J. Benjamin Alper, PE
Senior Principal
Ben Alper joined Severud Associates in 2005 as an engineer. As he gained experience and technical expertise, he steadily progressed upward through the ranks and, in 2020, was promoted to associate principal. In 2025, Ben was named senior associate principal. Throughout his career, Ben has taken on increasingly challenging projects and expanded his knowledge of structural systems, including the use of specialized materials such as fiber-reinforced polymers. Ben has played an important role on many noteworthy projects such as the TSX Broadway and Palace Theater redevelopment in Manhattan, the Terminal 6 redevelopment at JFK International Airport in Queens, and the education and cultural arts building for the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. His other notable projects include the Beacon Theater restoration in New York City, renovation of the LA Forum in Inglewood, California, and the Gateway Transit Village mixed-use development in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Outside of the office, Ben serves the structural engineering community as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineering committee ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads main committee and its seismic loads subcommittee. He is also a member of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations Publications Committee and the NYC Buildings Structural Technical Committee and is active with the Structural Engineers Association of New York, where he is a past director.
Ben is co-author of several magazine articles, including “TSX: Magic on Broadway in Times Square,” which appeared in Structure in February 2023, “Cold and Hot Weather Concrete,” which appeared in Structure in September 2017 and “Power of the Ring,” about the renovation of the LA Forum, which appeared in Structure in March 2015.
Ben participated in several online discussions about the TSX Broadway project. Listen to the podcasts at the links below.
- – February 2023 – Raising History in Times Square – STO Building Group
- – July 2023 – Transforming Times Square – Zweig Group, TZL
- – November 2023 – Building Lifting – ARCAT (+ on YouTube)
- – December 2023 – How to Relocate an Iconic 100 Year Old Theater– EntreArchitect
- – In May 2024, Cawsie Jijina P.E., Managing Principal at Severud and Ben presented at the Structural Engineering Awards webinar on TSX Broadway and the Palace Theater. Listen to their webinar here.
Read Ben’s October 2024 article, Structural Engineers Transform Times Square
Ben is licensed as a structural engineer in California and Nevada and as a professional engineer in New York and eight other states. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master of Engineering in civil engineering from The Cooper Union.