7 World Trade Center - by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

[ZippyTheChimp]

Oct 08, 2004
Top office-floor complete. Only the roof structure remains.
http://www.pbase.com/image/34816439.jpg

[NoyokA]

The problem with the old 7WTC was its dimmensions, it was too long, it was fat. The New 7WTC, while not perfect, has a far better height to width ratio, the extraneous factor is its all glass fascade.

[gonzea]

Glad to see 7 wtc is near completion. However at 750 it should of been at least 100 feet taller. From queensboro plaza train station in LIC you can barley see 7 wtc now. I was upset with this.

Could anyone tell me how to post pictures here?
gonzea@yahoo.com
thanx-[/img][/url]

[yyy]

Could anyone tell me how to post pictures here?
gonzea@yahoo.com
thanx-[/img][/url]

In order to post pictures you have to use the Img button which you can find in the posting page. You should type the link to the photo. If that photo isn't on the web you'll have to upload it from your computer into a special website like: http://photobucket.com. Then link them to there :D[/quote]

[NoyokA]

Thanks.

[gonzea]

No problem, I should be putting up more pics as soon as I take them.

[gonzea]

Just got back from a lengthy session.
All taken oct 9th ,04 2:45-3:45pm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/DSCF0080.jpg
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IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/DSCF0049.jpg[/IMG]
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/DSCF0034.jpg

[yyy]

Wow, thanks for the photos. I see they are about to finish it :D BTW, one of your photos wasn't linked well.

[Johnnyboy]

it was fun watching it rise. hope the freedom tower and the other huge skyscrapers being build will be as fun to watch rise.

[gonzea]

If you look on the second to last pic. You see bore beems rising. This should be the extra push that is really gunna make it stand out.

[gonzea]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/DSCF0049.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/DSCF0050.jpg
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[NyC MaNiAc]

*Orgasms*

[yepole]

Setting up one window (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Constr_7WTC/00671a.gif) 8)

[Pilaro]

I see, so that is how they get those buggers up there. Cool little video.

[Towerman8]

It actually looks pretty good now

[NYguy]

OCT 10
Reflection of the clouds...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/34970852/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/34970856/medium.jpg


Old meets new...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/34970861/medium.jpg

[TonyO]

NY1

7 World Trade Center Set To Be "Topped Out"

Seven World Trade Center was the last building to collapse September 11th, but it is the first to be rebuilt.

On Thursday, the 52-story skyscraper will be "topped out" – one month ahead of schedule and just 10 months after the first steel beam for the tenant floors went into place.

"It will be the first building rebuilt to show we are back stronger than ever in Lower Manhattan," said Governor George Pataki last December.

All of the major rebuilding players are expected to be in attendance to see the final steel beam ceremoniously raised into position. The new building is the vision of architect David Childs and is 5 stories taller than its predecessor.

The first ten floors are occupied by a Con Edison substation that provides power for the site and parts of Lower Manhattan. The tenant floors begin on the 11th floor.

Although the building is expected to be complete by next year, an anchor tenant has not signed on the dotted line. Developer Larry Silverstein says he is not worried.

"We are talking now to a number of tenants," said Silverstein. "Now that the building is clearly happening and people begin to realize that this is going to be a fete accompli, and that it's a major and a significant building, the level of activity has increased significantly, which is very gratifying."

The new "7" is across the street from where the Freedom Tower will eventually rise. According to the developer, the two office towers will share sophisticated design features that will make the buildings safer.

"The life safety enhancements that we are building into Seven will be included in the Freedom Tower and in every one of the buildings to be built at the Trade Center," said Silverstein. "That's crucially important and considering what we learned on 9/11 that is the only way we would rebuild the Trade Center."

Some of those safety features include a two-foot concrete core that surrounds the elevator shafts and fire stairs. And those stairs are five and a half feet wide, with landings deep enough to fit a person in a wheelchair while keeping the flow of foot traffic moving.

It's a sign that some of the lessons learned will hopefully make the site a safer place.

– John Schiumo

[ryan]

I saw 7 in person today, and I have to say that it is really beautiful - the acute angle is more dramatic than in photos, and the glass is perfect. Much better than the renderings...

[Edward]

7 WTC (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm), Woolworth Building, "Brooklyn Service" tugboat, and the Brooklyn Bridge. 16 October 2004.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/7wtc_woolworth_16oct04.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm)

[BigMac]

New York Times
October 21, 2004

PUBLIC LIVES

A Skyscraper That Had to Be Built Twice

By ROBIN FINN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/10/20/nyregion/21profile.184.jpg
"The first time I built 7 World Trade, I thought it would last a lifetime and a day." Elio Cettina

Clearly the star-in-residence at the Tishman Construction Corporation trailer hunkered alongside the steel skeleton of 7 World Trade Center, the first skyscraper to redefine the horizon at ground zero, Elio Cettina, the boss of this and other major Tishman projects, trades his blue hard hat for a blue dress shirt at day's end. The hat goes on a shelf with others, some blue, some white. His pen and eyeglasses are shoved into a shirt pocket.

"Goodbye to you, Babalu," he says, paternally, to a departing colleague, and then, just as paternally, offers a visitor a sample of the trailer's amenities: a functional office chair, the portable toilet down the hall, some stale coffee?

If he's tired, it doesn't show. He's 63, but his energy level skews young. After a day building skyscrapers, he's likely to spend the evening at home in his basement shop, building furniture. He once restored a 1959 Morgan convertible he found junked in the backyard of a home he and his wife had bought in Bergen County; built a garage for it, too. Mr. Cettina doesn't merely tinker, he constructs.

This season, he's a builder on a momentous roll. Now that 7 World Trade Center has reached its full height, an occasion to be celebrated today with a topping-out ceremony, he can concentrate on the excavation for the Freedom Tower's foundation. Like 7 W.T.C., it will have an indestructible - he hopes - cement core.

"I love skyscrapers," he says, "because they challenge your ability to think big." When he builds them on time and on budget, he likes them even more. He keeps his mouth shut about aesthetics: "I have been called insensitive to color and design. Whether I like it, I don't like it, I build it just the same."

Mr. Cettina doesn't wear a white hard hat, despite his status as a Tishman vice president of field operations and general superintendent. Asked to decode his job titles, he hands over a business card and instead decodes the hard-hat hierarchy. "White is for V.I.P.'s," he explains with a dismissive wave of his sizable fist, his English granted extra gusto by an Italian accent that has stuck by him since he left Bologna for Hoboken, N.J., at age 14.

"I've worn a blue hat here 37 years,'' he says. "I associate with my people. I can be a little boisterous. I need to operate in a different environment than the executives. Here in the trailer, I'm the boss. You do it my way or the right way." That they are the same is implicit.
Sure, he loves his long-term boss, the Tishman family, but not enough to install himself at corporate headquarters, at 666 Fifth Avenue. Mr. Cettina, the son of a union carpenter and a garment district seamstress, attended the Newark College of Engineering and boasts of having veins that pulse with brick, concrete, steel and mortar. And a little salt water: he is a sea captain's grandson, hence his captain's license and the fishing boat moored on the Manasquan River near his home in Brielle, N.J. He cuts his own bait and cleans his own fish. Construction sites, not conference rooms, are his natural habitat.

"Every building needs to be built" is his basic philosophy, though if he has to choose, his favorite is the one he renovated, the New Amsterdam Theater, a Times Square landmark. The gargoyles were a hoot, the moldings a challenge.

But 7 World Trade Center is the only skyscraper he's built twice. Not the mushy type, he admits he cried when, in a coda to a horrific day, the building, evacuated and devastated by fire, shuddered and crumpled, hours after the twin towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001. He was on the roof at a Tishman job in Midtown and could scarcely comprehend the desecration he saw unfolding downtown. "The first time I built 7 World Trade, I thought it would last a lifetime and a day," he says.

Mr. Cettina's "people" number 600 on the site of the new 7 World Trade Center, and because they are a competent crew and he is a demanding taskmaster, the topping out of the skyscraper - the positioning of the final steel beam on the 52nd story - is taking place as originally, and optimistically, scheduled.

"Politics dictated that certain things had to happen at certain times, and we set out to make sure they did," he says. "I had wanted to come back down here in the worst way, and when Tishman got the contract, nobody was happier than me." No qualms about building something he'd already built? Mr. Cettina, whose two sons work for the Tishmans after receiving college tuition assistance from them, is not bothered by déjà vu. "I do this for a living," he says. "Wanting to rebuild was automatic."

First came the groundbreaking in November 2003, then the activation of the Con Ed substation in the skyscraper's base, and now, 15,000 tons of steel later, the target date for the topping out ceremony has been met. "We set ourselves a schedule that was difficult but doable," he says. "There was a lot of resolve and resolution from the trades. Nobody gave up. Nobody begged off. This building is a symbol."

Mr. Cettina is positive that the new 7 World Trade Center is the safest skyscraper ever to poke its nose up into the cityscape: "It's a building within a building," he says of its reinforced concrete core and steel frame. "There is no stronger or better way to build a building. This one will last two lifetimes and a day." A heady prediction, but he can't help himself.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[NYguy]

NEWSDAY


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14754280.jpg

The last I beam is hoisted to the top of 7 World Trade Center Thursday, October 21, 2004, during the topping off ceremony in lower Manhattan.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14754281.jpg

Construction workers applaud as the last I beam is hoisted to the top of 7 World Trade Center Thursday, October 21, 2004, at the topping off ceremony in lower Manhattan.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14754216.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753693.jpg

Construction workers lean against the final steel beam before it is lifted into place at a topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center October 21, 2004 in New York City. The 52-story building is five stories taller than the original 7 World Trade Center which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753696.jpg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (L) and New York Governor George Pataki look on with construction workers at a topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center October 21, 2004 in New York City. The 52-story building is five stories taller than the original 7 World Trade Center


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753688.jpg

L-R) Silverstein Properties President Larry Silverstein, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Silverstein Properties Vice President John Klein watch as the final steel beam is lifted into place at a topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center October 21, 2004 in New York City.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753690.jpg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg watches with construction workers as the final steel beam is lifted into place at a topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center October 21, 2004 in New York City.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753657.jpg

A makeshift memorial to a deceased firefighter is seen after the topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center (R) October 21, 2004 in New York City.


http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14753647.jpg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg with construction workers as the final steel beam is lifted into place at a topping out ceremony to mark completion of steel erection for 7 World Trade Center

[BigMac]

NY1
October 21, 2004

Seven World Trade Center "Topped Out" Ahead Of Schedule

http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/70/139276.jpg

Seven World Trade Center was the last building to collapse September 11, 2001, but it is the first to be rebuilt.

In a ceremony on Thursday, the 52-story skyscraper was "topped out" one month ahead of schedule and just 10 months after the first steel beam for the tenant floors went into place.

All of the major rebuilding players, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, and hundreds of construction workers were in attendance to see the final steel beam ceremoniously raised into position.

“This is an important day - it is more than a symbolic day,” said Pataki. “It is New York coming together to keep our word and to keep our pledge to those we lost on September 11, and to those who wondered on and after September 11, could New York come back? Were we going to rise from the ashes? Could we get beyond the sorrow and the pain? The answer is, exuberantly, yes."

“We lost the first one and now we’re all proud to rebuild the second one," said one of the workers.

“It’s been nice to be part of it,” said another worker. “I’ve been down here since the event happened, and to see that we're beginning life again and we're going on is nice."

The new building, which was designed by architect David Childs, is five stories taller than its predecessor but is skinnier. The first ten floors will be occupied by a Con Edison substation that provides power for the trade center site and parts of Lower Manhattan. The tenant floors begin on the 11th.

Although the building is expected to be complete by next year, an anchor tenant has not signed on the dotted line. Developer Larry Silverstein says he is not worried.

"We are talking now to a number of tenants," said Silverstein. "Now that the building is clearly happening and people begin to realize that this is going to be a fete accompli, and that it's a major and a significant building, the level of activity has increased significantly, which is very gratifying."

The new skyscraper is across the street from where the Freedom Tower will eventually rise. According to the developer, the two office towers will share sophisticated design features that will make the buildings safer.

"The life safety enhancements that we are building into Seven will be included in the Freedom Tower and in every one of the buildings to be built at the Trade Center," said Silverstein. "That's crucially important and considering what we learned on 9/11 that is the only way we would rebuild the Trade Center."

Some of those safety features include a two-foot concrete core that surrounds the elevator shafts and fire stairs. Those stairs are five and a half feet wide, with landings deep enough to fit a person in a wheelchair, while at the same time keeping the flow of foot traffic moving.

It's a sign that some of the lessons learned will hopefully make the site a safer place.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein will sit down for an interview with NY1’s John Schiumo on “New York Tonight” at 8 p.m. Thursday

Copyright © 2004 NY1 News

[ZippyTheChimp]

I wish they could hoist up some tenants.

So far, it's turned out better than I expected. It gets your attention, but doesn't shout. A big improvement over its predecessor.

[NYCResident]

Agreed.. I pass by 7 WTC everyday and it looks better and better..

[DougGold]

Have there been any plans released for the little triangular park that's going next to it?

[NYatKNIGHT]

I haven't seen anything about that park. I always assumed it would be among the last things to be completed because it will come in handy as a staging area.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Have there been any plans released for the little triangular park that's going next to it?
Page 19 (http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=779&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start =270) of this thread.

[NYguy]

DOWNTOWN EXPRESS

Silverstein shows off 7 W.T.C.’s mettle to Silver

http://downtownexpress.com/de_77/7.gif

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, foreground, looked out from the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center site with developer Larry Silverstein, who is also building the Freedom Tower at the W.T.C. site. Silverstein remains confident he will have the money rebuild offices at ground zero. “A billion here, a billion there — it isn’t what it used to be,” he quipped.


By Josh Rogers

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein showed Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver around 7 W.T.C. Wednesday assuring the speaker that the building, expected to be completed early next year, will not only be one of the safest office buildings around, but that it will also help bring back the Downtown economy.

Silver saw the open-air 40th-floor and the 23rd-floor, where the windows are installed and many of the new safety features are in place.

The 52-story building is across the street from the W.T.C. site and collapsed the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001 after a fire started from burning debris that hit the building.

Silverstein pointed to the 10,000-pound concrete core that will protect the elevators, stairwells, sprinklers and the communication system. Each floor also has 70 tons of steel reinforcement, Silverstein said.

“This building will be built to last,” he said.

Silverstein said he accepted a federal report concluding that the building collapsed because the debris ignited the diesel fuel lines running in 7 W.T.C. Much of the diesel was stored in 7 W.T.C. for the city’s Office of Emergency Management command center. Silverstein said the diesel will be stored under an adjacent plaza to be built off the building’s footprint. The stairwells are 20 percent wider than building codes require in order to allow rescue workers more room to climb up while employees can evacuate. The stairwells also have airplane-type emergency lighting that Silverstein said has never been used in office buildings before.

Safety is also an issue during construction, which will soon involve over 1,000 workers. A construction worker fell to his death on Sept. 29 and on the day of the tour, another worker was taken to the hospital with a bloody foot. A Silverstein spokesperson said later that the worker stepped on a nail, was given a tetanus shot and later released.

Silverstein, who did not cross paths with the injured worker during the tour, said at the start that both 7 W.T.C. and the W.T.C. site would soon be buzzing with thousands of construction workers on different projects in a relatively confined space.

“At ground zero, there will be 10,000 people working there every day and that’s without the memorial, without the museum, without the cultural center, without the PATH,” he said.

Silverstein has the leasing rights to the site, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his workers began demolition work to prepare for construction of the Freedom Tower this summer. Extensive work below street level must be completed before construction on the new PATH commuter-subway station, the W.T.C. memorial and the proposed cultural buildings can begin.

The demolition of the parking lot by the Freedom Tower site is still not finished. Silverstein said it is a slow process because the protective slurry wall has to be stabilized as the lot is dismantled, and remnants of the lot are being preserved as historical artifacts of the Sept. 11 attack.

Both the lot and the Freedom Tower’s symbolic cornerstone, which was laid in the ground July 4, 2004 are visible from 7 W.T.C., as is the Statue of Liberty. To the north are views of the Empire State Building, to the East are landmark buildings such as the Municipal Building, and just to the west the Hudson River and the World Financial Center are also visible.

Silver said he was impressed how good the views are even from the 23rd floor. “The views are breathtaking,” he said. “They will come flocking here. It will sell itself.”

He said the return of office workers will help stimulate what many residents want — more and better places to eat, shop and have fun. Rebuilding will insure that “Downtown is better than ever,” Silver added. “It’s going to come back stronger than ever.”

Silverstein reiterated his confidence that he will have the money to complete the Freedom Tower and the four other offices planned for the trade center complex. Even if he wins his last major insurance lawsuit, he will only have about half the money he’ll need to complete the $7 billion project. In previous lawsuits, Silverstein has lost his claims that the two plane attacks constituted two separate occurrences entitling him to $7 billion, over double the estimated value of the W.T.C.

“A billion here, a billion there, it isn’t what it used to be,” he quipped. Later, he said he thought he’d be able to make up any shortfall with tax-free Liberty Bonds, a federal, post-9/11 program passed to stimulate development.

[TLOZ Link5]

The best new glass box in decades.

[Johnnyboy]

100% True.

[yepole]

Few more pictures of 7WTC as it is topping out:
http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/00989s.jpg (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/00989.jpg) http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/00999s.jpg (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/00999.jpg) http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01001s.jpg (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01001.jpg) http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01003s.jpg (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01003l.jpg)

[sirhcman]

yepole...1st pic is excellent!

[NYguy]

Nov 3, 2004


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[gonzea]

thanx ! and keep posting new pictures whenever you get a chance! I am really making good use of them!

Looking at these pictures a say could it of hurt to make it just 100 ft. taller. When I am in LIC queens I can hardly see it From the elevated n,w train queens boro plaza.
It just doesn't stand out like it should.

[STT757]

Looking at these pictures a say could it of hurt to make it just 100 ft. taller

I was thinking that if they did the top of the building like 30 Hudson Street they would make the building look much taller.

http://www.jcedc.org/photos/gsnight450.JPG

[gonzea]

That's a good point. The only thing going for us right now is the "roof structure" that seems to add a few more "floors" to the bldg. There is nothing we can do now. I hope they put a large antannea on top !

[TonyO]

Silverstein Seeks $50/Sq. Foot Rents on 7WTC

November 8 2004 at 2:30 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LARRY SILVERSTEIN, the Manhattan property developer who, aged 73, plans to devote the rest of his life to a $12 billion (£6.5 billion) project to redevelop the World Trade Center site, hopes to set a record rent for Lower Manhattan with the first of six proposed skyscrapers planned for the Ground Zero area.
Mr Silverstein is quoting rents of more than $50 per sq ft for 7 World Trade Centre, which replaces an original building of the same name that was destroyed shortly after the twin towers in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The price-tag is more than $10 per sq ft higher than current top rents in Lower Manhattan and the previous highest rents in the former World Trade Centre complex.



Adam Foster, senior vice-president of CB Richard Ellis, the property consultant that has been appointed to let the building, said the rent was justified because 7 World Trade Centre is the best building ever to be constructed in New York City.

Mr Foster said the building had already attracted strong interest from a host of financial, legal and public sector companies, adding that he was confident that CB Richard Ellis would secure several lettings during 2005.

Companies that move into the building stand to benefit from a package of incentives granted by the US Government and the Port Authority on whose land it stands. Companies will receive a 25-30 per cent discount on their power bills and tax breaks on money spent fitting out their office in the building.

Mr Silverstein claims that the building will be the first building to be certified officially as “green” and environmentally friendly in New York.

The glass on the building is specially designed to allow the maximum penetration of natural light, which will reduce heating and lighting costs.

The company also describes 7 World Trade Centre as the “safest office building in America”.

The original World Trade Centre buildings had just plasterboard inside the core, but the new building has a 2 ft thick wall of concrete core running the full length of the building. Mr Silverstein said that the concrete can withstand the equivalent pressure of that withstood by a military bunker. The building, which at 52 storeys, is two higher than Canary Wharf in London’s docklands, is due to be completed by early 2006.

Two weeks ago Mr Silverstein “topped out” the scheme by placing the final steel beam, adorned with the American flag, on top of the 750-ft structure, which he says stands as a gleaming testament to New York’s ambitious rebuilding effort.

STILL ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT


The 7 World Trade Centre site will be completed in early 2006, when the Lower Manhattan commercial property market is expected to be back in full swing.

3.66 million sq ft of space has been leased this year, up from 3.29 million sq ft last year.

Vacancy levels remain high at 14.7%. Average asking rents have fallen $0.83 to $30.49 a sq ft. “The market is starting to turn the corner,” said Adam Foster, at CB Richard Ellis.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8209-1343122,00.html

[gonzea]

If he can get what he is asking then that might be a good thing.
Because money that was taken away directly by terrorists is now coming back to the spot where it was stopped.
Then the money would go out and pay for the other towers to go up around the site.
Can't wait to see what happens?

[BrooklynRider]

With the dump that Fitterman Hall has become across the street and extensive construction sites soon to begin work very close by to the south, north, east and west. It is not going to be a "pleasant" area to work in.

[Kris]

http://www.theslatinreport.com/top_story.jsp?StoryName=1116curtains.txt

[NoyokA]

Page 19 of this thread.

Thanks Zippy. I revisited that page where I predicted on Feb 17, 2004:

At this rate 7WTC should top out at about the third week of October.

7 WTC topped out on October 21, 2004........not too shabby.

[Russell]

Some images from last weekend
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/sax0vtr/New%20York/100_1980.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/sax0vtr/New%20York/100_1873.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/sax0vtr/New%20York/100_1867.jpg

[gonzea]

the first pic in the set of three is probably the best one I have seen thus far.
Keep posting it makes for good wallpaper.
Thanks -

[James Kovata]

Love the first pic. From where did you take the shot?

[hella good]

Its taken from the Esb observatory.

[NYguy]

Nov 23, 2004


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More towers to come...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/36714804/medium.jpg

[gonzea]

Great pics, thank you-
sad to see it's only 750 not 850.
Anway keep posting pics people.

[NoyokA]

To be perfectly honest Im not overly impressed.

[PHLguy]

^same, It really doesnt seem like a 740 footer when youre under it, I was there yesterday and it felt more like 600

[NoyokA]

With me its not so much the height, although a taller building would afford it better proportions, but its design is sorely lacking, it is in dire need of some sort of visual interest. Use for reference the most recent of simple modernist, composed, and visually interesting buildings in London.

[gonzea]

Do you think they will put a big antennea on top?

[NoyokA]

Do you think they will put a big antennea on top?

No. That'll go a block to the south.

[Derek2k3]

To be perfectly honest Im not overly impressed.

I thought I was the only one.

[NewYorkYankee]

I like it. :D

[JMGarcia]

This building may have a good number of internal safety features and other amenities and improvements to make it more marketable to potential renters but as architecture it is nothing to write home about.

Its best feautre is its facade but even that can't be attributed to the architects but rather then firm that came up with and provided that facade system and glass.

Perhaps they crown, if it comes out and is lit up anything like what is shown in the renderings, will add some interest.

To not coin a phrase, a project of the bland leading the bland. ;)

Ah, to have had a truely visionary client for the site.....

[NYguy]

To not coin a phrase, a project of the bland leading the bland.
Ah, to have had a truely visionary client for the site.....


Enough of the visionary bs.

The true vision was to get this site back up and running so soon after the terrorists attacks. And I would say we are doing far better than could be expected at this point. Is it the world's greatest building? No. But it doesn't need to be.


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/36714781/medium.jpg_http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/36714794/medium.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

Without tenants? :P

The only things that needed to be complete as soon as possible are the substations and the PATH.

To be perfectly honest Im not overly impressed.

I thought I was the only one.
Were you two disappointed by the outcome, or did you always think it would turn out this way?

Overall, I am pleased with the final result, because I didn't expect much from the renderings. The facade turned out much better than I expected. Since the FT will be a busy building, maybe something quiet is needed here.

I think the parallelogram shape both helps and hinders the design - depending on your vantage point. From the SE or NW, the sharp corner gives the appearance of greater height and less bulk. The effect is just the opposite from the SW or NE. As you walk north on West St from Liberty to Vesey, the building starts to look fat. From West Broadway, it looms like a big slab.

[Derek2k3]

Were you two disappointed by the outcome, or did you always think it would turn out this way?

Disappointed from the beginning, however, I must admit that it came out better than I expected. If it came out like those white translucent models I would have been impressed.

[Johnnyboy]

all of you talk like its already finished. It will pobably and hopefully look better when its finished

[kz1000ps]

I think the parallelogram shape both helps and hinders the design - depending on your vantage point. From the SE or NW, the sharp corner gives the appearance of greater height and less bulk. The effect is just the opposite from the SW or NE.

This is also the exact same for Time Warner Center. Except that's much worse than this one, whose pleasant glass facade does not fall back into an early 80's frame of mind. However I agree with Stern in that the design relies too heavily on its shape (successful half of the time only). I don't expect much of the crown, but hopefully it will have enough character to it to complete the composition. Having said that, I very much liked it in person when I visited a month ago...so I guess it's up to time to tell.

[Towerman8]

why are there 2 slots going up the building?

[Gulcrapek]

Probably for ventilation until the HVAC is installed.

[James Kovata]

To be perfectly honest Im not overly impressed.

I thought I was the only one.

The truth comes out. It's a bland glass box.

[gonzea]

Hey it's better than nothing!

[NewYorkYankee]

Hey it's better than nothing!

I have to agree.

[yepole]

It will take some time to complete the upper portion of the building
http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01612s.jpg (http://www.unwiredny.com/pictures.unwiredny.com/Catalog/Constr_7WTC/01612l.jpg)

[gonzea]

what are they doing to the upper portion? and why will it take a long time?

[NYguy]

Sunday, Nov 12, 2004


Going up, coming down...the first of the new WTC towers (7 WTC) rises in the background. The 40-story Deutche Bank building will come down for the last of the WTC towers.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598490/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598493/large.jpg


Symbol of the new WTC rises behind symbol of the old...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598495/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598497/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598500/large.jpg


In the end, the new WTC buildings will tower over these Church St towers...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598501/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37598504/large.jpg

[gonzea]

thanx for the pics, keep posting when you can.
Why is there 2 lines down the bldg of spaces without windows?

[NoyokA]

http://n.1asphost.com/anstern/7WTC.jpg

[BPC]

Is it a masterpiece? Obviously not. But living in the BPC for the last three years with this giant hole in the sky, I have loved watching the building go up. Kudos to Larry Silverstein for putting his wallet on the line rather than timidly waiting for market demand to catch up to his ambitions.

[Jimbo Holland]

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/49787wtc010205.jpg

[Hof]

At this point,I would have to concur with those who think #7 is rather bland,just another PM glass box.
I was disappointed that,given the site's history and the attention that the area will attract,the building lacks the imagination to become a set piece in the WTC rebuilding effort.
Oh,well,maybe the Deutschebank replacement will have some architectural significance.One out of 2 wouldn't be bad.
Last June,I walked all around 7's construction site and tried,but failed to notice any obvious difference from dozens of similar structures scattered around Manhattan.
Silverman had promised a "glittering jewelbox":he's delivered another skyline yawn.
Hopefully,as mentioned above,there is going to be an interesting cap to the tower,or maybe the ground floors will have some special attribute.
At least there's a token Greenwich St.

[Jimbo Holland]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/jimboholland/The%20Pinnacle/dscf00087wtcucdec04tothenortht.jpg

is the steel skelet already finished? and has the building reached his top?

[TonyO]

Yes it is topped off. That ceremony was months ago.

[Kris]

January 12, 2005

More Borrowing Clout for Ground Zero Developer

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

The developer Larry A. Silverstein was authorized yesterday by the New York City Industrial Development Agency to borrow an extra $75 million through tax-exempt Liberty Bonds for his $1.355 billion 7 World Trade Center project.

Mr. Silverstein won preliminary approval two years ago for $400 million in Liberty Bonds but returned to the agency facing higher interest costs and having received less of an insurance payout than he expected. Seven World Trade Center, a silvery 52-story parallelogram across Vesey Street from the main trade center site, is to open early next year. It is already clad almost completely in glass but does not yet have any prospective tenants except Silverstein Properties.

That 7 World Trade Center is rising at all is "thanks in large part to the Liberty Bond program," said Andrew M. Alper, who is chairman of the agency, which unanimously approved the financing. He is also president of the city Economic Development Corporation.

The agency expects Mr. Silverstein, who holds the commercial lease on the main trade center site, to return soon to seek $3.5 billion in Liberty Bonds for the other office towers planned on the site. If granted, that would represent nearly 90 percent of all remaining Liberty Bond financing for commercial projects in New York City.

The advantage of Liberty Bonds to borrowers is that lenders accept lower interest rates because the proceeds are exempt from federal, state and city taxes.

Since Mr. Silverstein first applied for financing, the estimated total project cost has risen to $1.355 billion from $1.196 billion. The largest single item is $516 million to pay off the mortgage on the previous 7 World Trade Center, which Mr. Silverstein developed and owned. It burned and collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, hours after the attack.

The rest of the budget includes so-called hard construction costs of $378.3 million; soft costs like architectural fees and insurance, $119.5 million; the building of tenant space, $131.8 million; interest, $179 million; and operating expenses, $30.5 million.

Much of the financing - $819 million - is to come from insurance proceeds. This is $42 million less than the face value of the policy, which reflects a settlement between Mr. Silverstein and the building's insurer, according to the agency.

The rest of the financing will come from $475 million in Liberty Bonds, $3.94 million in interest income from the insurance proceeds and a $57.23 million investment by 7 World Trade Company, which is owned by Mr. Silverstein and his wife, Klara.

Because of delays in retiring the mortgage, Mr. Silverstein faced a $113 million increase in interest expense. According to an analysis by the development corporation, a delay in arranging bond financing and the need to keep insurance proceeds available for construction on an interim basis "has postponed the use of those insurance funds to pay off the existing mortgage."

Under federal law, Liberty Bonds cannot be used to satisfy an existing mortgage. Instead, the bond financing will pay both for current construction costs and to reimburse Mr. Silverstein for construction costs that he has already paid with insurance proceeds.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Edward]

7 WTC (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm), Woolworth Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. 17 January 2005.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/7wtc_brooklyn_bridge.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm)

[FRED]

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/1856img_1364c.jpg

[gonzea]

what are those 2 lines coming down the bldg?
Doesn't even really wow me!

[NoyokA]

http://specialsections.nypost.com/news/nypost/commercialre/20050120/img/e_2_p52.jpg

[NewYorkYankee]

Will the scrolling text be there 24/7? If so, I like it! Interesting feature for D'town!

[NYguy]

March 1, 2005


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/40395462/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/40395480/large.jpg

[TonyO]

posted on SSP:

February 8, 2005
by ANDY MARTIN

“THE REAL WORLD TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL”


(NEW YORK)(February 8) Since September 11, 2001 politicians have fallen over themselves to milk every ounce of personal profit from that horrible tragedy. One of the most obscene spectacles has been the continuing carnival over a suitable World Trade Center (WTC) “memorial.” Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki have drained the surviving families of any and every conceivable emotional energy by making extravagant promises that the World Trade Center is “hallowed ground” and must be preserved vacant for posterity. What nonsense.

Pataki and Giuliani have done everything to sabotage reconstruction of the original Twin Towers, or a reasonable commercial facsimile. Instead, they have--after much emotional hand wringing and propaganda--settled on a “Freedom Tower,” a vapid edifice that may never be built, and may collapse of its own inertia if it ever is built.

Adding to the tragicomedy is the flatulent self-promoting “architect” Daniel Liebeskind, brought in by Pataki to supervise the reconstruction, until the landlord’s architect, David Childs, dumped him. It has been a serial comedy with continuing installments.

I have a very special relationship to the WTC because thanks to the Port Authority of NY/NJ I was one of the earliest tenants in Two WTC, moving in January 1, 1974. I watched the attacks on 9/11 and spent time that evening near the cauldron. I have observed the Giuliani-Pataki political charade with disgust.

But, silently, almost stealthily, a real memorial to the World Trade Center tragedy and the people of New York has been under construction and is nearing completion: Seven World Trade Center (7WTC).

The original 7WTC was Mayor Giuliani’s emergency fuhrer-bunker and collapsed because of poor design.

Unlike a pending insurance dispute over the Twin Towers themselves, the insurance for Seven WTC was in order. Mr. Silverstein got his money promptly. After some negotiation with city officials, reconstruction began on a new and vastly improved 7WTC.

The building is taller than the original, leaner, and infinitely more elegant, almost sensuous. It “towers” over the empty Twin Towers site, looking down contemptuously at vacant land that has remained fallow because of craven political manipulation and incompetence. Seven WTC is a proud building, a striking building, and a real building.

7WTC is not some architecture-student’s class project, like the Liebeskind-Childs monstrosity “Freedom Tower.” The new 7WTC will be a silent but powerful testament to both the victims whose lives were extinguished, and to the ability of Americans to reconstruct in a reasonable commercial manner. The Giuliani-Pataki political grandstand operation has cheapened the sacrifice of the police and firefighters who died and the innocent people who perished on 9/11.

I looked at Seven WTC this evening and was stunned by its beauty. I like tall buildings, shining boldly in the dark. And it’s only half built. It won’t open to tenants until 2006. But the landlord, Larry Silverstein, has scored a knockout: he has built a better building, a commercially viable (i.e. profitable) structure, and he has created in his silent tower a memorial that speaks to the empty caverns below and solemnly reflects the cries of those whom eternity has called to be remembered for their sacrifice on 9/11.

Will people move in to 7WTC? Of course they will. All of the post 9/11 fears about high floors in tall buildings is so much rubbish. Donald Trump would die to market condos on the top 20 floors of a 120-story structure. People would line up to move in. It’s only human nature. We paper over the past and move on, and up.

I believe Seven WTC will be a successful building. It will make money and that, after all, is the reason for erecting an office building. Reconstruction was meant to reconstruct, not to provide a grandstand for Giuliani and Pataki to preen and flaunt their national political ambitions.

It is surprising that a landlord, Larry Silverstein, who never had any pretensions of building an eleemosynary mausoleum when he began the new Seven WTC, inadvertently created the ultimate memorial to the victims that New Yorkers will honor and prefer. People will ultimately reject the maudlin memorial planned for the vacant space that was once the vibrant commercial community of the WTC.

Am I against/have I ever been against a small, dignified memorial, tucked quietly in some corner of the site, reminding visitors of the great horror that took place? Not at all. But dedicating the entire WTC site to a perpetually vacant “memorial,” or making “memory” the centerpiece of the reconstructed WTC site, or chopping up the super-site to create “mini” cuts and jabs in the original layout, insult New York and insult the American people.

Americans are vibrant and, yes, powerful precisely because we pick ourselves up from tragedy and move along. Promptly. We do not mourn endlessly or excessively. Breast beaters and professional mourners do not enjoy acceptance in our great nation. We are alive, and we want to remain alive. We rebuild, bigger and better than before. We do not cower in the face of tyrants; never have, never will. That is why the ludicrous, ridiculous “memorials” skillfully orchestrated by craven politicians will never gain public acceptance at the World Trade Center.

Let’s rebuild office buildings and real commercial structures, with at least as much space as before, and even more if we can squeeze it in. That is in the spirit of New York, and it is the spirit of America.

Truly, the real memorial to the victims is rising. It is Seven WTC. Well done, Larry.

politicalgateway.com

[BrooklynRider]

...It is surprising that a landlord, Larry Silverstein, who never had any pretensions of building an eleemosynary mausoleum when he began the new Seven WTC, inadvertently created the ultimate memorial to the victims that New Yorkers will honor and prefer. People will ultimately reject the maudlin memorial planned for the vacant space that was once the vibrant commercial community of the WTC.

Am I against/have I ever been against a small, dignified memorial, tucked quietly in some corner of the site, reminding visitors of the great horror that took place? Not at all. But dedicating the entire WTC site to a perpetually vacant “memorial,” or making “memory” the centerpiece of the reconstructed WTC site, or chopping up the super-site to create “mini” cuts and jabs in the original layout, insult New York and insult the American people...


7 WTC is a memorial of sorts as the first building out of the ground, a replacement better than the original, learning from engineering and design mistakes ofthe past, and understanding that urban life is derived and dependent upon pedestrian traffic, street level ammenities, and community integration.

The absence of Giuliani and Pataki on the commission to raise funds for the memorial speaks for itself. As far as the community evolving to prefer a tasteful little memorial amidst a rebuilt city-grid, the idea with no real sense of what we had in the original WTC. At street level the WTC was horrendous. Nothing about it was inviting, aesthetically pleasing, or relevant to its surroundings. What people miss is the icon of the twin towers on the skyline, not anything about the rest of the place. And if anyone does, start listing the charms of the WTC you miss.

What is desired is a total revisting of the 16 acres in a way that takes into consideration that the antiquated idea of geographically isolated "Business Districts" don't work in New York - and arguably in any other city. Midtown thrives because it is integrated commercial / residential / retail with excellent mass transit. The old WTC was a contributor to the decline of downtown. It isolated BPC from lower Manhattan, was empty on weekends, provided no street level interaction, and focused retail space solely on the building occupants and passing community (creating a separate but completely transient customer base). And finally, it was treated as a "site" exclusive of any surroundings in which to keep it in context.

I don't agree for a minute that anyone, including the "rebuild the towers" crowd want what we had at street level. They want the height - that's it. But, "Reflecting Absence" was a perfect name for the WTC plaza prior to its demise. The idea of a grand memorial is reasonable in the immediate aftermath, but in securing the large parcel of space for it, the community is guaranteed a large swath of greenery in the years after 9/11 drops as a hot-button politcal phrase.

The "master plan" in its building placement seems to work for now. But, it without any residential component - perhaps by introducing mixed use towers instead of purely commercial ones, the area is still destined for a certain alienation from the rest of downtown and deserted streets after dark.

The plan is evolving in the right direction. The first rebuilt building is better than the last. Pedestrian access has been improved. We will get improved mass transit and a reimplementation of the street grid. Now we need to have residents fillout the plan, rather than creating a series of buildings standing like cold defiant sentinals. Integration was missing before and it is missing now. Any type of major mall proposed should be vigorously rejected and the continued plan to create vast commercial towers should evolve to bring residential life - not transient visitors and workers - to the site.

[Bob]

Anybody know if the new 7 WTC has more than 3 exit stairwells? I don't suppose the new building would even come close to New York City's 1938 fire code, but anything over the 1960s-era fire code would be an improvement.

[PHLguy]

Looks like 7WTC might be getting some more tenants...

------------------
Demand for Downtown Office Space Continues to Grow
Friday, March 4: Lower Manhattan's vacancy rate for class A office space continued to fall in February, registering at 13.2 percent and signaling continued economic growth downtown, Dow Jones reported.

The drop in vacant space -- a slight decrease from January's 13.4 percent and the 13.8 percent recorded a year earlier -- is attributed to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson's renewal and expansion of a lease at 1 New York Plaza -- the largest real estate deal of the month. The law firm is also considering the possibility of moving to 7 World Trade Center once it is completed, according to Dow Jones.

Robert Sammons, director of research at Colliers, a commercial real estate services firm, expects downtown rents to rise from 4 percent to 5 percent in 2005, due to renewed interest in the area, Dow Jones said.

Vacancy rates for class A office space also fell throughout Manhattan for the fourth month in a row. In February, citywide rates dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.6 percent in January, steadily approaching a low of 9 percent not seen since April 2002, Dow Jones noted.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/news...iew_89186.asp#0

[NYguy]

History repeats, March 19, 2005


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/41012351/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/41012312/large.jpg

[Jake]

I can't wait to see what the building will look like once the final lighting inside is completed. I hope it's gonna be really bright.

[PHLguy]

Looks like 7WTC might be getting some more tenants...

------------------
Demand for Downtown Office Space Continues to Grow
Friday, March 4: Lower Manhattan's vacancy rate for class A office space continued to fall in February, registering at 13.2 percent and signaling continued economic growth downtown, Dow Jones reported.

The drop in vacant space -- a slight decrease from January's 13.4 percent and the 13.8 percent recorded a year earlier -- is attributed to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson's renewal and expansion of a lease at 1 New York Plaza -- the largest real estate deal of the month. The law firm is also considering the possibility of moving to 7 World Trade Center once it is completed, according to Dow Jones.

Robert Sammons, director of research at Colliers, a commercial real estate services firm, expects downtown rents to rise from 4 percent to 5 percent in 2005, due to renewed interest in the area, Dow Jones said.

Vacancy rates for class A office space also fell throughout Manhattan for the fourth month in a row. In February, citywide rates dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.6 percent in January, steadily approaching a low of 9 percent not seen since April 2002, Dow Jones noted.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/news...iew_89186.asp#0


I wonder how this will effect the WTC redevelopment...only positive ways I hope!

[NYguy]

DAILY NEWS

Silverstein's eying CIT for 7 WTC deal

http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/croghan_l.jpg


A new prospective tenant has surfaced for 7 World Trade Center, which Larry Silverstein is rebuilding at Ground Zero.

He's been searching for tenants as the new skyscraper takes shape. But so far, the only occupant of the 52-story building is a Con Edison substation on its bottom floors.

Now there's word that CIT Group has taken a look at the elegant glass tower, with an eye to possibly moving there. CIT, a big commercial lender, currently has its office in midtown, at 1211 Sixth Ave. CIT's broker is CB Richard Ellis - which also is Silverstein's leasing agent for 7 World Trade Center.

A spokesman for CB Richard Ellis declined to comment.

Some downtown real estate players aren't overly optimistic that Silverstein will ultimately land CIT as a tenant. They fear that CIT's new CEO Jeffrey Peek - a former investment banker from Merrill Lynch - prefers a high-profile midtown address for CIT.

CIT didn't return a call seeking comment.

Other prospects have come and gone without signing on the dotted line at 7 World Trade Center - among them the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had been a tenant in the original building before it was destroyed on 9/11.

Instead, the SEC wound up renting a big office at nearby 3 World Financial Center.

[BrooklynRider]

With the exception of Silverstein himself, I think it is very hard for any prospective tenant to "envision" the completed 7 WTC, its surrounding environment and its context in a development largely undecided. Just visiting the 7WTC site you are faced with the incomplete lower facade and the sub-station, which reinforces that you are sitting atop God knows what kind of electronic waves, rays, and devices pulsatingthrough you daily. The Fitterman building sits like roadkill from some long ago accident. The roads are horrendous. The Freedom Tower and new Calatrava train station construction is to the south, 10 Barclay and the Fulton station construction are to the east, BPC 5B & 5C are constructed to the north, Goldman Sachs is being constructed to the west. That building is isolated - completed or not - lovely or not - it is completely isolated. I think it's a hard sell and won't get much easier.

Oh wait, that's right, the "Museum of Freedom" will be right next store. Whoa! You're going to have to hold back the crowds to stop them from stampeding to get near it.

[NoyokA]

I think it comes down to this; if 7 WTC had a praiseworthy attention-getting design, it would have garnered the attention and tenants it needs.

[BrooklynRider]

True, but I do think it also loses because it cannot be positioned as a part of grander vision. The first 7WTC was monolithic and alone - facing the WTC wall. It was never a part of the WTC complex, despite its address. The new masterplan is out the window, whether anyone wants to say so out loud or not. Unfortunately, rather than abutting some new, amazing and highly anticipated district, 7WTC really sits at the edge of an abyss. There is just so much mystery about it (and the high profile coverage the demolition of the EPA hazard and highly contaminated Deutsche Bank doesn't help either).

[NYguy]

I think it comes down to this; if 7 WTC had a praiseworthy attention-getting design, it would have garnered the attention and tenants it needs.


I disagree. In the NY market, companies aren't necessarily looking for "attention-getting" designs. Just follow up on the buildings that are getting leased, and re-leased. If this building had been in midtown, it would have gotten tenants already. But even new buildings in midtown take time. The NY Times and BOA towers for instance, have primary tenants, but no others. That led to a delay in the NY Times tower for a while. It all comes down to location and the deals that are made.

But as far as this tower goes, its the World Trade Center. You can't get more attention than that in New York. Ironically, that may be the problem for some people.

[TomAuch]

7 WTC will get tenants eventually, but the fact that it's part of the WTC site may drive away potential tenants who fear working at a "target" or who are squimish about 9/11 itself.

[JMGarcia]

...or don't want to work in a 10 year construction zone.

[PHLguy]

^That too, But 7WTC will not excactly be in the construction zone, it's north of vesey street, above the WTC site. If your in a high office building hundreds of feet over the site with sound proof glass I don't think it would be that bad. Plus Freedom Tower will go up 4 years from now, that's what an average tower takes.

[ZippyTheChimp]

It will depend on what short-term (several years) changes are made when the building is ready for occupancy.

Unfortunately, nothing will change at Fiterman Hall. It will continue to be a blight. Hopefully, the surrounding streets will start ot look a bit less depressing. Items such as:

The sidewalk shed around Verizon.
The small triagular park in front of the building.
Vesey Street - partially opened to traffic?

[yyy]

History repeats, March 19, 2005


Wow - The 7 World Trade Center building looks great in that picture :) I see it is closed to be finished.

[JMGarcia]

Directly across a very narrow street (that will also necessarily be used for access to the site by construction equipment and deliveries) the FT, Arts Center, Tower 2 and all the underground infrastructure/shopping/memorial needs to be built.

The removal of the sidewalk shed isn't going to matter as Vesey is going to be an unpleasant place for a good long time.

On the other hand, if the small park opens and the area directly north of the tower does become pleasant, the construction site to the south can be more easily ignored.

[PHLguy]

^But who says Tower 2 is going to be built soon? For now it's just the Freedom Tower, we don't even know IF those other towers will rise, let alone when. and if the other three south of tower 2 go up then the construction site will be small enough that it can just be like normal manhattan construction.

[NYguy]

New York magazine article (PART I)
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/realestate/urbandev/features/11718/index.html


Who Wants to Move to Ground Zero?
Larry Silverstein’s 52-story vacancy problem.

By Robert Kolker

http://newyorkmagazine.com/images/news/05/04/groundzero040511_400.jpg

Seven World Trade Center should be ready for tenants by the beginning of next year. (Photo Credit: Stuart Hawkins)



There’s a compulsive quickness to Larry Silverstein’s step. It’s the walk of a man paying $228 a minute in rent on buildings that don’t yet exist. We’re crossing a muddy expanse on the way to the workers’ elevator of 7 World Trade Center, Silverstein’s new skyscraper at the northern tip of ground zero. The stout, 52-story glass tower that has conspicuously sprouted at the barren corner of Greenwich and Barclay streets should be completed by the beginning of next year. Silverstein—who signed his 99-year lease on the Twin Towers just six weeks before they were destroyed—now has 1.7 million square feet of brand-new office space to lease.

We arrive on the 34th floor and walk out of the elevator onto cold concrete. The 73-year-old real-estate developer, short and square and tan as a yachtsman, is wearing a gray suit with padded shoulders to counteract his natural schlumpiness. On top of his improbably reddish hair is a hard hat with a flag and the slogan THE REBUILDING CONTINUES. He paces around, jabbing a finger toward the skyscraper’s floors, girders, and walls.

“The massiveness is the key!” he says. “See the steel beams going across? Look at the heftiness of it. The sheer strength of it. The massiveness of it!” He launches into a litany of his new skyscraper’s every safety feature. “We learned on 9/11 that you don’t build a core out of plasterboard,” he says. “Plasterboard doesn’t burn—terrific—but you can take a penknife and carve through it. It’s permitted by code, but it has no strength. It has no substance. Our core has concrete shear wall two feet in thickness—consisting of 12,000-pound concrete, the most dense form of concrete you can pour. It will sustain 12,000 pounds of pressure per square inch—without deflection. On every floor, that two-foot-thick shear wall is impregnated with 70 tons of steel reinforcing bars. Every floor!” He shakes his head, as if even he can’t believe it. “You’ve got a TRAILER-TRUCKLOAD of steel reinforcing bars on every floor of 7 World Trade Center!” Then he whispers, "Nothing is going to destroy that core."

Now Silverstein is selling the neighborhood to come—the 9/11 memorial, the new PATH station, the performing-arts center, and the 600,000 square feet of shopping (or “destination retail,” as he puts it) that will line the underground concourse that connects fourteen subway lines to a new glass Fulton Street subway station.

He plays up the world-class architects being brought in to design the various buildings: David Childs, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, and Santiago Calatrava, the man who came up with the idea to turn the PATH terminal into a majestic, almost ethereal complex with a sexy shape and retractable roof. “My wife and I and Santiago and his wife had dinner together,” he says. “He’s an extraordinary guy. She is a dee-light-ful woman.”

While he paints a perfectly captivating picture of a shining downtown rebuilt from tragedy, that image doesn’t quite square with the immediate view. To the south, through nonreflective, non-tinted glass (“The most expensive glass you can buy!”), is the disaster area turned construction site of ground zero, where construction on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower isn’t scheduled to start for several more months. To the north, there’s a straight shot of midtown—a pristine, symmetrical skyline view, sliced clean down the middle by the Empire State Building. This perspective is unique, but it wasn’t always. I haven’t seen a view like this—no one has—since the last time I was at the top of the World Trade Center.

“Look,” Silverstein says, pitching again. “Spectacular. Unobstructed, no matter where you work. Everything is column-free. And the curtain wall goes from the floor to the base!”

This is Silverstein’s standard sales presentation. He’s uttered it dozens of times to potential tenants, a cross section of Fortune 500 America, and they’ve all taken the same tour of the building and seen the same view. But so far, Silverstein has not been able to seduce one of them. As of now, in fact, he has secured a single tenant: Silverstein Properties.

Larry Silverstein has spent nearly four years as the odd man out at ground zero, written off by victims’ families, urban planners, and the media as the guy who was too broke to rebuild. He’s been continually upstaged by a series of louder, more mediagenic characters: George Pataki, celebrity architect Daniel Libeskind, and Rudy Giuliani, who sided with calls by the families of victims for a sixteen-acre memorial. Today, Silverstein has emerged as the most important player in lower Manhattan. He has the cash and the legal right to rebuild—and with 7 World Trade Center nearly ready to rent and construction of the Freedom Tower ramping up, he’s on his way to doing exactly that. “My world has been filled with people telling me what I can’t do, what I’ll never accomplish,” Silverstein says in his halting Brooklyn baritone. That he’s made it this far can’t help but make him crow a little. It’s almost enough to make him forget that what lies ahead may be the world’s most sensitive marketing challenge: asking tenants to move to the scene of the worst terrorist attacks in history.

Silverstein has always been at the center of the unprecedented peculiarities of ground zero. Pataki and the state technically control the site—the Port Authority, which the governor effectively runs, owns the land—but Silverstein’s 99-year lease on the World Trade Center is also tantamount to ownership. Although Silverstein originally had only $14 million of his own money in equity in the place (a consortium of partners put up more than $100 million), the lease gave him the right to rebuild all 10 million lost square feet of office space, regardless of the wishes of victims’ families, neighbors, or the governor. It also gave him the authority to force through much of his own architect’s design for the Freedom Tower. An initial $3.6 billion insurance payment allowed Silverstein to keep paying the $120 million annual rent after 9/11 while bankrolling the construction of the new 7 World Trade building and the Freedom Tower, but his detractors said he still lacked sufficient funds to properly develop the site. That all changed this past December, when Silverstein won a court victory forcing some insurers to pay him for two separate attacks. Before the $1.1 billion decision, reporters had been calling regularly to seek comment on confidential whispers that Larry was running out of money and that he couldn’t develop the site. After the verdict, the calls stopped.



Now, as Silverstein’s reward, the fate of one of the most valuable and closely scrutinized pieces of real estate in the world rests on his shoulders. Seven World Trade Center is more than just one piece of the $14 billion puzzle; it is, in a sense, the Ur-piece. Much of the project is made possible, or at least justifiable, only by Silverstein’s ability to get tenants for his five office towers. But because Silverstein still has just enough cash to build the first three office buildings— 7 World Trade, the Freedom Tower, and a subsequent building called Tower 2—any whiff of failure on the commercial front could slow down or derail the rest of the plan. If 7 World Trade doesn’t rent, the parts of the plan that Silverstein doesn’t control—the Gehry-designed theater, Calatrava’s $2 billion transit hub, and the 9/11 memorial, designed by Michael Arad—could all be stalled.

All eyes, then, turn to the fortunes of 7 World Trade Center. The tower has generated so much buzz in commercial-real-estate circles, rising so quickly at such a high-profile site, that leasing agents would simply be remiss in not asking for a tour. And the building has its virtues: The clear-glass-curtain wall with shimmering blue accents has impressive curb appeal; the floor plates are practical and customizable; the safety elements, like extra-wide stairwells and that concrete core, are, in fact, beyond what the city’s building code requires. Silverstein has also thrown in attention-getting bells and whistles: The entrance will feature a rhythmic flashing-light art display by Jamie Carpenter; the lobby will have an enormous $1 million LED art installation by Jenny Holzer.

Yet 7 World Trade Center has become the building everyone wants to date but no one wants to marry. For starters, Silverstein is asking $50 per square foot, easily the highest price in lower Manhattan. “The companies that have been through it think it’s great, but then they go to Water Street and can get about the same space for a lot cheaper,” says Robert Sammons, director of research for the real-estate firm Colliers ABR.

Morgan Stanley recently did a deal at 1 New York Plaza for $20 a square foot. The Securities and Exchange Commission signed at the World Financial Center, which asks about $35. Silverstein is known to have pitched Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, and they’ve all taken up elsewhere nearby. Con Edison, Verizon, and the United Federation of Teachers also haven’t bitten. Silverstein could always drop his price, or offer givebacks or rebates or free renovations—or the state could offer tax breaks—but despite a slight downward trend in the amount of available space downtown, there are still plenty of more affordable alternatives. Consider 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, the sleek white tower with the playful Jean Dubuffet sculpture out front, which has more than a half-million square feet of space available at about $35 a foot. Silverstein’s building may be prettier, but $15-a-foot prettier?

Silverstein insists 7 World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower will compete not with downtown but with midtown, which historically charges up to double downtown’s rents. He argues that as midtown fills up, high-end firms will drift downtown in search of trophy space.

Even if a stadium spurs West Side development, he believes, his first buildings will be ready years before the ones planned for the rail yards. The way he sees it, his only real competition is two midtown towers coming online at about the same time: the Bank of America Building, asking $100 per square foot, and the New York Times Building, asking at least $75. “Seven is the much cheaper alternative by far,” Silverstein says. “For tenants needing 400,000, 500,000, 600,000 feet, they have very few choices.”


The long-term trends would seem to support Silverstein’s case. In Manhattan, there are fewer and fewer places to build, and very little new office space was built in the city in the nineties; as the economy expands, most any new high-quality tower is apt to be successful. But none of this great new demand has happened yet, at least not downtown. “There is no migration from midtown to downtown,” says M. Myers Mermel, a real-estate investor and owner of TenantWise, which tracks office space downtown. Mermel has found that for every office tenant that has moved from midtown to downtown since 9/11, four have gone in the other direction. There are reasons to believe that won’t change any time soon. Downtown buildings have to compete with Midtown South and Jersey City, Mermel says, and even with the promised $2 billion transit hub, downtown will continue to be a two-train ride away from Morris County, Fairfield County, the North Shore of Long Island—almost everywhere the executive class of New York lives.

Then there’s the X-factor: It’s still creepy down there. Before construction, Silverstein offered one prospect an early quote of $40 per square foot and was told that the company didn’t want its employees staring into a “construction site”—a charitable term for what is still, in some sense, an open grave. Even now, looking down into ground zero from a high floor, prospective tenants must wonder if their employees will abandon them, or if the best and brightest won’t sign on in the first place, because they—or their spouses and children—just don’t want them to spend five days a week in the place that terrorists have tried twice to destroy. As bad as it is for 7 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower may be worse. “We have heard from tenants that they think those reconstructed buildings will be targets,” Mermel says.

Silverstein’s blanket response, aside from reflexively ticking off the safety features of 7 World Trade Center and its future neighbors, is the patriotism argument: Rebuilding is what New Yorkers do best; to go on living and working downtown is to show that the terrorists have lost. He also holds fast to the notion that time—and $14 billion in capital improvements—will temper fears of terrorism. In a few years, he says, the swank new amenities of the new World Trade Center will create a forward-looking place with none of the bad memories of ground zero.

[NYguy]

(PART II)

"Who Wants to Move to Ground Zero?"


Still, Silverstein can seem almost willfully naïve about how sensitive people can be. We’re in a boardroom at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Silverstein’s architects, where he’s agreed to take me through a sample pitch for 7 World Trade Center, punctuated freely with the words massive and spectacular. Red laser pointer in hand, Silverstein motions at a slide depicting a woman in the building’s lobby, heading toward an unusually high-tech elevator—another fabulous amenity. Visitors and workers, Silverstein says, will have a computer chip granting them access to the upper floors.

“The door closes behind her, and she doesn’t have to press a button,” he tells me. “There are no buttons to press! It’s a buttonless elevator system, right? It’s all automatic! Now! If she wants to visit a girlfriend on another floor, she can’t do that; she’s in deep trouble, right? There are no buttons in the elevator! So what she has to do . . .”

“She has to reason with the elevator?” I ask.

He smiles impatiently. “No, she can’t even reason. But! There’s a special button pad in the lobby in each elevator bank. There’s a button pad on each of the floors as well. But once you’re on the elevator, forget it! There will be no buttons!”

There’s a tightness in my chest.

“May I ask a safety question?”

“Sure!” he says.

“If you’re trapped in the elevator, do you have any control at all?”

“Oh, absolutely,” he says. “You have the same controls you have today. It’s no different.”

“But you have no button pad.”

“You don’t need it,” Silverstein says, exasperated. “People will be helping—communicating with you—from outside. The result is, you get about a 10 percent increase in elevator efficiency. It’s truly extraordinary! New Yorkers are always in such a goddamn rush, this’ll be fantastic!”

He throws up his hands, triumphant.

“Buttons are a thing of the past!”

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Silverstein was in his Park Avenue apartment, squabbling with his wife, Klara, about how he had to get to work on the 88th floor of the north tower, where he was moving his company’s offices.

Klara gave him an icy stare. Silverstein had a dermatologist’s appointment—after a lifetime of boating, he has a history of facial carcinomas—and there was no way he was missing the appointment. “So you’ll be there early tomorrow,” she told him.

Before he left, the phone rang. It was the captain of the Silversteins’ 130-foot yacht, which was docked at the piers in Chelsea with a clear view of downtown.

“Turn on your TV,” the captain said.

As surreal as it was for most of us to witness, one after the other, the explosion and collapse of the tallest buildings in New York, it was stranger still for the man who had just bought them. First he thought of his children. Silverstein’s son, Roger, was in the parking garage of the original 7 World Trade when the first plane hit, and his daughter Lisa was turned away by police farther uptown; they both work for their father. Others in Silverstein’s employ weren’t as fortunate. “We lost four people,” he says, “and they had six kids among them.” Lisa Silverstein saw some of the light in her father’s eyes dim after that day. “There was something that was sucked out of him—a spontaneity and almost a kidlike spirit,” she says. “Time and efficiency became the most important thing in his life. He started to say, ‘I have no time for green bananas anymore.’”

Another developer might have used the enormity of the moment to get the property seized by the state—to cut loose control of the site and the financial risk that came with it. Silverstein used what insurance proceeds he had to keep paying the rent to the Port Authority—$120 million a year, escalating over the next fifteen years to over $200 million—and start planning new towers. Ignoring survivors who said he was moving too quickly to build offices on hallowed ground, he spent six weeks patrolling the halls of Congress to win the same protection from lawsuits that the airlines had.

Then there was a mounting battle with the towers’ insurers, which had ensnared him in a Catch-22: The $3.6 billion he was entitled to wasn’t nearly enough to replace all 10 million square feet—but if he didn’t rebuild all 10 million square feet the way the lease specified, he wouldn’t be entitled to all the $3.6 billion. “Any less than 10 million feet, we give the insurance companies a gift,” he says.

He fumed as his authority over the site was questioned: by the victims’ families, by city planners, even by Giuliani, now an American hero, who in his final speech as mayor called for Silverstein’s new buildings to be built someplace else. When the Times editorial page suggested the creation of a new governmental entity to rebuild the site quickly, Silverstein’s name was not mentioned. He ignored the media and focused on wooing the man who held most of the power downtown: George Pataki.

The governor had his own considerations—should he sanctify the site as a park or memorial, or back Silverstein? It was, after all, an election year, so he took political cover: In November 2001, Pataki announced the creation of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the state agency that would devise a master plan for the sixteen-acre site. There was no assurance that all 10 million feet of Silverstein’s office space would be part of the final master plan; Silverstein had no vote in the LMDC. “It’s fair to say he was a nonentity,” says LMDC member Roland Betts. “Larry did not have a seat at the table.”

There was another reason to marginalize Silverstein—he and Pataki weren’t exactly friends. It didn’t help that he supported Mario Cuomo in the 1994 election that had brought Pataki into office. It also didn’t help that Silverstein was pushy. “Generally speaking, everybody found him impossible and full of shit,” says one lawyer close to the interaction between the governor and Silverstein, adding that LMDC president Kevin Rampe, then–Port Authority chief Joe Seymour, and Pataki chief of staff John Cahill “all hated him.” Rampe denies this, Seymour declined to comment, and Cahill, with a noticeable lack of warmth, says, “Larry’s a very ambitious, aggressive developer. And that’s why he’s been successful.”

In January 2003, days before the commission was to choose a master planner for the site, Silverstein fired off a letter to LMDC chairman John Whitehead asserting his right to rebuild all 10 million square feet. The letter was a gauntlet: Leaked to local politicians and the media, its most blistering feature was the declaration that whichever master planner the LMDC chose would have to work with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, whom Silverstein had already hired to devise a site plan and design for the main tower. Silverstein’s message was clear. The power of his lease could not be ignored, and attempts to push him aside would cost serious time and money. What’s more, without Silverstein’s rent payments, the Port Authority might have to consider raising tolls on bridges and tunnels, and Pataki would have another political headache.

Silverstein’s most public clash with the governor came over the design of the Freedom Tower. Pataki had picked Libeskind as the master planner for the sixteen-acre site, but Silverstein wanted Childs, his architect from Skidmore, to design the first and tallest tower. It was a forced marriage. “I don’t want you touching my building,” Silverstein is said to have told Libeskind, adding, “Danny, you’ve never designed a skyscraper. If I’m going to have heart surgery, I don’t want a surgeon who’s never done heart surgery before.”

Libeskind’s Freedom Tower may have had poetry on its side, but to Silverstein it had a small floor plate and columns that are inconvenient for tenants. Silverstein also thought it was too short and that the off-center spire was needlessly expensive. Childs, meanwhile, designed a 2,000-foot tower that twisted around a concrete core, providing the column-free interior spaces that office tenants adore.

The governor tried to force the two architects into collaborating, triggering a boardroom farce that unfolded publicly—almost like a serial in the media, complete with leaked accusations of sabotage and the enlistment of lawyers.

In December 2003, Silverstein cornered Pataki at a black-tie event at the Waldorf to plead Childs’s case against Libeskind’s off-center spire. Pataki’s patience had run out. “Larry was trying to make the pitch again that ‘we can’t do the replica of the Statue of Liberty,’ ” remembers John Cahill. “And the governor goes, ‘Larry. Look at the Statue of Liberty. The torch does not come out of her head, okay?’”

Silverstein capitulated, and the spire was moved to the side. Even Libeskind—who had sued Silverstein for back pay and bitterly described him as “not a man who cares much about how things look”—now admits, “I have an appreciation for the soft side of Larry. He didn’t get to be where he was by being a stupid man.” But if Silverstein lost the battle over the spire, he won the war. “It’s clear that Childs had a design in mind for the site, and essentially that’s what’s going up, plus a television tower,” says Alexander Garvin, the urban planner and former vice-president of the LMDC.

Silverstein lacks the shameless-showboat gene of a Donald Trump, and he doesn’t pack the sheer financial muscle of city real-estate heavyweights like Jerry Speyer or the Dursts. Nor is it Silverstein’s constitutional optimism that makes him stand out—that’s standard-issue for a developer. What’s unique about Silverstein, colleagues say, is his passionate salesmanship and his knack for betting on long shots—quite often, wisely.

Silverstein was born during the Depression in Bedford-Stuyvesant and raised within smelling distance of the Gowanus. His father, Harry, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, was a classical pianist who taught himself to be a broker of two-bit loft spaces in the rag district. Larry went to work for his father to put himself through NYU and returned full-time after graduation. Frustrated with the penny wages of a real-estate broker, he started buying cheap buildings in the late fifties with investors, fixing them up and flipping them like his idol, Harry Helmsley. These weren’t just any buildings. They were dumps in lousy neighborhoods that, as a broker, Larry sensed were undervalued. He lacked the financing and flash of other developers, but he had a marketing sensibility and an almost religious zeal in renting new property. “You’ve got to believe it to sell,” he says, remembering the days he persuaded friends and strangers to invest $5,000 or $10,000 in his buildings. “You’ve got to sell with a passion.”

[NYguy]

(PART III)

"Who Wants to Move to Ground Zero?"


He’s been married to the same woman since 1956. Around Klara, Silverstein is less brusque and frenetic, more calm and playful. They met as counselors at a Jewish summer camp, and she was teaching him how to run a dishwasher. “She was Attila the Hun!” Silverstein says.

“Couldn’t you at least call me Attila the Honey?” she says.

He winks. “You know, one of the reasons I married her was she was very wealthy,” he says. “She was earning $3,200 a year as a schoolteacher. I bought her engagement ring for $1,000. Made a sale, sold a building, that earned $1,000. Huge amount of money.”

“But basically we lived on my salary,” Klara reminds him. “By the way, it’s still the same ring. He has offered to get me bigger stones, and I said no. It wouldn’t be my engagement ring. Buy me a ring if you want, but this stays.”

Larry and Klara settled in White Plains and had three children: Lisa and Roger work for him; the oldest, Sharon, is a Harvard M.B.A. turned homemaker in California. He and Klara moved to Park Avenue after the kids grew up, but they assemble all the kids and grandkids together for jaunts on Silverstein’s yacht. The boat is his sanctuary; he’s partial to three- or four-day weekends and, before 9/11, he and Klara had planned to take it around the world.

“Someone once thought they’d make me jealous that they called the boat his mistress,” Klara says, “and I replied, ‘Isn’t he lucky he can be in the arms of his mistress and his wife at the same time?’ ”

Silverstein built his career by becoming an expert in buying and flipping properties. He bought 11 West 42nd Street, near Bryant Park before its renaissance. He built on the far West Side, at 42nd west of Eleventh Avenue, and in lower Manhattan at 120 Broadway, a 1.8 million-square-foot giant occupying a full square block, steps from Wall Street. By the eighties, he controlled more than 10 million square feet of Manhattan residential and commercial space and was a millionaire several times over. But he lacked a centerpiece, something to define his career. He set his sights on the last undeveloped parcel of the World Trade Center, at the northern tip of the site, and in 1980 he won the bid from the Port Authority to build the original 7 World Trade. Not long after he built that 47-story behemoth, he began to wonder what it would be like to own the Twin Towers. He saw them as the ultimate fixer-upper, in the ultimate undervalued neighborhood; everyone in the real-estate world knew the buildings needed renovations to command the rents they deserved. “The materials were beautiful, but in many ways it needed to sparkle,” he says. “When you walked in, it was important to look at it and say, God, this is spectacular.”

In the highly publicized ramp-up to the final bid, Silverstein was barely noticed among competitors like Vornado and Mort Zuckerman’s Boston Properties. Then, on a weekday evening in January 2001, five days before the bid was due, Silverstein was walking home from Le Cirque when, as he was crossing 57th and Madison, a drunk driver swerved right into him.

His pelvis was crushed—“If I wasn’t dead, I was gonna die,” he says—but once he’d been stabilized at the hospital, Silverstein told his doctors to dial down the morphine; he needed a clear head to formulate the final bid. His employees visited him at the hospital, where they worked round-the-clock to finish the bid in time. His $3.2 billion bid lost to Vornado Realty Trust by $50 million. “A rounding error, basically,” he says. But by the time he got out of the hospital, Vornado had dropped out—it had too much trouble navigating the Port Authority bureaucracy—and Silverstein was in. His experience with the Port Authority made it comparatively easy for him to close the deal.

What made the Trade Center more important than his pelvis? Silverstein had spent six months on the project; it had been so consuming that he had abandoned all of his other deals. “I remember,” Silverstein says, “I said, ‘I’m not gonna let my competitors get me this way. They’re not gonna knock me out like this.’”

Silverstein’s dream scenario is for each tower to make enough money to build the next one, and for all five office buildings to be completed by 2013. By then, the memorial and PATH terminal and retail would presumably be done, and Silverstein would be hailed as the man who helped downtown rise from the ashes.

All sorts of things, of course, could sink that dream. Libeskind’s off-center spire and television antenna atop Childs’s Freedom Tower is turning into an engineering nightmare, and it’s not clear who will pay to resolve it.

The Deutsche Bank building was supposed to be knocked down in December; it’s still there, plagued by air-quality problems. Fiterman Hall, an unsightly shell steps away from 7 World Trade controlled by the City University of New York, is still standing too, and there’s no plan yet for even a cleanup. A debate is raging over a proposal to sink four lanes of West Street underground, allowing visitors to ground zero to walk freely to and from the Hudson waterfront. The costly West Street tunnel project could tie up traffic for years—and has already alienated Goldman Sachs, which had planned to build its own tower where the state wants to place the tunnel’s northern mouth. Silverstein himself is 73, and he has no clear plans for succession. “The team has expanded significantly in size and in diversity” is all he will say. “And this staff, with our family, will just continue this operation.”

The Freedom Tower, meanwhile, has already been postponed a few months. If there’s any significant delay—if Silverstein runs out of insurance money waiting for tenants—he may be found in default and lose the right to develop. There’s always been speculation that the Port Authority is waiting to scoop up the lease; right now, the agency is looking for 400,000 square feet, but it hasn’t signed with Silverstein at 7 World Trade, reviving rumors that it’s rooting for Silverstein to fail.

There are those who suspect that Pataki is banking on Silverstein to default—that he’s used the developer for his insurance money all along. If Silverstein is forced out, the whole project could again be up for grabs. The next developer could ignore the Libeskind model and the Silverstein model and do anything he wants.

Silverstein won’t entertain doomsday scenarios. He’s a speculator and a salesman. The World Trade Center is the biggest long shot of his life. It’s not in him to let it go.

Circling the site in the backseat of his Mercedes, Silverstein gestures wildly out the window. He’s pitching again.

“We have major mass transit,” he tells me. “We have major residential, we’re gonna have major retail, we’re gonna have the best buildings ever built in an economic environment that favors everything we’re doing.”

We’re driving down an as-yet-unsunken West Street, rolling past a gaping construction pit. The open grave.


“How can we lose?” he says. “How can we miss?”

[antinimby]

If Silverstein is forced out, the whole project could again be up for grabs. The next developer could ignore the Libeskind model and the Silverstein model and do anything he wants.

Nothing personal but hey, Silverstein, FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! :D

[TomAuch]

I DON'T want Silverstein to fail, even though I can't stand him. As much as I dislike the FT, another developer coming in would give us a squat XYZ office park that's ten times worse! If Pataki has any cajones, he would strong-arm Silverstein and the PA into getting this project back off the ground.

[Gulcrapek]

It depends on which big developer would take over. There are of course some sucky ones, like Moinian, and I woildn't trust Vornado with anything nice (Bloomberg is the exception), but there's always Durst and Sciame. Not that the latter would take on such a gigantic project, especially with his hands already full (of cubes).

[JMGarcia]

The PA developed the original and are responsible for developing Calatrava's station. I don't see why they couldn't redevelop the office space too.

[NoyokA]

The PA developed the original and are responsible for developing Calatrava's station. I don't see why they couldn't redevelop the office space too.

Because they sold the WTC to Silverstein and Silverstein owns the WTC and the right to redevelop it.

[JMGarcia]

Because they sold the WTC to Silverstein and Silverstein owns the WTC and the right to redevelop it.

I was responding to the hypothetical case of finding a developer if Silverstein is out of the picture for whatever reason. I don't see any need for the PA to find another developer when they could do it themselves.

[NoyokA]

I was responding to the hypothetical case of finding a developer if Silverstein is out of the picture for whatever reason. I don't see any need for the PA to find another developer when they could do it themselves.

If that were to arise, I find it highly unlikely the PA would be involved since they sold the WTC in the first place, as I understand it they don't want to re-enter real estate and especially with this piece of real estate.

[NoyokA]

It depends on which big developer would take over. There are of course some sucky ones, like Moinian, and I woildn't trust Vornado with anything nice (Bloomberg is the exception), but there's always Durst and Sciame. Not that the latter would take on such a gigantic project, especially with his hands already full (of cubes).

I don't think Vornado would take over if that were to arise, but if it they did, why wouldn't you trust them? All there new developments seem to be nice enough.

[Gulcrapek]

I just had some serious deja vu reading that. Brr..


Vornado did the Queens Wal Mart thing and Gateway Center in Spring Creek. Both crap, especially the second one since it exists.

[NoyokA]

I just had some serious deja vu reading that. Brr..


Vornado did the Queens Wal Mart thing and Gateway Center in Spring Creek. Both crap, especially the second one since it exists.

You can't really compare his big-box retail developments in outter boroughs and the suburbs with his Manhattan properties. Apples and oranges.

[Gulcrapek]

I don't think that's necessarily true, but I do think this thread needs to go back to 7 WTC.



My, what a pretty facade you have...

[NYguy]

That was a very interesting article on the status of 7 WTC. I think this statement sums it up pretty well:

7 World Trade Center has become the building everyone wants to date but no one wants to marry. For starters, Silverstein is asking $50 per square foot, easily the highest price in lower Manhattan. “The companies that have been through it think it’s great, but then they go to Water Street and can get about the same space for a lot cheaper,” says Robert Sammons, director of research for the real-estate firm Colliers ABR.

Morgan Stanley recently did a deal at 1 New York Plaza for $20 a square foot. The Securities and Exchange Commission signed at the World Financial Center, which asks about $35. Silverstein is known to have pitched Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, and they’ve all taken up elsewhere nearby. Con Edison, Verizon, and the United Federation of Teachers also haven’t bitten. Silverstein could always drop his price, or offer givebacks or rebates or free renovations—or the state could offer tax breaks—but despite a slight downward trend in the amount of available space downtown, there are still plenty of more affordable alternatives. Consider 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, the sleek white tower with the playful Jean Dubuffet sculpture out front, which has more than a half-million square feet of space available at about $35 a foot. Silverstein’s building may be prettier, but $15-a-foot prettier?

Silverstein insists 7 World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower will compete not with downtown but with midtown, which historically charges up to double downtown’s rents. He argues that as midtown fills up, high-end firms will drift downtown in search of trophy space.

Even if a stadium spurs West Side development, he believes, his first buildings will be ready years before the ones planned for the rail yards. The way he sees it, his only real competition is two midtown towers coming online at about the same time: the Bank of America Building, asking $100 per square foot, and the New York Times Building, asking at least $75. “Seven is the much cheaper alternative by far,” Silverstein says. “For tenants needing 400,000, 500,000, 600,000 feet, they have very few choices.”

Then there’s the X-factor: It’s still creepy down there. Before construction, Silverstein offered one prospect an early quote of $40 per square foot and was told that the company didn’t want its employees staring into a “construction site”—a charitable term for what is still, in some sense, an open grave.

The tenants will come eventually, the site just has to make that transition from "ground zero" back to the "World Trade Center".


Silverstein holds fast to the notion that time—and $14 billion in capital improvements—will temper fears of terrorism. In a few years, he says, the swank new amenities of the new World Trade Center will create a forward-looking place with none of the bad memories of ground zero.

That will only happen in time.

[JMGarcia]

If that were to arise, I find it highly unlikely the PA would be involved since they sold the WTC in the first place, as I understand it they don't want to re-enter real estate and especially with this piece of real estate.

The PA didn't sell it, they leased it. But I'm sure you're right that Pataki does not want them back in the real estate business.

[Edward]

Picture of 7 WTC (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm) from February, taken from the Staten Island Ferry.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/images/7wtc_wfc_ferry.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm)

[macreator]

Great shot! I must say The World Financial Center and Battery Park City look really nice.

[gonzea]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/c6f9173e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/e62cd5ae.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/2ae69757.bmp

[Jake]

Sorry guys, i've got the most current one

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=780&stc=1&thumb=1

I have a bunch of pics but I shot them at 2100X1600 resolution at 4 megapixels, how do I shrink them to fit this ridiculous 150K limit?, I can shrink their dimensions but they have to be really small.

[macreator]

Is it just me or are there three windows missing in the second shot of The World Financial Center in the tower on the right?

They all appear to be in a vertical line...

[yyy]

Nice pictures Edward, gonzea and Jake but I agree with macreator - do these windows are broken ?

[Jake]

I'm not sure but they might be temporary windows, the three you see in the first photos are normal windows now, on the other hand if you look at the pic I took you'll notice a window like that about halfway up Two WFC. Tha window was normal before and has been this way for a few months now. WFC windows are really four smaller windows and the covered up part is only 1/4 so I guess they do get broken. I figured out how to shrink pictures so im attaching a bunch of them. Enjoy

I don't have web space to post them but if anyone does and wants to post them, go right ahead.

[yyy]

Ok, thanks for the info.

[gonzea]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/962f852e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/77f661df.jpg

[gonzea]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/b75818ca.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/0613125a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/628ba9e1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/792e0ac5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/898d358b.jpg

[mr qwerty]

In the last 3 pics, does anyone else notice the northeast corner of the top of the building being covered?

[gonzea]

Yes It is , that's why I took so many pics today. East side of the bldg top finally starting to be covered.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/0b819834.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

Disappointing. The hat truss indicated in the renderings was just a PR ploy.


edit: My brain is rotting. I could have sworn there was a rendering with a hat truss.

[BrooklynRider]

I thought this building was a good start to the redevelopment of the WTC. But the longer it sits there all alone, the more disappointing it is (and the more I fear a Childs debacle for FT).

[NYguy]

I thought this building was a good start to the redevelopment of the WTC. But the longer it sits there all alone, the more disappointing it is (and the more I fear a Childs debacle for FT).

What does an empty 7 WTC have to do with the design of the FT??

[NYguy]

NY POST

WTC IN 7 HEAVEN

By TOM TOPOUSIS

April 22, 2005 -- Dramatic new images of 7 World Trade Center — the first office tower to rise at Ground Zero since 9/11 — reveal a glass-encased structure that will remake the city's skyline and restore part of the downtown streetscape.

But Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein yesterday told a conference of civil engineers that the most spectacular parts of the building are buried deep in its core — including steel-reinforced concrete stairwells and emergency systems.

In fact, Silverstein predicted that that safety designs built into the 52- story tower would serve as the template for a future overhaul of building codes.

"You have a totally different designed building at 7 World Trade Center — totally beyond code," Silverstein said.

Instead of using plasterboard to shield emergency stairwells — a design that failed during the 9/11 terror strike on the Twin Towers — Silverstein said 7 WTC's stairwells would be encased by 2-foot-thick concrete walls.

"Those shield walls are designed to stand forever," Silverstein said, adding that the stairwells themselves will be 20 percent wider to allow upward access by firefighters while office workers descend in an emergency.

All of the safety features will be used at the remaining five towers slated to go up at the World Trade Center, including the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower, where stairwell walls will be 3 feet thick, Silverstein said.

He added that 7 WTC will also use a security system that can read computer chips carried by every worker or visitor, detecting their arrival and directing them to an elevator that "knows" what floor they're going to.

The 1.7-million-square- foot building will be ready early next year. Silverstein, who has yet to line up office or retail tenants for the building, predicted that he would have tenants by the time the project is complete.

"This time next year we expect there to be occupants in this building," he said.

The new 7 World Trade Center is the first step toward the eventual spiritual, if not physical, restoration of Ground Zero. Silverstein said five additional office towers, including the Freedom Tower, the Twin Towers memorial, arts centers and the transit hub would be complete by 2013.

The developer, who took over operation of the World Trade Center just months before it was destroyed, says he has the money to build 7 WTC and the Freedom Tower, while the other buildings would be financed by income generated from the first two structures.

As always, Silverstein remains an optimist about the future of Ground Zero, telling the construction group, "The Trade Center will infuse the economy with $15 billion a year and 100,000 permanent jobs."


__________________________________________________ _____________


Silverstein boasts of 7 WTC safety


By NICOLE BODE

Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein trumpeted the new 7 World Trade Center yesterday as a high-tech wonder that would set a new standard for skyscraper safety.

The 52-story building will have super-reinforced walls, air filters to guard against bio-terror attacks and space-age buttonless elevators that whisk workers to their desired floor automatically.

"The bar is raised," Silverstein told an engineering conference in midtown Manhattan. "Those walls are designed to stand forever."

Silverstein said city building and public safety officials were awed by the improvements in the new building, which is expected to be completed next year.

The builder said the core of the building would be encased in two-foot thick concrete that would protect elevators, stairs and power systems from fire or terror attack.

Stairwells will be 20% wider than building codes require - a move to ease congestion during possible evacuations.

Perhaps the most visible improvement would be the new automated elevators.

Workers or visitors would be given chips that automatically direct them to the correct elevator and takes them to the right floor - all without any buttons.

"This is truly automation in elevators," he said.

He even boasted that a 15,000-square-foot park outside the building would be a "little jewel."

"This time next year, we expect to be occupants of this building," he said.

Silverstein seemed less sanguine about the progress on the new Freedom Tower expected to rise on the site of the original twin towers, hinting that design squabbles could further delay the mega-project.

[BrooklynRider]

What does an empty 7 WTC have to do with the design of the FT??

For me, 7WTC was an exciting start to the redevelopment plan. I thought the design for the new 7WTC was an improvement over the previous one. In the same period of time, we had Childs give us TST and TWC. Both arguably better than what he's given the city before.

But, as 7WTC lingers and waits for the rest of the buildings to spring up around it, the more it becomes the focal point of the WTC site. As the focal point, it is extremely underwhleming. Like TSqT, it took the lot perimeter and went straight up. It's conservative in design and not visionary archittecture.

Going to WTC site I look at that building and it's hard for me not to feel a bit disheartened that THAT architect is going to be responsible for FT. I might be misguided in that disappointment, but all the leaks on the design are focusing on two aspects: the antenna and the spire. I want to be excited with anticipation for FT, but Childs just doesn't seem to be ready to plant a signature building on the skyline - a design he thinks is worth fighting to create and preserve.

I guess it's the old arguments bubbling up.

[NYguy]

Another look at the plaza (NY Post)


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/42570893/large.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

http://andersondigital.net/world%20trade%20exterior_600.jpg

http://andersondigital.net/images/world%20trade%20interior_600.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

Is it fair to assume that, despite the open and airy feel to the entrance and park, it will have barriers all over the place to protect against the phantom "terrorists"?

[ZippyTheChimp]

The Post Office seems to have vanished. :)

[antinimby]

Behind the front desk in those renderings lie the Con Ed substation.
Which leads me to ask, do substations pose any dangers such as fires, explosions, high levels of unhealthy background energy, etc.?

[gonzea]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/0fa54dac.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/78e2026e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/8b347fa5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/518a062b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/b6531fcd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/gonzea/ac425d70.jpg

[TomAuch]

Almost done! Now...if only Silverstein wouldn't charge Midtown rental rates for Downtown office space, then he could actually get some tenants to move in.

[macreator]

I love it! I wasn't expecting to really like the new 7 WTC but with it just about done I am really digging how smooth and sleek it looks.

[gonzea]

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12018224029-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12018224029.jpg&s=x2)

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12018261477-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12018261477.jpg&s=x2)

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12018285019-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12018285019.jpg&s=x2)

[Gulcrapek]

"7 World Trade Center's Shiny New Name

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005_05_7worldtradae.jpgThe WSJ's Alex Frangos reports, in a good overview of the WTC mess, that Larry Silverstein is cooking up a prefab address (http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/04/28/prefab_addresses_one_aint_the_loneliest_number.php ) for the new 7 World Trade Center (http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/03/14/7_world_trade_centers_wild_blue.php): To woo tenants, Silverstein Properties is trying to distance the building from the image of the Trade Center, though it literally sits on the site's edge. Instead of 7 World Trade Center, the building will be marketed under a newly created street address, 250 Greenwich St. The idea, according to someone familiar with the matter is to emphasize the building's proximity to TriBeCa, the trendy neighborhood to the north. It's also a tacit admission, according to real-estate executives, that the World Trade Center name scares prospective tenants.Guess 1 Gaping Pit was taken.



- Curbed

[TomAuch]

Looks like Larry flip flopped on names. Didn't he say a while ago that he was keeping the name "World Trade Center?" Maybe we can call the Freedom Tower the "Fulton Tower", that is...if it's location is moved off of its original block altogether.

[NoyokA]

Another name won't help find tenants, another design would've.

[TomAuch]

How would another design help find tenants?

[alex ballard]

How would another design help find tenants?

A building can enhance image. While that hasn't been evident since the 1960's, the WTC is a different case. Build an ugly building, people will remeber better days (aka the old WTC, and hence 9/11). Build a breathtaking building, and people will feel like an achievement and recovery has been made.

We want the latter. And in the last few days, I feel we are making huge strides towards it.

[NoyokA]

Skyscrapers have the unique ability to act as a powerful advertising instrument, and act as a company hallmark, 7WTC is a return to the faceless box form, whose legions have rendered cities and their respective corporate tenants indistinguishable.

[ZippyTheChimp]

While that is still somewhat true, the skyscraper as a company advertising symbol has been greatly diminished throughout the 20th century. Woolworth and Singer, and later Chrysler played that role to a great degree because there was no electronic media at the time. You came into New York and saw the Woolworth building, and thought of his retail empire.

Today,companies have more effective means of imprinting their message on society. How many people know what Microsoft or Intel headquarters look like? Is there a skyscraper called the Wal-Mart?

Usually it is a company that is the major force behind a skyscraper (as owner or anchor tenant) that produces a distintive design, such as NY Times or BoA. A tenant who may want 20 floors in a building called 7 WTC (or 250 Greenwich) is more concerned with utility than design.

That is often true in the case of full building ownership. Look at the design of Goldman Sach's headquarters. More about giant trading floors and a boxy slab (with a gesture of one curved wall) than iconic design.

[NoyokA]

7 WTC is the only NYC spec office building built in recent years that I can think of that is a visual bore. Its completely the wrong program, not all buildings built with a tenant are boring, although they can afford to be, the same can't be said for spec buildings, to attract a tenant the program needs to be interesting. If 7 WTC was built with a signed tenant it would have no problem being its splendid boreful self.

[ZippyTheChimp]

If 55 Water was empty, I think it would have an easier time getting tenants than 7 WTC. As boxes go, it's not really bad looking. Maybe it's that hole across the street, or that half torn away hulk to the north, or the rental price.

[JMGarcia]

7 WTC is a perfectly nice building. Whoever designed the glass deserves all the credit for its aesthetics and kudos to Childs, or whoever at SOM that saw the glass, for picking it. The added safety features are nice too, but really I could have come up with after browsing the web for a few hours.

7 WTC needed to be the catchy opening of a song or the riveting first scene of a movie to get people excited about what was to come. When neither the developer nor architect demand nor even seem to know excellence in design it is not a good pairing.

[Jonathan_Hakala]

I agree with JMGarcia that 7WTC is a perfectly nice building. That said, calling it 250 Greenwich seems sort of like calling 6th Avenue Avenue of the Americas.

[Fabrizio]

While that is still somewhat true, the skyscraper as a company advertising symbol has been greatly diminished throughout the 20th century. Woolworth and Singer, and later Chrysler played that role to a great degree because there was no electronic media at the time. You came into New York and saw the Woolworth building, and thought of his retail empire.

Today,companies have more effective means of imprinting their message on society. How many people know what Microsoft or Intel headquarters look like? Is there a skyscraper called the Wal-Mart?

Usually it is a company that is the major force behind a skyscraper (as owner or anchor tenant) that produces a distintive design, such as NY Times or BoA. A tenant who may want 20 floors in a building called 7 WTC (or 250 Greenwich) is more concerned with utility than design.

That is often true in the case of full building ownership. Look at the design of Goldman Sach's headquarters. More about giant trading floors and a boxy slab (with a gesture of one curved wall) than iconic design.


Good post! Thought provoking.

[macreator]

At this point I have little sympathy for Silverstein when it comes to 7 WTC. He could easily get a few tenants if he simply was asking for Downtown rent prices...not Midtown ones.

He's asking prospective tenants to pay 50% more than they'd have to spend at a similarly equipped building (albeit not quite as new but still modern) Downtown while also asking them to simply ignore the giant pit outside the building. Also, when the cranes go up and construction begins on the FT, ignore that too. Low-end Larry will be busy on the West Side constructing another ugly Riverside "luxury" hi-rise.

[ryan]

Today,companies have more effective means of imprinting their message on society. How many people know what Microsoft or Intel headquarters look like? Is there a skyscraper called the Wal-Mart?

True, and look what happened to chrysler after building perhaps the most famous skyscraper... bought and sold how many times?

[BrooklynRider]

... If 7 WTC was built with a signed tenant it would have no problem being its splendid boreful self.

Another laugh out loud moment at work, where colleagues wonder what the hell I'm reading.

[Edward]

Picture of 7 WTC (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm) and Barclay Building on 1 May 2005.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/images/7wtc_barclay05.jpg (http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/7wtc/default.htm)

[macreator]

Anyone know what's going on with the Barclay building?

[NYguy]

Another name won't help find tenants, another design would've.

Not true. As was discussed at length in a magazine article I posted, the lack of tenants has to do with the market and where it is now. Silverstein would have the same problems, regardless of design.

But that's irrelevant, because I think the design is among the best (if not the best) towers Downtown. That's not saying a lot considering that most of Downtown's skyscrapers are boring, but this tower could hold its own anywhere.

Which brings me to my little poem:

My ode to 7 WTC

MY PRETTY NEW TOWER
SO SHINY AND BLUE
ITS LIKE FLOATING ON CLOUDS
WHEN I LOOK UP AT YOU

YOU ROSE FROM THE ASHES
ON OUR SKYLINE ANEW
OUR HEARTS SKIPPED
AND FLUTTERED
AS YOU STEADILY GREW

SO HERE'S TO YOU SEVEN
OUR TRIBUTE IS DUE
WE REMEMBER THE PAST
BUT WELCOME THE NEW

[NYguy]

Some photos posted by gripja:


http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/54407wtc_crown.jpg


http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/54407wtc_reflecting.jpg

[TomAuch]

I like the second pic of 7 WTC...brings out its best feature of blending in with the sky.

[TomAuch]

Here's a good example for how 7 WTC stands out more than Barclay-Vesey or the WFC. Looks like it was randomly planted there:

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050503/capt.nygb10205031840.attacks_redevelopment_nygb102 .jpg

[TomAuch]

I think it was some 9/11 conspiracy theory.

[Zoe]

Great shot with the clouds reflecting off the glass. I too have become a real fan of this building, and we still have not seen what will be done for design/art at the base of this tower

[ryan]

Which brings me to my little poem:

My ode to 7 WTC

MY PRETTY NEW TOWER
SO SHINY AND BLUE
ITS LIKE FLOATING ON CLOUDS
WHEN I LOOK UP AT YOU

YOU ROSE FROM THE ASHES
ON OUR SKYLINE ANEW
OUR HEARTS SKIPPED
AND FLUTTERED
AS YOU STEADILY GREW

SO HERE'S TO YOU SEVEN
OUR TRIBUTE IS DUE
WE REMEMBER THE PAST
BUT WELCOME THE NEW

nyguy - you're famous! You made it onto curbed (http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/05/06/7_world_trade_centers_poet_laureate.php)! I'm pretty sure he's not making fun of you.

[gonzea]

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12620270966-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12620270966.jpg&s=x2)

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12620255874-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12620255874.jpg&s=x2)

http://x2.putfile.com/5/12620203763-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/12620203763.jpg&s=x2)

[NoyokA]

Very nice poem NYGUY. I'm not a big fan of "7" but it all holds true.

[macreator]

It's amazing how different 7 looks at night.

Although I suppose that once 7 is finally finished it may be while until we see the building lit up so much at night as Silverstein appears to be the only signed tenant thusfar.

[NYguy]

Very nice poem NYGUY. I'm not a big fan of "7" but it all holds true.

Thanx.

[krulltime]

Leaders call for cut in 7 WTC asking rent
Stubborn Silverstein can't lure tenants with above-market rate; whole site at risk


By Christine Haughney
Published on May 09, 2005

Increasingly worried downtown business leaders say developer Larry Silverstein must slash his asking rent for office space in 7 World Trade Center to lure an anchor tenant.

They say that the financing package arranged for the tower in March should move the mogul to negotiate.

"There has to be an adjustment in the pricing," says Barry Gosin, chief executive of Newmark, which has handled leasing on some of Mr. Silverstein's other buildings.

Industry experts say that the situation at 7 World Trade is serving as a litmus test for how successful Mr. Silverstein may be in convincing companies to move into the Freedom Tower and other buildings on the World Trade Center site. His stubborn insistence on asking for rents far above what is typical in the area could hurt development on the entire site.

Mr. Silverstein is up against dire economic forces downtown. Brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s New York region head, Ken Krasnow, compares the midtown and downtown office leasing markets to the scenario in A Tale of Two Cities. He says that the midtown Manhattan market is enjoying "the best of times." By contrast, he notes, downtown leasing activity remains behind last year's levels. Mr. Krasnow adds that as long as there is affordable space in midtown, downtown will suffer.

The downtown market was further weakened recently when Goldman Sachs halted plans to build a new headquarters, and Newsweek and Morgan Stanley both dropped out of pending deals in the area. Compounding the problems at the trade center site, the New York Police Department called for increased security measures for the Freedom Tower, throwing the construction schedule of the entire project into question.


Asking above-market rates


Mr. Silverstein's asking rent for 7 World Trade space, at $50 per square foot, far exceeds prices nearby. Sublets at 1 New York Plaza cost $29 a square foot, and direct leases at 55 Water St. are $35 a square foot, according to real estate sources.

So far, only small patches of the new 52-floor, 1.7 million-square-foot tower are spoken for. Early next year, Silverstein Properties plans to move to one 40,000-square-foot floor, and brokerage CB Richard Ellis may rent a 20,000-square-foot space.

The high asking rent turned off prominent downtown law firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. The firm considered relocating its 300,000-square-foot offices to 7 World Trade from its longtime home at 1 New York Plaza, but Mr. Silverstein could not seal the deal. Though he offered the law firm some incentives, Fried Frank's existing landlord, Trizec Properties, came up with more competitive rent, among other things.

"We were certainly a potential candidate," says Jonathan Mechanic, chairman of the law firm's real estate department. "The economic package and the incentive package, coupled with not having to move, made (it) more attractive to stay."

Industry sources say that Mr. Silverstein has increased flexibility to slash his rents because he recently obtained new financing. In March, Banc of America Securities underwrote $475 million of Liberty Bonds for 7 World Trade. When the building was destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Banc of America Securities had $383 million in bonds on the property, and opportunity fund The Blackstone Group had a mortgage.


Holding firm


"That now has been resolved and settled," says a Blackstone spokesman.

Even so, Mr. Silverstein remains determined not to drop his rents. He points out that incentives already knock $7 to $8 per square foot off the asking price. Because the property is being erected on land owned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and is using green building construction, renters receive discounts on real estate taxes and 30% discounts on power; they are also exempted from the 8.25% sales tax on any materials required to build out offices, and they get cheaper air conditioning.

With all of these perks, Silverstein Properties officials and brokers argue, the building's rent could be just half of what midtown developers are asking at their newly constructed buildings.

"We don't believe (the rent is) too high, and we have no plans to reduce (it)," says a Silverstein Properties spokesman. "Seven World Trade Center is equal to the New York Times Building and the Bank of America Building."


COPYRIGHT 2005 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

[GLNY]

May 10, 2005
Crain's NY Business

U.N. may move to 7 WTC: report

The United Nations is eying 7 World Trade Center as its temporary home while its Manhattan headquarters get renovated, reported the Financial Times, citing real estate executives.

The FT cited CB Richard Ellis broker Mary Ann Tighe, who said the U.N. is considering a number of sites around the city, including 7 World Trade Center. The organization is looking to sign a seven-year lease for 700,000 square feet while its headquarters gets a face-lift. Renovations are scheduled to get under way in 2007.

[macreator]

May 10, 2005
Crain's NY Business

U.N. may move to 7 WTC: report

The United Nations is eying 7 World Trade Center as its temporary home while its Manhattan headquarters get renovated, reported the Financial Times, citing real estate executives.

The FT cited CB Richard Ellis broker Mary Ann Tighe, who said the U.N. is considering a number of sites around the city, including 7 World Trade Center. The organization is looking to sign a seven-year lease for 700,000 square feet while its headquarters gets a face-lift. Renovations are scheduled to get under way in 2007.

This would be great news for Downtown! Perhaps by the time the UN's 7 year lease is up the FT will be close to finished and we could see the UN make a presence at the new WTC.

Let's hope lowend Larry doesn't screw things up with the UN and continue to ask insane rents.

[krulltime]

Oh I knew it...

The UN is not going to built a new tower...

Well I guess I should be happy, after all, 250 Greenwich might get a tenant.

You know maybe they should stay there permanently and give up the land they currently have... That is a dream too awoseme to become a reality. But what that hell...

But if they decide to move to 250 Greenwich I hope they don't give us a hard time aproaching the tower... they seem to do that where their East side headquarters is at.

[NoyokA]

I've always thought that moving the United Nations to the WTC was a bad idea; I can't believe it has a chance to actually fly. Why don't we move the NYSE there, the Israeli Embassy, and city hall there too. Might as well put everything together so that we can make the terrorists job that much easier.

[NoyokA]

I doubt they would even try anything, but if the FT is being moved 40 feet because of the possibility of a truck bomb getting past security they are worried you can get past, then they should focus more on that other security, not decide to move a building 40 feet, is it that hard to drive over a curb? If the UN moves to 7 WTC you spit on the sidewalk and a man in a black suit will take a sample and bring it the FBI lab just to make sure your not a terrorist. Im not saying they dont need security but alot of other places need it too.

Terrorism is very much a reality, you have to be smart, and you can’t just act arrogant in spite of it. That is to say you also shouldn’t fall into the scare tactics, I support building 110 storeys at the site, but I don’t think we should tempt the terrorists either by collecting everything they hate. The WTC is a target, so is the UN, we should not heighten the level of both by combining them.

I'm not afraid of Car bombs. You asked if they could just drive over the curb, no they cannot, at sites through out the city building are protected by concrete highway dividers, many newer buildings design these barriers as architectural features, however they are strong enough that when a car collides with them it is the car that is destroyed not the barricade.

What we need to be afraid of are missles, dirty and nuclear bombs, and hi-jacked airplanes. Additionally although the bus and car parking is not located under the towers, it is located under the memorial, a giant terrorist attack involving several buses could be devastatingly effective. And there even includes a very off chance of a subway train or more likely the tunnel itself laden with explosives since the subway lies directly below the Freedom Tower.

[NoyokA]

Back to the thread- The UN couldnt take up all the space so how much do you think would be left if they decide to rent?

About 1 million square feet.

[BrooklynRider]

I dont care if the UN moves either way im just saying I dont want a huge amount of security, as long as they dont tear down 7 WTC and move it back 40 feet and then the UN moves in I'm happy. Back to the thread- The UN couldnt take up all the space so how much do you think would be left if they decide to rent?

I don't think it is a feasible site for the UN. The UN is international territory. The WTC site is very much an "American" property.

[NYguy]

NY POST

LOOK IN THE MIRROR, MIKE

By STEVE CUOZZO


May 11, 2005 -- MAYOR Bloomberg had some nerve last week to blame Larry Silverstein for asking too much for rents at his new 7 World Trade Center. To the extent that a lack of tenants at the still-unfinished 7 WTC even matters, Bloomberg should look in the mirror first.

The tower with the shimmering glass curtain wall on Ground Zero's north rim comes with a deal-killer — one that Bloomberg has shown little or no interest in removing: the sickening, blackened, 15-story ruin of CUNY's Fiterman Hall, which looms like a 9/11 nightmare vision over 7 WTC's entrance.

With the macabre hulk between Greenwich Street and West Broadway looking as if it's still Sept. 12, 2001, how can any company seriously consider moving to 7 WTC?

The reason for Fiterman Hall's horrendous state is CUNY's selfish insistence on public funding for a brand-new building — even though the old hall can almost certainly be fixed.

CUNY has hired architects to design a replacement with "clean-up/construction activity to begin by next winter." But the key word is "by."

Considering the endless delays in demolishing the old Deutsche Bank tower, why believe Fiterman will come down soon, especially since CUNY foresees a "thorough environmental investigation," a "formal waste-management plan" and myriad other obstacles before work can start?

And where has Bloomberg been on the subject for the past three years? Nowhere.

The hall is more a responsibility of the state, which controls CUNY. But doesn't Bloomberg have a say? Or does his mayoralty cease below Chambers Street?

Did it ever occur to him, in a moment when he's not obsessing over the Olympics, to stand in front of the eyesore and say to Gov. Pataki, "This must go?"

He lashed out at Silverstein instead. "I think if Larry would reduce his rents to the going rate, he'd rent [7 WTC] in a second," he said of Silverstein's quest for $50 a square foot.

Bloomberg's "going rate" is $35 a square foot, the price for most first-class space Downtown (compared with $50 and up in Midtown).

If only Silverstein were not so greedy, Bloomberg seemed to say, 7 WTC would be chasing tenants away. Yet everyone knew that 7 WTC might take time to lease, thanks to weak current demand.

Moreover, as Silverstein noted yesterday, 7 WTC should not be compared with Downtown buildings 20 to 30 years older, but with comparable new ones uptown. The price is $75 a foot at The New York Times project and $100-plus at the new Bank of America tower.

This is no brief for Silverstein, whose first impulse after 9/11 was to replace the Twin Towers with a bunch of 50-story office buildings.

Nor is it a free pass for his role in the Freedom Tower fiasco, to which he contributed by refusing to build the tower's skyline-restoring top without public money to pay for it.

But even with insurance proceeds, he took a huge risk with 7 WTC. If it flopped, it would jeopardize his future at Ground Zero, and cost him a fortune over time (he owns the building but pays ground rent to the Port Authority).

Silverstein can ask whatever rent he wants for an edifice that most real-estate brokers say is better than anything else Downtown.

For example, Cushman & Wakefield's Andrew Peretz is not involved with 7 WTC — on the contrary, he represents landlords with downtown space in direct competition with it. Yet he calls 7 WTC "a special space" with the "most high-tech, modern construction" around and "a one-of-a-kind address, model year 2006, compared with [downtown] buildings 20 years older."

He calls it a "rock-star building" for "a company that doesn't want an off-the-rack solution from 1985."

Maybe Silverstein will end up asking for less after all for his "rock star." But until Bloomberg and Pataki clean up Fiterman Hall, 7 WTC might stand empty even if the builder gave it away for free.

[NYguy]

BTW, if Silverstein wants that 270 Greenwich to catch on, then they better not stick that huge 7 on front...


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/42570893.jpg

[Alonzo-ny]

is this buildings address no longer 7wtc? I must have missed that memo?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Early morning from the Brooklyn Bridge

http://img230.echo.cx/img230/8803/woolworth513ab.th.jpg (http://img230.echo.cx/my.php?image=woolworth513ab.jpg)

[Jake]

Early morning from the Brooklyn Bridge

http://img230.echo.cx/img230/8803/woolworth513ab.th.jpg (http://img230.echo.cx/my.php?image=woolworth513ab.jpg)

Well, hello there, Two Chase Manhattan Plaza!

LOL

The building looks so much better when it's blue, very nice pic though

[ZippyTheChimp]

It must be shown in all its manifestations, even without makeup and from the less flattering chunky side.

Besides, it wasn't the star of the photo. :)

[NYguy]

The new tower stands empty, yet triumphant - the first
completed building at the site of the 9/11 attacks...

MAY 15, 2005


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448188/medium.jpg_http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448208/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448188.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448265.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448271.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448369.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448375.jpg

[antinimby]

Nice skin, uninteresting shape.
Low-end Larry or Larry Cheapenstein as some like to call him, should be prevented from any further development in NYC.
I could have drawn-up 250 Greenwich St. in what :rolleyes: , 20 seconds?
I'm afraid FT might turn out to be too "safe", and I'm not talking about security issue.

[MrShakespeare]

Thanks for the photos.

I think New Yorkers, and all Americans, should be proud of the new 7WTC. I am, for one! That it exists at all is an incredible achievement.

[alex ballard]

Nice skin, uninteresting shape.
Low-end Larry or Larry Cheapenstein as some like to call him, should be prevented from any further development in NYC.
I could have drawn-up 250 Greenwich St. in what :rolleyes: , 20 seconds?
I'm afraid FT might turn out to be too "safe", and I'm not talking about security issue.



Americans like safe.


Not to stray too far off topic, but does anyone else find it funny that we're supposedly this fearless, can-do-it, powerful nation, but even before 9/11, we've really been soft?


Think about it: Since the moon landing, what has America done that has been of ANY major signifcance or daring. The same could be said in architecture, ever since the completion of the Sears tower in 1974, we've never dared go tall. Ever since WWII, we don't bother to design either.


Sad. Very sad.

[kliq6]

Silverstein wants to much, he wants 60 to 70 bucks a Square foot, even though it cost him nothing out of pocket to build 7. He should be realistic, take 30 to 50 a sf, like all other buildings in that area, including the whole WFC and 55 Water street gets and be happy. Then he would have capital to build Freedom and more over there

[NYguy]

Thanks for the photos.

I think New Yorkers, and all Americans, should be proud of the new 7WTC. I am, for one! That it exists at all is an incredible achievement.

It is. History will look back on the redevelopment of the WTC, and the rebirth of 7 WTC will be one of those defining moments. Likewise, the delays in the development of the Freedom Tower will seem trivial. Like I've said before, 20 years from now, now one will care if the Freedom Tower was completed in 2009 or 2010. And everyone will have forgotten how difficult it was to get tenants back into the WTC in the beginning.

[alex ballard]

It is. History will look back on the redevelopment of the WTC, and the rebirth of 7 WTC will be one of those defining moments. Likewise, the delays in the development of the Freedom Tower will seem trivial. Like I've said before, 20 years from now, now one will care if the Freedom Tower was completed in 2009 or 2010. And everyone will have forgotten how difficult it was to get tenants back into the WTC in the beginning.

Since Goldman Sachs announced it's ditching NYC, I personally feel Lower Manhattan is dead.


Deep inside, it might recover, but not with the way it's going now.

[ASchwarz]

Since Goldman Sachs announced it's ditching NYC, I personally feel Lower Manhattan is dead.


Deep inside, it might recover, but not with the way it's going now.

Um, care to cite your source? You should tell my friends at Goldman; they'd be interested in your "scoop".

[Jonathan_Hakala]

I agree with NYGuy that even many years from now the new 7WTC will still be seen as one of the defining moments in the recovery of lower Manhattan. IMO, the new 7WTC is a beautiful building, much nicer than the old one.

[alex ballard]

Um, care to cite your source? You should tell my friends at Goldman; they'd be interested in your "scoop".


Ask kliq6, he said Goldman said "Midtown or kiss GS bye-bye".


You may think this is all hyperbole, but I live in Philadelphia. I am engrained to believe the absolute worse possible scenario is going to happen.


NYC does not want to become Detroit, we came awfully close in the 1970's, I don't ever want to fly that close again.

[ASchwarz]

Ask kliq6, he said Goldman said "Midtown or kiss GS bye-bye".


You may think this is all hyperbole, but I live in Philadelphia. I am engrained to believe the absolute worse possible scenario is going to happen.


NYC does not want to become Detroit, we came awfully close in the 1970's, I don't ever want to fly that close again.

Kliq6 speculated they might move to Midtown. Last I checked, Midtown is in NYC.

[kliq6]

I just want goldman to stay in the city, not move ther workforce to Hudson Street in JC, to me it does not matter if its Mid or Dowtown, just stay here and we can keep a good tax base generated from them

[Jake]

Goldman is just cutting jobs actoss the board. This has to do with the fact that most Stock services are now handled electronically. I know a few people that got laid off at 30 Hudson so it's not just that JC is cheaper.
Downtown is far from dead, just look at BPC and the further possible development there. WTC took a long time to build and make money, just because it seems everything is either slow or stopped right now in terms of development has nothing to do with what's going to happen in the end. Downtown didn't appear overnite and it certainly won't change or dissapear that fast either.

[kliq6]

jake are the Goldman people you know that work there "Back Office" workers?

[krulltime]

May 20, 2005

WTC developer mulls rent decrease


Developer Larry Silverstein agreed to drop the asking rents for offices at 7 World Trade Center if the state promised to offer a $5-per-square-foot subsidy for the first 500,000 square feet rented in the building.

Mr. Silverstein has received criticism from real estate executives for not dropping his $50-per-square-foot asking rents in the 1.7 million-square-foot building.

New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the state should provide the same incentive for the first 750,000 square feet rented at any new building at the site of the former World Trade Center, according to Bloomberg News, citing a speech by Mr. Silver to the Association for a Better New York.


COPYRIGHT 2005 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

[NYguy]

May 20, 2005

WTC developer mulls rent decrease


Developer Larry Silverstein agreed to drop the asking rents for offices at 7 World Trade Center if the state promised to offer a $5-per-square-foot subsidy for the first 500,000 square feet rented in the building.


That's a start. Now how about the Port Authority committing to 7 WTC or the Freedom Tower. The nerve of these people..

[gonzea]

Click on the pics for HUGE pictures!

http://x4.putfile.com/5/14008204944-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/14008204944.jpg&s=x4)

http://x4.putfile.com/5/14008191999-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/14008191999.jpg&s=x4)

[TonyO]

May 20, 2005

WTC developer mulls rent decrease


Developer Larry Silverstein agreed to drop the asking rents for offices at 7 World Trade Center if the state promised to offer a $5-per-square-foot subsidy for the first 500,000 square feet rented in the building.

Mr. Silverstein has received criticism from real estate executives for not dropping his $50-per-square-foot asking rents in the 1.7 million-square-foot building.

New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the state should provide the same incentive for the first 750,000 square feet rented at any new building at the site of the former World Trade Center, according to Bloomberg News, citing a speech by Mr. Silver to the Association for a Better New York.


COPYRIGHT 2005 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

Like all developers/owners, they go by historical and irrational gauges to the value of their real estate. Larry is finding out what the market will pay him...go figure.

[alex ballard]

Like all developers/owners, they go by historical and irrational gauges to the value of their real estate. Larry is finding out what the market will pay him...go figure.


I'll be laughing when Larry goes bankrupt. But hey! maybe someone else will buy it.


Here's an idea: How about pulling ALL government funding until Larry lowers rents or sells.

[NoyokA]

I'll be laughing when Larry goes bankrupt. But hey! maybe someone else will buy it.


Here's an idea: How about pulling ALL government funding until Larry lowers rents or sells.

You can’t just unequivocally remove funding on a whim, there are certain contracts and entire legality issues involved.

[Bob]

Too much short-term thinking evident in this and similar threads regarding the alleged inability to get tenants for 7. Long term, this building will be a whopping financial success and most likely, 97% leased. If all the WTC pieces come together well, the area will be the place to be: all-new infrastructure, improved communications and transportation links, safer building construction, etc.

As for terrorism concerns, well yes, that unfortunately is a reality. The entire country is a target. And, each of us is a target, simply because we choose to live our lives the way we do. But we shouldn't be changing our lifestyle, or the way we choose to build our cities, to accommodate Muslim extremist murderers.

[kliq6]

what they should do to help is resolve Fiterman hall and 130 Liberty, knock them down so tenants in 7 dont have to loo at them all day long, the pit is bad enough.

However with this new news, soon 7 WTC may be the only office building left in Lower Manhattan
http://globest.com/news/291_291/newyork/134535-1.html

[BrooklynRider]

...As for terrorism concerns, well yes, that unfortunately is a reality. The entire country is a target. And, each of us is a target, simply because we choose to live our lives the way we do. But we shouldn't be changing our lifestyle, or the way we choose to build our cities, to accommodate Muslim extremist murderers...

At the expense of a reprimand for going off-topic: There has not been a trial with regard to the World Trade Center attack. It has never been established in a court of law with substantiated evidence and cross examination that Muslims or extremists were responsible. Murderers certainly, but try to hold back on repeating unsubstantiated government press releases. Seven of the men whose pictures we saw and whose names we were given by the US Government as conspirators and hijackers have been proven to be alive and well and had no part in the attack. The only threat we face is the failure of our own government to respond - thus facilitating an attack as some argue happened on 9/11.

[GLNY]

At the expense of a reprimand for going off-topic: There has not been a trial with regard to the World Trade Center attack. It has never been established in a court of law with substantiated evidence and cross examination that Muslims or extremists were responsible. Murderers certainly, but try to hold back on repeating unsubstantiated government press releases. Seven of the men whose pictures we saw and whose names we were given by the US Government as conspirators and hijackers have been proven to be alive and well and had no part in the attack. The only threat we face is the failure of our own government to respond - thus facilitating an attack as some argue happened on 9/11.

** BELLS ** We have a frontrunner for asinine post of the year. If you look carefully, you'll find more paranoid Oppression-obsession (e.g. sidewalk planters separating the haves from the have nots) written from the comfort of Park Slope. SOP at Tishman? I think not.

Let's be careful in these fascist times. Remember what happened to the unfortunate poster on SSP.com.

[BPC]

I agree. I am sure there already is some message board out there for moronic conspiracy theories. Let's keep on topic.

[ZippyTheChimp]

As for terrorism concerns, well yes, that unfortunately is a reality. The entire country is a target. And, each of us is a target, simply because we choose to live our lives the way we do. But we shouldn't be changing our lifestyle, or the way we choose to build our cities, to accommodate Muslim extremist murderers.
That's true, but equally important, we shouldn't be freezing our lifestyle just to spite Muslim extremist murderers (or whomever).

The essence of American lifestyle is change, nowhere more so than New York. In reality, our lifestyles have already changed. The next time your at an airport, think back to flying before 09/11.

[ZippyTheChimp]

On the north side:

http://img267.echo.cx/img267/2668/7wtc667on.th.jpg (http://img267.echo.cx/my.php?image=7wtc667on.jpg) http://img267.echo.cx/img267/4502/7wtc675oq.th.jpg (http://img267.echo.cx/my.php?image=7wtc675oq.jpg)

[hella good]

well, im liking that very much, a good covering for the base should give it the correct modern look. if it was a crap covering it would make it look so shoddy.

[Zoe]

Shots from this weekend
http://img296.echo.cx/img296/5817/downtownpics0091tr.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

Close up of the crown
http://img237.echo.cx/img237/8180/downtownpics0119gm.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

[ZippyTheChimp]

View from Teardrop Park
http://img91.echo.cx/img91/1051/teardrop013dm.th.jpg (http://img91.echo.cx/my.php?image=teardrop013dm.jpg)

[krulltime]

Thanks Zoe and Zippy for the photos! I like the building. Simple but likeable.

[NYguy]

This building is pretty much as advertised.
There's a real photo in there somewhere....


http://mw2mw.com/show/images/c01-7wtc.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43448375/medium.jpghttp://silversteinproperties.com/images/7wt_dawn.jpg

[lofter1]

I noticed on a ground plan that the 7 WTC will be surrounded by roads on all sides. It seems ridiculous to me for 1 skyscraper to be entirely cut off like that. Why do the planners allow this? Couldn't they block at least one of the roads off to make it a pedestrian plaza between 7 WTC and another building or something like that? (just something to better connect it to the other buildings and the streetscape)

In addition to views being blocked by Barclay Vessey views will also be blocked by the Freedom Tower. 7 WTC is surrounded and covered. It is possible the Silverstein built 7 WTC with so much haste so that it will be more desirable and attract tenants before all of its views are taken by more prominent buildings.

From plans and renderings 7 WTC will be open to the East and South. East is a new Plaza and then the great deco Post Office Building. The Barclay building to the North is ~ 20 stories, so the North side of 7 WTC above that will have open views. South will be the low rise Cultural buildings (Gehry / Snohetta) per the Master Plan. The Verizon building to the west will offer fairly clear view in 7 WTC above the 20th floor. THe Freedom Tower will rise catty-corner at the SW corner of 7 WTC.

Below is the proposed Plaza at the Greenwich Steet side (the former 7 WTC was a parallellogram and occupied the site of the new 7 WTC and this plaza site).

Note that the map of the plaza (2nd image) shows the extended Greenwich Street as a "Private Street".

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/WTC7_future_10.jpg

Map of Plaza (with variations per seasons):

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/WTC7_future_11.jpg

Overview showing Plaza on Greenwich Street extension:

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/WTC7_future_5.jpg

[Zoe]

Work has begun on the lower portion skin
http://img114.echo.cx/img114/2040/img27576rb.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img114.echo.cx/img114/2473/img27582lv.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img114.echo.cx/img114/9497/img27595eu.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img114.echo.cx/img114/5200/img27609bu.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

[pianoman11686]

Speaking of the tower's base...

Built to Be Noticed, and to Return the Favor

By GLENN COLLINS

Published: June 27, 2005

For three years now, 7 World Trade Center - the last tower to fall on Sept. 11, 2001, and the first to be reborn at ground zero - has meant a crucial question for its developer, Larry A. Silverstein.

Could he build a skyscraper atop a monumental concrete Con Edison substation - arguably the ugliest pedestal at any Manhattan building - and adorn it with a facade so arresting that tenants would clamor to rent office space there?

The answer is emerging these days at the northern edge of the trade center void. A shimmering, sharp-edged parallelogram sheathed in glass is being married to the brutalist 78-foot-tall substation with what looks like a sculptural installation: a kinetic, interactive stainless-steel wall.

Architects have said that this screen, intended to be a source of reflected color and light, may serve as the prototype for the cladding of a new, sturdier base at the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower that will be built next door. That skyscraper's security redesign is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday.

At 7 World Trade Center, the high-tech wall must also serve as a porous ventilator for hidden vaults of three-story transformers that need to breathe. Mr. Silverstein said there was "a whole set of design challenges that David had to solve," referring to David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the architects of 7 World Trade Center.

To Mr. Childs, it was essential not to slap "some external piece of art" onto the 52-story tower, he said, "but something integral, that was designed from the start."

Mr. Childs sought the expertise of James Carpenter, whose Manhattan firm, James Carpenter Design Associates, also helped to create the glass cable-wall system at the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, and is currently working on an extension to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

To observers, Mr. Childs hoped, it would seem that light was not only captured by the building, but also emanated from it. So the architects ordered 13.6-foot-long white glass sheets, low-iron panes that minimize the conventional greenish hue of glass, for the upper floors. These could be extended in one piece from the ceiling of each of the building's 42 tenant floors down past the spandrels, the horizontal panels at the base of each floor slab.

The spandrels themselves are curved, made of folded textured steel that reflects the light not only from the sky, but also from blue steel window sills at each floor. This configuration scatters light upward within the tower's glass skin, "embedding the sky in the glass surface," as Mr. Carpenter put it.

The resulting glass wall was so atypical - with a portion of the bottom of each floor's glass panes exposed to grimy air - that the architectural team had to design a twisty squeegee that could be deployed from movable maintenance scaffolding. Then a cleaning worker had to demonstrate to Mr. Silverstein that the squeegee could actually clean the exposed inner portions of the panes.

But how to match this airy glass tower to its stolid base, which comprises not only the seven-story substation - which feeds electricity to a million users in Manhattan - but also three floors of the building's mechanical systems?

"The answer was to link the upper and lower buildings together by light," said Mr. Carpenter, a 2004 MacArthur fellow who trained as an architect and sculptor, and has made the characteristics of light a focus of his designs. "We envisioned the whole building as prismatic - as a parallelogram prism."

So on the lower floors, the architects hoped to restate the design of the top of the building, using nothing more than a curtain wall, an independently supported outer screen. Hard hats are now installing 15-foot-tall, 5-foot-wide panels of elegantly machined and polished triangular steel prism bars in two rows set 6.5 inches apart. Each section weighs 1,500 pounds.

During the day, the 130,000 prisms are intended to make the wall an active surface. The prism sections are set off by 15 degrees, so they can reflect the sky in different directions. As pedestrians walk past the building, they are expected to experience kinetic reflections.

"The wall will create a moiré effect that moves by you, as if you are walking past stretched silk," Mr. Childs said.

But at dusk, 220,000 blue and white light-emitting diodes, which give off little heat and are easy to maintain, will illuminate the prismed wall from within. The lights will subtly reflect off the prisms out onto the street.

When the wall is activated, its evening glow will change in a sequence from tranquil, patterned fields of blue and white to more active modes: at times, the wall will follow passers-by - or at least, 12 motion-sensing cameras will. The sensors are randomly programmed to follow pedestrians on the sidewalks, creating multistory, moving columns of blue light on a white background as people pass the building. Sometimes two pedestrians heading in different directions will each be highlighted.

These days, the building's upper pylon seems to change dramatically during shifting light and weather conditions. At "Seven," as the tower is called by those who are toiling on its construction, the intensity of the glass skin's light-scattering effect is greatest in the early morning and late afternoon.

Mr. Carpenter said he hopes that 7 World Trade Center can be "not just a mirrored building," but will explore "the boundary between transparent and reflective."

The 741-foot-tall building will have 1.7 million square feet of office space, beginning at the building's 11th floor. By the end of August the tower - scheduled to be completed early next year - will have a finished floor to show to prospective tenants. Column-free, and nearly 10 feet in height, the office floors provide unobstructed views. The building's massive central core limits the floor plates to 40,000 square feet, but addresses security concerns by protecting elevators, stairways and sprinkler pipes behind two feet of concrete.

The bulky base of 7 World Trade Center enhances its safety, security experts say, since its occupied floors start well above possible blast effects from a truck bomb. The New York Police Department has insisted that the Freedom Tower, also being designed by Mr. Childs, incorporate a similar security core, as well as a hardened concrete base to protect tenants.

Mr. Carpenter and his chief assistant, Richard Kress, designed the lower reflective wall to cover only the north and south facades of 7 World Trade Center - which is bounded by Vesey, Barclay and Washington Streets - since the facade nearly abuts the monumental Verizon building.

The lobby will be dominated by a floor-to-ceiling, 14-by-70-foot wall of acid-etched translucent glass illuminated by whitish light-emitting diodes, created by Mr. Carpenter and the artist Jenny Holzer. She will program the wall to display moving text appropriate to the site, poetry that will evoke the history of New York.

The building has cost Mr. Silverstein of Silverstein Properties $700 million, "very significantly more than I ever expected to spend," he said. An important component of that expense - Mr. Silverstein would not say how much - has been to create the building's fancy curtain wall.

Space in the building is being offered for $50 to $60 per square foot, $15 higher than other space downtown, brokers say, though the tower's sales force says tax breaks and energy savings will make it more competitive. Though Mr. Silverstein is thus far tenantless, he said, "There are expressions of interest."

Mr. Silverstein has already put behind him the loss of the twin towers and his peripatetic quest for insurance settlements, but the effort to prettify 7 World Trade Center "has been the greatest challenge to date," he said. However, looking ahead to the re-unveiling of the Freedom Tower, he added: "It will pale in comparison to the challenges to come."

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/27/nyregion/trade.184.1.450.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/27/nyregion/27trade1.enlarge.jpg

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[pianoman11686]

The more I learn about this building, the more it grows on me. It really is a remarkable building, whose only downside appears to be the bad location. Once the condition of the surroundings improve, I think this building will be a big success. It's also interesting to note that 7WTC will serve as a kind of blueprint, model, and "experiment under real conditions" for the Freedom Tower. Any difficulties that 7WTC has encountered and will encounter will only be multiplied manifold in the Freedom Tower.

[NYatKNIGHT]

..."very significantly more than I ever expected to spend,"... ...so let it be known I'm not going to be spending any more than I absolutely have to for the remaining buildings.

[NYguy]

...so let it be known I'm not going to be spending any more than I absolutely have to for the remaining buildings.

Even following those guidelines, Silverstein doesn't have enough now to put up all of the buildings. I can hardly blame him for wanting govt help with the extra security costs. If Silverstein wanted to put all of the rebuilding money he has into one building, that's one thing. But he won't even get all of that money if he went with that option.

[MrShakespeare]

Wow! This building is extremely impressive.

That is a particularly informative article (6-27-05), too.

[lofter1]

A close-up, in-person viewing of these panels show that they have an interesting 3-dimensial effect already. (Great views from in front of the Barclay St. building, Feterman Hall & the Post office.)

The alternating panels give a strong impression of depth, a visual sense something like this: VVVVVVVV -- though the panel surface is actually quite flat & smooth.

Can't wait to see the lighting effects!!!

[NoyokA]

A close-up, in-person viewing of these panels show that they have an interesting 3-dimensial effect already. (Great views from in front of the Barclay St. building, Feterman Hall & the Post office.)

The alternating panels give a strong impression of depth, a visual sense something like this: VVVVVVVV -- though the panel surface is actually quite flat & smooth.

Can't wait to see the lighting effects!!!

Yeah the lighting effects impress me; on the daytime face value the building is somewhat synonymous with others of the financial district. There is too potential for the base of the Freedom Tower, while I don’t think it’s the best running theme, if you look at a single spandrel of the installment they are reminiscent of the former twin towers in that they have thin vertical mullions which take on distinctive appearances from a distance.

[lofter1]

There is video showing the interior of 7WTC --
A "tour" given by developer Larry Silverstein with NY1 TV:
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=51875

(once there click the TV icon for the video)

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/images/live/84/166110.JPG

NY1 Gets Exclusive Tour Of New 7 World Trade Center Building

June 30, 2005

NY1 got an exclusive look Thursday at the new 7 World Trade Center, the first building to be rebuilt at the Trade Center site, as developer Larry Silverstein took us on a walk through the building.

“The building is built totally differently than the initial 7 World Trade Center. This building will not come down,” says Larry Silverstein. “I can tell you further that this is also a green building, and I can tell you further that it has the latest in technology, so tenants who need the latest in technology can find it all here.”

(more at the link)

Copyright © 2005 NY1 News. All rights reserved.

[TonyO]

looking south towards 7WTC at night, with construction lights on.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/tottaviano/Picture%20012.jpg

[NoyokA]

Newsday:

Wanted: 7 WTC tenants


PRADNYA JOSHI

July 3, 2005

Attention real-estate shoppers: There's a great new sale for office space going on at Ground Zero, thanks to new city and state incentives.

And experts say those new financial lures that state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver shepherded through could be just the jump-start his downtown Manhattan district needs to help lift Ground Zero out of the political morass that has caused one delay after another.

All in all, the new state incentives, developer Larry Silverstein's agreement to match them, and other energy and efficiency savings could equal as much as a $20 per-square-foot discount on the new 7 World Trade Center and other Ground Zero buildings once they are completed. To date, Silverstein has not signed any tenants to 7 WTC, which is scheduled for completion early next year.

With Silverstein asking at least $50 a square foot in rent for 7 World Trade Center, the new breaks add up to real money for companies thinking about relocating to downtown.

"It's really changed the economics of coming to lower Manhattan versus midtown," said Richard Kennedy, senior director at the Cushman & Wakefield's Wall Street office.

Silverstein's exclusive brokerage firm said the incentives as well as the near-completion date are getting clients interested.

"This is one of the most efficient, safest and newest buildings in the country if not the world - and it's one of the best economic values," said Steve Siegel, chairman of CB Richard Ellis' global brokerage services. He added his brokers have talked to law firms, investment banks and even cosmetics firms.

Silverstein said at a news conference last week announcing the new Freedom Tower design that his phone "has been ringing off the hook" since the incentives were offered, which will be paid for by the city and state. Silverstein said it's too soon to sign up tenants for Freedom Tower because that building is not expected to open until 2010, but he expects that he can secure them for the $750-million 7 World Trade Center quickly with the incentives.

Still, real-estate brokers acknowledge that it's been an uphill battle to get businesses to come back to Ground Zero.

Companies may be leery about setting up shop overlooking the construction pit at Ground Zero; the transportation connections to downtown, particularly for suburban commuters, still aren't as extensive as in midtown; and the downtown real-estate market still has a glut of office space available.

Ground Zero is competing with nearly 12 million square feet of vacant office space elsewhere in downtown, of which 5 million square feet is large blocks of space that a large company may want, said M. Myers Mermel, founder of TenantWise Inc., a firm that advises businesses on real-estate transactions.

In addition, Mermel said another 4.3 million square feet of space downtown is not officially on the market but sits empty and could be available for rent.

Despite those drawbacks, Silverstein Properties says 7 World Trade Center has many assets: "green" building codes that will cut the electric costs for tenants; natural light and special design materials to make office workers happy and productive; and sweeping views of the harbor and the city that many of the crowded midtown office towers can't offer.

Furthermore, with an address at 250 Greenwich St., Silverstein is also marketing the building's proximity to trendy TriBeCa with its shops and restaurants.

Brokers say one reason tenants have been keeping away has been Silverstein's asking price. According to Colliers ABR, downtown rents averaged $33.92 a square foot last month for the top-quality office space, which meant Silverstein was asking more than $17 above market prices.

That extra rent is "not outrageous for a new product but sits in the context of a lot of new vacancy" downtown, said one real-estate broker who asked not to be named.

Siegel of CB Richard Ellis acknowledged that the downtown glut hasn't helped but the firm also has only recently ramped up its marketing of the building.

[NewYorkYankee]

I believe we may just see a tenent soon.

[Gulcrapek]

special design materials to make office workers happy and productive

Drugs?

[Derek2k3]

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/230/1249/480/IMG_5597.jpg

7 World Trade's base from the blog "A Test Of Will."
More pics here. (http://testofwill.blogspot.com/2005/07/7-world-trades-base.html).

[BPC]

I believe we may just see a tenent soon.

I've been trying to convince my employer to make the move. Our lease runs up in about a year.

[Gulcrapek]

Somewhere from a week to 2 months ago

http://img276.echo.cx/img276/2184/7wtc0ah.th.jpg (http://img276.echo.cx/my.php?image=7wtc0ah.jpg)

[ZippyTheChimp]

That's a nice photo.

BTW, the construction netting has been coming down from the crown of the Barclay Building, showing the palladium windows. It has been covered since before 09/11 when renovation began on the building brickwork.

[NoyokA]

Tribeca Tribune:

7 World Views

by Barry Owens

Camouflaged in the color of blue sky, an unmanned balloon was launched last month on a simple mission: to capture with its dangling camera the view from 1,400 feet above the future site of the Freedom Tower. The idea was to show potential tenants how much of the world they would see out of their office windows if only they would sign on the dotted line.

Similarly, a film crew donned hard hats and rode a construction hoist to the top of 7 World Trade Center to check light levels and find prime locations for a planned shoot with the building's developer, Larry Silverstein, and Gov. George Pataki. The pair were part of the cast in a promotional video unveiling the redesigned Freedom Tower and extolling the virtues of occupying office space so very high above Lower Manhattan.

The views are certainly extraordinary, but so far they have not been enough to lure tenants to either address. Late last month, however, word came from Albany that the state will provide rent subsidies of $5 per-square foot for the first 750,000 square feet leased at the World Trade Center site and $3.80 per square foot at 7 WTC-currently leasing at $50 per square foot. The incentives will be matched by Silverstein.

While the 33rd floor of 7 WTC has been set aside for Silverstein himself, the remaining 51 floors are empty. Not a single other tenant has signed a lease.

"I can tell you, happily, that the phones haven't stopped ringing" since the incentives were announced, Silverstein said at a news conference on June 29.

There is 1.7 million square feet of office space in the building, most of it filled only with sunlight. The windows are floor to ceiling, and made of iron-free glass that minimizes tint and provides almost crystal clear views.

Even on a hazy day, as the Trib discovered on a recent visit, the 741-foot-tall building affords a view to be found nowhere else Downtown.

To the west there is Battery Park City. The World Financial Center, seen in its entirety, looks much like the scale model it once was on an architect's desk. To the east, the Financial District unfolds. The crown of the Woolworth Building on Broadway is level with the upper floors where it remains a strange presence in the space, as prominent as a pyramid.

Only the ridge of towers in Midtown prevents one from seeing as far north as Central Park. And of course there are panoramic views of the harbor, the Statue of Liberty and as much of Brooklyn and New Jersey as you care to take in.

But it is the more immediate view to the south that may speak to one reason the building has thus far failed to find tenants: The footprints of the World Trade Center towers are visible from every floor.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/wtc-worker-strolls.jpg

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/wtc7-woolworth.jpg

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/7wtc-composite.jpg

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/7wtc-cover.jpg

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/7wtc-bpc%20pan.jpg

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july05/7wtc-verizon-bldg.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

Walking by 7WTC almost daily, I am not convinced that the treatment of the base will turn out well.

At times, it looks bleak and too industrial, and that is not just on cloudy days. The first image was taken with the sun directly overhead.

However, the equipment floors over the substation will be clad with the same panels as the office floors. The spandrels will probably be louvered panels to permit venting of the equipment. Thus, the overall height of the metal portion is only about 100 ft.

If a similar treatment is used for the 200 ft base of the FT, I think it will turn out to be oppressive.

[Johnnyboy]

its not that bad. hope it doesn't rust

[PHLguy]

its not that bad. hope it doesn't rust



Jeez that would be pretty embarassing huh?

[Jake]

The last pic doesn't look all that bad. I still think FT will have at least a slightly different base.

[lofter1]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NY_7_WORLD_TRADE_BAOL-?SITE=NYNYD&SECTION=MIDEAST&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

NY Daily News
Jul 24, 10:45 AM EDT

Report: American Express unit signs lease at 7 World Trade

NEW YORK (AP) -- Developer Larry Silverstein has signed his first lease for the nearly completed 7 World Trade Center, one month after state legislators passed an incentive plan to help downtown buildings, according to a published report.

American Express Financial Advisors, a unit of the credit card company, is negotiating a 15-year lease for about 20,000 square feet at the 52-story tower just north of the main trade center site, Crain's New York Business reported for Monday editions.

"This is terrific news for downtown," state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents lower Manhattan, told Crain's.

[TomAuch]

WHOO HOOO!!!!!

Pop the champaigne cork open!

[kz1000ps]

Not to be a pessimist, but 20,000 sqft. is what--half a floor? Well, counting Larry's 33rd floor, that means it's just under 3% occupied. That champagne might be a bit premature, but then again, who am I to stop anyone from getting a little sloshy.

I also must echo Zippy's sentiments about the base cladding. It'll be a while before I get to see it in person, but from the pictures it looks like some late '60s corporate architecture joke.

[expose05]

at least 7 world trade center has a tenant other than sliverstein properties. :)

[TomAuch]

Not to be a pessimist, but 20,000 sqft. is what--half a floor? Well, counting Larry's 33rd floor, that means it's just under 3% occupied. That champagne might be a bit premature, but then again, who am I to stop anyone from getting a little sloshy.

I also must echo Zippy's sentiments about the base cladding. It'll be a while before I get to see it in person, but from the pictures it looks like some late '60s corporate architecture joke.

It is important, for symbolic reasons, that WTC has rented space for a firm, at least to send the message to the nay-sayers that renting out the WTC Site is not impossible.

[lofter1]

I also must echo Zippy's sentiments about the base cladding. It'll be a while before I get to see it in person, but from the pictures it looks like some late '60s corporate architecture joke.
In person it has an interesting energy to it that doesn't come across in photos. And once the entire installation is complete with the lighting as has been described in previous posts it seems the base could be ever-changing and not nearly as heavy & static as it now might appear.

[kz1000ps]

In person it has an interesting energy to it that doesn't come across in photos. And once the entire installation is complete with the lighting as has been described in previous posts it seems the base could be ever-changing and not nearly as heavy & static as it now might appear.

That is good to hear Lofter, for it does look incredibly static and dominating in pictures. I made the point about not having seen it in person specifically because I realized this might be a case where it needs to be experienced "in concert," moving around the form to really get the feel for it. Now I must make it a point to get down and see for myself next time I have an afternoon to wander, whenever that may be.

As for the symbolic weight behind the lease of space, that is very true and hopefully this will prove to be The hurdle that was needed to be jumped for leases to start flowing in. Once someone rents 200,000 square feet, I'll break out the bottle of bourbon and we can let the real party begin!

[Johnnyboy]

its something. you know, its a begining

[Jake]

It's actually quite hilarious, AMEX spun-off that division some months ago and now they're throwing them out of 3 WFC lol, not too far at least.

Might actually be more of a gesture to help downtown, AMEX should be applauded for everything they do for NYC, they sponsor virtually everything that happens downtown. That's why I use American Express. My life, My card. LMAO

[TonyO]

Good news indeed.