The Black Family Who Built America

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0:32Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio. Earlier in our program, we want to kind of go back to getting a good idea of what's going on in the U.S. economy. And earlier in our program, we spoke with billionaire developer Rick Caruso. He's founder and executive chair of Caruso. And he did talk about the economy, particularly in Southern California, Tim. We wanted to continue with the building and the economy and bring back Cheryl McKissick Daniels. She's president and CEO of McKissick and McKissick.

1:08Cheryl McKissack Daniel:It's the 120-year-old company that plays everywhere when it comes to construction management, disaster recovery and resilience, program management, compliance and more. The company works in the academic, aviation, healthcare and transportation park stadiums and more. Think about the Barclays Center, Oculus here in Manhattan, the new Terminal One. over at JFK, the Lincoln Financial Field, where the Philadelphia Eagles play, and so much more. Cheryl McKissick-Daniel joins us from New York. Cheryl, welcome back. It's been more than two years since you were last on the program. How are you?

1:41Businessweek Hosts:I'm terrific.

1:42Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Thank you. Well, thanks so much for joining us. I want to start by just getting an understanding from you about the economy, where it is in your view, and if people are spending money.

1:54Businessweek Hosts:I think people are holding back a little bit. Prices are high. I know as far as the construction industry, we are beginning to feel some of the tariffs. And so, yeah, I think people are holding back on spending.

2:09Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Talk a little bit about where you're feeling the tariffs.

2:14Businessweek Hosts:Well, one in particular, I would say, is JFK Terminal 1. We're finishing up phase A of that project, which is almost three million square feet in 2026. 2026, but we are scheduled to start work on phase B. And that's been pushed out, I believe, because of tourism has decreased quite a bit to New York City. Wow. How much has it been pushed out? Well, right now it's just slowed and it's been pushed out several months.

2:53Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Where else are you seeing that, too, in terms of projects that you guys are working on? Because your portfolio is just vast and you cover, like we said, academia, just so many different kind of commercial aspects. Where else are things maybe being slowed down, pushed out?

3:11Businessweek Hosts:Well, I mean, I can only talk about the areas where we work, which is in rail and transportation. You know, the FTA, I think, has slowed on releasing projects. As you know, several of their staff, I'd say 50 percent of their staff has been released. And so it was very difficult for them to push out the capital program projects that they do have. And so, you know, the gateway seems to be moving ahead just fine.

3:51Cheryl McKissack Daniel:This is the gateway tunnel between New York and New Jersey.

3:54Businessweek Hosts:Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. And I just pray that that continues.

3:59Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Well, I just want to contextualize a single project of yours. This is the Terminal One at JFK International Airport. It's a$9.5 billion in value project. Your firm is working specifically on the oversight of project management, construction management as a government liaison. You also handle community outreach. So it really runs the gamut of what you're working on. Can you give us an idea of the pipeline? Not necessarily projects that have been announced or where the shovel is in the ground, but projects that you're talking to municipalities about, projects that you're talking to academic institutions about that you're not necessarily ready to announce, but give us a good idea of what that pipeline looks like in terms of how these entities are ready to spend.

4:49Businessweek Hosts:Well, I think, you know, it's positive when we think about infrastructure projects, waterfront projects with New York City Economic Development Corporation. I believe the MTA projects are eventually going to move forward. I think the big frontier is some of the microchip manufacturing plants like Micron that's upstate New York. That's$100 billion. It's moving forward. And then right after that, I think it'll be the casinos. Once a casino owner, once the three licenses are awarded, you'll see construction starting there. And that would be billions of dollars.

5:38Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Do you think New York City will get one of these licenses?

5:44Businessweek Hosts:Who knows? You know, if I had to bet on it, I would say probably not in Manhattan, but outside of Manhattan.

5:51Cheryl McKissack Daniel:So that would be maybe Queens near the area close to Citi Field.

5:56Businessweek Hosts:Yeah.

5:57Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Queens.

5:57Businessweek Hosts:Yeah. Well, absolutely.

6:01Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Cheryl, talk to us about the environment. And, you know, as you mentioned about what's going on in terms of various government officials or departments that, you know, where folks have been let go. And so what that is doing to different projects, the political environment, the federal political environment, you know, we talk about whether administrations, you know, are good for the business environment or not. And we do have folks who come on and say that this is an administration that's going to cut back some of the regulatory issues and make it easier, better. Is it not making it better, easier for what you do?

6:44Businessweek Hosts:I don't see evidence of that. You know, if you don't have people sitting behind the desk to actually push the workout, I don't see it getting better. And, you know, I have to shift to our energy crisis that can potentially happen, you know, now that the administration has really sunset all of the offshore and onshore wind projects that we terribly need to supplement our electrical systems. So I am very concerned about where we are headed.

7:24Cheryl McKissack Daniel:we're speaking right now with cheryl mckissick daniel president ceo of mckissick and mckissick you mentioned the offshore wind bloomberg new energy finance bloomberg nef reporting that u.s offshore wind faces a 28 billion dollar hole with president trump's moves five under construction u.s offshore wind farms representing about 28 billion dollars of committed capital face severe delays and even cancellation after recent actions from the trump administration At McKissick and McKissick, do you work on offshore wind?

7:57Businessweek Hosts:We do not work on offshore wind, but I am a board of advisor for National Grid. And so I understand how critical these other resources are to our grid. You know, there's a high demand for electricity. Buildings that are being constructed now are 100 percent electric. We have the EV cars. We have the data centers. And so electricity is critical for us. And I believe, well, we definitely were counting on these wind farms as another strong resource to help us supply the electricity we need.

8:37Cheryl McKissack Daniel:You sound, Cheryl, pretty negative. Now, I don't mean negative, but down on the environment. And I guess we were really looking forward to talking to you because we're trying to get an idea of the way forward in an environment where there's a lot of presidential pressure to cut interest rates. And there are some who say, well, wait a minute, the economy is doing just fine. We don't need that. I'm just trying to understand, is it just the overall environment because of politics or is it higher rates? Like, what is it that you think is causing kind of the biggest issues for you?

9:17Businessweek Hosts:I think it's politics.

9:19Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Well, do you feel targeted? Can I ask you as a minority owner of a business?

9:27Businessweek Hosts:No, I don't feel targeted personally. I think for some reason there's a focus on DEI programs. And it has not affected our business in New York, but it has affected our businesses in other states where municipalities have had to suspend their DEI programs. programs if they wanted to get funding from the federal government. And so that is somewhat of a concern. Now, I hope that we continue to be isolated from that in New York. I don't know how much longer that will last.

10:09Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Do you get, you know, on the website, I noticed the firm is referred to as, quote, the oldest minority women owned professional design and construction firm in the United States. Do you ever consider because of the political environment that we're in right now, not necessarily highlighting that.

10:26Businessweek Hosts:No, I do not feel that way. That's why I recently wrote my book, The Black Family Who Built America. I'm so glad that it's coming out in this time and in this age, because it is a account of our family history. After 200 years, when the first descendant of Our family came to this country and laid his first brick. We are still here, and we are an unshakable pillar of ingenuity and resilience. And this book is all about saying, you know, this is a receipt to say that we've always been here, and we're not going anywhere. Black excellence may have been ignored, but that doesn't mean it's not here.

11:11Cheryl McKissack Daniel:Cheryl, you've got to come back and join us. It's great to have you back here. Cheryl McKissick Daniel. The new book is called The Black Family Who Built America, The McKissicks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers. It was out last month. Cheryl McKissick Daniel, president and CEO of McKissick and McKissick.

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