From the ground up

TO SEE THE biggest revival on Broadway, walk past the theaters showing remakes of Chicago and Annie and stop on the corner of 42nd Street. Previewing there is another spectacle not seen in these parts for many years: construction of a new office building.

With photovoltaic panels, recycling chutes and high-speed Internet wiring, 4 Times Square promises to be an updated version of a classic. A project of the Durst Organization, the 48-story tower has snapped the construction business out of its doldrums and opened a new season of real estate development. In the past two years, some 3 million square feet of Manhattan office space has made it past the drawing board, with more on the horizon.

This time around, the external glamour of the Eighties has been replaced by the internal trappings--and the cost sensibilities--of the computer literate Nineties.

Gone are the days of huge overruns, when projects were completed late and over budget. Now, contractors guarantee the cost of their jobs.

Technology makes it easier to keep expenses in line. Every steel beam arrives with a bar code. Even the city's permitting process has been speeded up through electronics.

"Today, you don't build around people; you build around technology," says Peter Davoren, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction Corp.

New buildings are customized to suit companies, particularly with innovations in communications. Bear Stearns Cos., which is drawing up plans for...