Joseph Piwowarski Jr. Named Associate Commissioner For Public Buildings

Joseph Piwowarski Jr. Named Associate Commissioner For Public Buildings

Ian Michaels, 646-939-6514, [email protected]

(Long Island City, NY - May 18, 2026) Commissioner Paul A. Ochoa of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced today that Joseph Piwowarski Jr., who began his DDC career as an intern, has been promoted to Associate Commissioner in the agency's Division of Public Buildings. He will oversee a portfolio including approximately 100 active projects valued at more than $3 billion. The appointment became effective earlier this month.

"Joe Piwowarski has shown a great ability to manage public projects effectively, to interact with the public and with elected officials to accurately convey the agency's messaging and to lead and mentor teams," said DDC Commissioner Paul A. Ochoa. "From the day 15 years ago when he joined DDC as an intern, he has maintained a steady pattern of growth and success. It's my honor to introduce him as our new Associate Commissioner."

Associate Commissioner Piwowarski began his career in design and construction as an architectural draftsman in his junior year of high school, and went on to earn both a BS and MA in Architecture from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After internships at the Queens Public Library's capital unit, he started at DDC in June 2011 as a Graduate Student Intern. At the end of the summer he was hired by DDC as a Project Manager, and before being named Associate Commissioner he moved up through various titles to become Assistant Commissioner specializing in projects for the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) and NYC Parks.

He has worked on a wide range of important public buildings projects in his DDC career, including for cultural institutions such as Wave Hill, Nuyorican Café, Historic Richmond Town and the Clemente Soto Velez center in downtown Manhattan. He recently has been supervising several new recreation centers for NYC Parks including the $92 million Mary Cali Dalton Center in Staten Island, which is saving time using design-build contracting instead of the traditional lowest bidder system. Associate Commissioner Piwowarski is also familiar with emergency project management and the use of CM-Build contracting, and his use of CM-Build in the emergency stabilization of the Park Slope Armory in 2024 earned an Engineering Excellence Award from ACEC New York.

The project he recently supervised to renovate the Regents Family Shelter in Manhattan won a Gold 2026 Engineering Excellence Award from ACEC New York in the category of "special projects." Following his own personal experience as an intern, Mr. Piwowarski has also taken an active role supervising and mentoring DDC summer interns.

About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City's primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor Adams' long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $34 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.