl McKissick Daniels. She's President CEO
Speaker 2: of Mickissick and McKissick. It's the one hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: year old company that plays everywhere when it comes to
Speaker 2: construction management, disaster recovery and resilience, program management, compliance and more.
Speaker 2: The company works in the academic, aviation, healthcare, and transportation,
Speaker 2: park stadiums and more. Think about the Barkley Center, Oculus
Speaker 2: here in Manhattan, the new Terminal one over at JFK,
Speaker 2: the Lincoln Financial Field where the Philadelphia Eagles play, and
Speaker 2: so much more. Cheryl McKissick Daniel joins us from New York. Cheryl,
Speaker 2: Welcome back. It's been more than two years since you
Speaker 2: were last on the program. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm terrific, Thank you well, Thanks.
Speaker 2: So much for joining us. I want to start by
Speaker 2: just getting an understanding from you about the economy, where
Speaker 2: it is in your view and if people are spending money.
Speaker 3: I think people are holding back a little bit of
Speaker 3: prices are high. I know as far as the construction industry,
Speaker 3: we are beginning to fill some of the tariffs, and
Speaker 3: so yeah, I think people are holding back on spending.
Speaker 2: Talk a little bit about where you're feeling the tariffs.
Speaker 3: Well, one in particular, I would say is JFK Terminal One.
Speaker 3: We're finishing up Phase A of that project, which is
Speaker 3: almost three million square feet in twenty twenty six, but
Speaker 3: we are scheduled to start work on Phase B and
Speaker 3: that's been pushed out, I believe because of tourism is
Speaker 3: not U has decreased quite a bit to New York City.
Speaker 1: Wow, how much has it been pushed out?
Speaker 3: Well, right now, it's just slowed and it's been pushed
Speaker 3: out several months.
Speaker 1: Where else are you seeing that too? In terms of
Speaker 1: projects that you guys are working on, Because Your portfolio
Speaker 1: is just vast and you cover, like we said, academia,
Speaker 1: just so many different kind of commercial aspects. Where else
Speaker 1: are things maybe being slowed down pushed out?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean I can only talk about the areas
Speaker 3: where we work, which is in rail and transportation. You know,
Speaker 3: the FTA I think has slowed on releasing projects. As
Speaker 3: you know, several of their staff, more than i'd say
Speaker 3: fifty percent staff has been released, and so it was
Speaker 3: very difficult for them to push out the capital program
Speaker 3: projects that they do have. And so you know, the
Speaker 3: Gateway seems to be moving ahead just fine.
Speaker 2: And this is the Gateway tunnel between New York and
Speaker 2: New Jersey.
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, yes, yes, and I just prayer that that continues.
Speaker 2: Well, let's I just want to contextualize that a single
Speaker 2: project of yours, this is the terminal one at JFK
Speaker 2: International Airport. It's a nine and a half billion dollars
Speaker 2: in value project. Your firm is working specifically on the
Speaker 2: oversight of project management, construction management. As a government liaison.
Speaker 2: You also handle community outreach, so it really runs the
Speaker 2: gamut of what you're working on. Can you give us
Speaker 2: an idea of the pipeline not necessarily projects that have
Speaker 2: been announced or where the shovel is in the ground,
Speaker 2: but projects that you're talking to municipalities about, projects that
Speaker 2: you're talking to academic institutions about that you're not necessarily
Speaker 2: ready to announce. But give us a good idea of
Speaker 2: what that pipeline looks like in terms of how these
Speaker 2: entities are ready to spend.
Speaker 3: Well, I think you know it's it's positive when we
Speaker 3: think about infrastructure projects, waterfront projects with New York City
Speaker 3: Economic Development Corporation, I believe the MTA projects are eventually
Speaker 3: going to move forward. I think the big frontier is
Speaker 3: some of the micro trips manufacturing plants like Micron that's
Speaker 3: upstate New York. That's one hundred billion dollars. It's moving forward.
Speaker 3: And then right after that, I think it'll be the casinos.
Speaker 3: Once a casino owner, once the three licensing licenses are awarded,
Speaker 3: do you think you'll see starting there and that will
Speaker 3: be billions of dollars.
Speaker 2: Do you think New York City will get one of
Speaker 2: these licenses?
Speaker 3: Who knows? You know, if I had to bid on it,
Speaker 3: I would say probably not in Manhattan.
Speaker 2: Outside of Manhattan, so that would be maybe Queen's near
Speaker 2: the area close to city Field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, queens, Yeah, well absolutely.
Speaker 1: Cheryl talk to us about the environment. And you know,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, about what's going on in terms of
Speaker 1: various government officials or departments that you know, we're official
Speaker 1: where folks have been let go, and so what that
Speaker 1: is doing to different projects, the political environment, the federal
Speaker 1: political environment. You know, we talk about whether administrations, you know,
Speaker 1: are good for the business environment or not. And we
Speaker 1: do have folks who come on and say that this
Speaker 1: is an administration that's going to cut back some of
Speaker 1: the regulatory issues and make it easier better. Is it
Speaker 1: not making it better easier for what you do?
Speaker 3: I don't see evidence of that. You know, if you
Speaker 3: don't have people sitting behind the desk to actually push
Speaker 3: the workout, I don't see it getting better. And you know,
Speaker 3: I have to shift to our energy crisis that can
Speaker 3: potentially happen. You know now that the administration has really
Speaker 3: sunset all of the offshore and onshore win projects that
Speaker 3: we terribly need to supplement our electrical systems. So I
Speaker 3: am very concerned about where we are headed.
Speaker 2: We're speaking right now with Cheryl McKissick Daniel, President CEO
Speaker 2: of mckissic and McKissick. You mentioned the offshore when Bloomberg
Speaker 2: New Energy Finance Bloombergetti aff reporting that US offshore wind
Speaker 2: faces a twenty eight billion dollar hole. With President Trump's
Speaker 2: moves five under construction, US offshore wind farms, representing about
Speaker 2: twenty eight billion dollars of committed capital, faced severe delays
Speaker 2: and even cancelation after recent actions from the Trump administration.
Speaker 2: At mckissic and McKissick, do you work on offshore wind?
Speaker 3: We do not work on offshore wind, But I am
Speaker 3: a board of advisor for National Grid and so I
Speaker 3: understand how critical these other resources are to our grid.
Speaker 3: You know, there's a high demand for electricity. Buildings that
Speaker 3: are being constructed now are one hundred percent electric. We
Speaker 3: have the ev cars, we have the data centers, and
Speaker 3: so electricity is critical for us, and I believe well
Speaker 3: we definitely were counting on these wind forms as another
Speaker 3: strong resource to help us supply electricity. We need.
Speaker 1: You sound so pretty negative. No, I don't mean negative,
Speaker 1: but down on the environment. And I guess we were
Speaker 1: really looking forward to talking to you because we're trying
Speaker 1: to get an idea of the way forward in an
Speaker 1: environment where there's a lot of presidential pressure to cut
Speaker 1: interest rates, and there's some who say, well, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: the economy is doing just fine. We don't need that.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to understand is it just the overall
Speaker 1: environment because of politics or is it higher rates?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What is it that you think is causing kind of
Speaker 1: the biggest issues for you?
Speaker 3: I think it's politics.
Speaker 1: Well do you feel do you feel targeted? Can I
Speaker 1: ask you as as the owner of a minority owner
Speaker 1: of a business.
Speaker 3: No, I don't feel targeted personally. You know, I think
Speaker 3: for some reason, there's a focus on DEI programs, and
Speaker 3: you know, it has not affected our business in New York,
Speaker 3: but it has affected our businesses in other states where
Speaker 3: municipalities have had to suspend their D and I programs
Speaker 3: if they wanted to get funding from the federal government.
Speaker 3: And so that is somewhat of a concern. Now. I
Speaker 3: hope that we continue to be isolated from that in
Speaker 3: New York. I don't know how much longer that will last.
Speaker 1: Do you get?
Speaker 2: You know, on the website, I noticed the firm is
Speaker 2: referred to as quote the oldest minority women owned professional
Speaker 2: design and construction firm in the United States. Do you
Speaker 2: ever consider because of the political environment that we're in
Speaker 2: right now, not necessarily highlighting that.
Speaker 3: No, I do not feel that way. That's what I
Speaker 3: recently wrote my book, The Black Family Who Built America.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad that it's coming out in this time
Speaker 3: and in this age, because it is an account of
Speaker 3: our family history. After two hundred years when the first
Speaker 3: descent of our family came to this country in latest
Speaker 3: first brick, we are still here and we are an
Speaker 3: unshakable pillar of ingenuity and resilience. And this book is
Speaker 3: all about saying, you know, this is a receipt to
Speaker 3: say that we've always been here and we're not going anywhere.
Speaker 3: Black excellence may have been ignored, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: it's not here.
Speaker 2: Cheryl, you got to come back and join us. It's
Speaker 2: great to have you back here. Cheryl McKissick Daniel. The
Speaker 2: new book is called The Black Family Who Built America
Speaker 2: The Mckissics Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers. It was out
Speaker 2: last month. Cheryl mckisick Daniel, President and CEO of Mickissic
Speaker 2: and McKissick