Race to build at ground zero

[Edward]

RACE TO BUILD AT GROUND ZERO

By STEVE CUOZZO (NEW YORK POST)
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January 29, 2002 -- POWERFUL developers Larry Silverstein and Edward J. Minskoff are racing head-to-head to find tenants for two giant office towers they plan at or near Ground Zero.
But there's a big difference between the schemes: Silverstein can build without tenants, but Minskoff can't.

Neither man regards himself as in competition with the other. Even so, construction timetables may closely coincide for Silverstein's new, 2 million square-foot tower to replace the fallen one at 7 World Trade Center, and Minskoff's proposed 1.46 million square-footer at 270 Greenwich St., two short blocks north.

Silverstein plans to rebuild 7 WTC without pre-leasing, a luxury he can afford thanks to insurance payments from the destruction of the Twin Towers.

But Minskoff, who a year ago boasted he'd build without tenants, says "no" to building on spec.

So with Silverstein itching to break ground, Minskoff is wasting no time promoting 270 Greenwich, even though he doesn't have the land yet.

Minskoff must buy the site bounded by West, Warren, Greenwich and Murray Streets from the city. The deal won't close till later this year, and Economic Development Corp. spokesperson Janel Patterson cautions, "it isn't a fait accompli."

The scheme requires no zoning changes, but faces public review including environmental studies.

Even without title, Minskoff took a full-page ad in the program book for the Real Estate Board of New York's recent annual banquet announcing "May 2004 occupancy."

The ad showed a design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill's David Childs and Mustafa Abadan: a granite facade to the south wed to a glass facade to the north.

Minskoff expects tenants to be drawn also by floor plates of 73,000 square feet at the base, and 44,000 in the tower.

"Our location is superb, accessible to mass transit," he says. "And our conceptual plan is completed. Nobody even knows how they'll use those 16 acres at the WTC."

And as far as rents go, Minskoff says he'll match or beat anything Silverstein is able to offer:

"We'll be on a level playing field with the World Trade Center site, with the same incentive packages," Minskoff says.

Famously brash Minskoff concedes his opening date "might be a few months later than (May 2004)."

But although he won't build without tenants, he intends to close on the land regardless.

Meanwhile, skeptics are hissing over what they consider the scheme's non-viability, citing a glut of space that includes hundreds of thousands of square feet nearby at the World Financial Center.

A broker suggested that Minskoff might overpay for the land, which the broker valued at $60 per buildable square foot - "but if they're working with a pre-Sept. 11 number, he's paying $75."

A different broker laughed off Minskoff's site as "the least compelling location of all development proposals."

But confident Minskoff said: "Right now, if you're a large user, there are only a few [small and inferior alternative] choices, mainly sublease alternatives like the World Financial Center."

[Fabb]

Minskoff expects tenants to be drawn also by floor plates of 73,000 square feet at the base, and 44,000 in the tower.

If that is a 1.46 million square footer, then it's probably not taller than 30 stories. It must be awfully squat.

[Stern]

It will rise 60 storeys, 600 feet
-Tribeca Times

[Fabb]

That doesn't make much sense. 60*44000=2.64 million sq ft.

[CityGod5]

What's it gonna look like?

[Stern]

http://www.geocities.com/nyskyscrapers/downtown.html

It is my opinion that 60 storeys is that annoying equivalent, if it was, angle. Sources from SOM list it as 34 storeys.

Furthermore Marshall G. lists it at 597 feet.


I'd like to point out that Silverstein is taking great lengths not to make #7 a wall, consequent to opening up the street level. Good man. But this buildings main aspect will be of a vertical black stone wall. So much for that.

All downtown projects need to be reconsidered in the wake of the WTC's lost. For so much of the designs of buildings following the WTC take their design ques from the complex, most obvious is that of the WFC. The Guggenheim and NYSE are 'too big' for the reduced skyline, so they need to be reconsidered. Furthermore if lowermanhattan will be opened to the public, it cant be blocked.

It is my opinion that lower manhattan is overbuilt as it is, spare the artdeco gems. But this is NY and its only healthy for it continue to grow, I dare say we need "context", more importantly better planning as a whole for the entire district.

*

[Fabb]

I hate that new way of counting floors. It's misleading. 600 ft is not a lot...

[Edward]

By PAUL H.B. SHIN
Daily News Staff Writer

The state's economic development czar gave a resounding thumbs-up yesterday to starting to rebuild 7 World Trade Center as early as June, despite concerns by some that the timetable is too fast.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., which oversees the agency in charge of downtown redevelopment, said the economic viability of the neighborhood hinges on the quick reconstruction of 7 World Trade Center. Because the 50,000-square-foot plot lies across the street from Ground Zero, reconstruction can be considered without tackling the sensitive issue of how to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that destroyed the Trade Center complex, he said.

"The rebuilding of this site will not hinder any plans for a memorial," Gargano said during a speech to 700 people at the South Street Seaport for a day-long conference on rebuilding.

Real estate developer Larry Silverstein, who built the original 47-story skyscraper on the block between Vesey and Barclay Sts. in 1987, has said he wants to begin building a new office tower on the site as early as June. Despite the sweeping authority given to the new Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to oversee downtown projects, Silverstein has said he believes he needs only the approval of the Port Authority, which owns the land.

Madelyn Wils, chairwoman of Community Board 1 and a board member of the new corporation, has expressed concern the plan is moving too quickly. Among her concerns are how to reorient the building so it does not block Greenwich St., and where to place Con Edison substations and Port Authority cargo bays.

Steve Solomon, a spokesman for Silverstein, said the developer "feels very confident that he will be able to proceed rapidly."


Original Publication Date: 2/8/02

[kliq6]

270 Greenwich street has been called off, it will be redsigned as an residential tower

[abrahamtim]

how many feet is one storey ?

[kliq6]

it depends, around 20 now