Renovating Spaces & Improving Lives in New York

Jennifer Hlavac, project manager for Broadway Builders, started her career in fashion marketing. But after a few years, she realized that wasn’t the right path for her. While Hlavac credits her father for helping her get her foot in the door, she said Bernard Ruf, president of Broadway Builders, gave her the break she needed.

Ruf took a chance on Hlavac at another company, and when he moved to Broadway Builders, she eventually followed, starting as an assistant project manager.

“Bernie quickly realized that I had a bit more potential in me and promoted me to a project manager,” Hlavac said.

Her first project was a renovation and rehabilitation of 1,673 apartment units in east New York City, called the NYCHA Boulevard Houses. This renovation was an “in-place” renovation, where crews worked with and around the people living in the apartments.

“We were able to give them a full new landscape, playgrounds and community spaces, and enhance their security, which was awesome,” Hlavac said. “This job was special to me because I was able to interact with the people who live there. Rather than building something for someone who would move in later, I actually got to meet the people who were in these units and see how these changes were affecting them.”

One of the biggest challenges on this type of renovation is working around the residents. Hlavac said the team provided a schedule and plenty of advanced notice before entering units. They also gave tenants the choice whether to stay or leave while work was being done. For example, if a tenant wanted to stay in their living room while work was being completed in the kitchen, they weren’t made to leave.

“We had a little suite with couches, TVs and snacks [if they chose],” she said. “But most people would leave and go to work, or our crews would enter when they weren’t home.”

Hlavac is currently overseeing phase two of the construction of the Peninsula Building. This new construction project is on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Hunts Point neighborhood. It will consist of more than 700 affordable housing units, three acres of open space and a day care center for the neighborhood. The project has one more phase to completion.

“It’s a total transformation of the area from what people knew it as,” she said.

Hlavac enjoys bringing rejuvenation and affordable housing to New York City’s many boroughs and neighborhoods, but 
she said she will always remember her first construction project, where she met her mentors Alex Adduci and Lee Pursue.

“I met all the people who shaped the construction industry for me,” she said. “It’s the people who took the time to teach me construction. I was in fashion; I didn’t really know much about construction, so the fact that I was able to meet these people and they were able to show me and teach me that I liked construction [was huge].”

Logistics, tight schedules and site safety are some of Hlavac’s biggest daily challenges. She relies on her team to have her back if something goes wrong. She also credits her own problem-solving skills to helping her overcome challenges and grow her career.

“Things rarely go to plan,” Hlavac said. “I need to be able to think on my feet, think outside the box and come up with a solution.”

In addition to problem solving, Hlavac lives by the motto “actions speak louder than words” to shape how she approaches project management and tough situations.

“We can sit around, we can talk about it all we want and there can be plenty of ideas, but until we actually execute those ideas, that’s where the magic happens — in the execution,” she said.

As she looks to the future, Hlavac said she wants to bring more women into construction in general, and into Broadway Builders specifically. The current company makeup is 23% female, and the business is a registered Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise in New York City.

“I don’t think 10 years ago, you saw as many women in the industry as you do now,” she said. “I think it’s definitely shifting toward being inclusive of women in the field.”

She has mentored a few women in the industry and plans to continue to do so. She has committed herself to ensuring women can “take their seat at the table” in the construction industry. To Hlavac, that means making sure her own voice is heard.

“I think I live that every single day, whether it’s just in a meeting or walking the job or interacting with different subcontractors,” she said. “I do think it’s important to make sure my voice is not only heard, but respected. I’m not afraid to say something, to speak up. I’m not just going to sit there and be intimidated. I want to feel empowered to speak up, and I want to sure other people feel empowered to do so.”

Hlavac is a member of Professional Women in Construction, which she said allows her to meet other women across the industry in a variety of roles. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, especially to Florida to visit family.