7 World Trade Center - by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

[TonyO]

> SPACE | NYC 01 24 06

BALANCE OF TRADE SHIFT AT 7 WTC?

Peter Slatin

http://www.theslatinreport.com/content/pictures/signpic.jpg

For the politicians, bureaucrats and Larry Silverstein, it was a banner day.

Surrounded by the former, the latter signed a letter of intent with Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co. Ltd. to lease 200,000 square feet in the top five floors of Silverstein's gleaming 1.7 million-square-foot 7 World Trade Center. Although Silverstein has signed two much smaller leases, with Ameriprise and the New York Academy of Sciences, the preliminary deal announced Jan. 24 was the first serious indication that the developer's Liberty Bond gamble will pay off in the long run.

It's also quite fitting that the first major commercial deal in the World Trade Center redevelopment should go to a company representing the country that is rebalancing the scales of global trade. In addition, rather than being a part of downtown's traditional Old World tenant base, Vantone represents a creative and entrepreneurial bent to China's nascent, supercharged capitalism that is reminiscent of but far more likely to persist than the technology tenants that flourished in and fled Silicon Alley five years ago. The landlord's need to reach beyond a traditional tenant base, and to rely heavily on financial incentives and political pressures from government officials indicate that enormous hurdles remain in downtown's struggle to move beyond a boom-and-bust economy. On the other hand, the out-of-the-box nature of the tenancy could presage a healthy changing of the guard in the makeup of downtown Manhattan's commercial base.



(Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images
Sighs at the signing. New York City and State as well as Chinese government officials and Vantone's CEO join Silverstein.
Vantone's eventual program is still emerging, though those close to the deal say it will most likely act as a facilitator and executive-suite purveyor for Chinese businesses, and that the buildout could include a club or even sleeping quarters on the top floor. The ultimate scale of its tenancy at Ground Zero is another unknown: Vantone first emerged as a potential tenant for Freedom Tower, and sources say it remains interested in that possibility as well as in additional space at 7 WTC.

While the deal is a true source of relief in the long, dry slog to heal the downtown office market, it thrusts a host of critical questions to the fore: first, is this the first wave in a surge? Silverstein spokesman Dara McQuillan thinks so, and tells The Slatin Report that the next deal is "not far off." Since the developer obtained a temporary certificate of occupancy late last year, he says, interest from potential tenants willing to accept the construction site sprawling around and in the building has grown rapidly. McQuillan declined to say whether the next deal would be for a small or large user, but said that Silverstein is targeting advertising agencies and design firms in an effort to get creative juices flowing in the building (and maybe to bring in tenants who will appreciate the huge Jenny Holzer sculpture in the lobby).

The Vantone deal also coincides with increasing talk, on this page and many others, about the tightening Midtown Manhattan market. Will the scarcity there lead tenants downtown? More to the point, it remains to be seen whether the lease, enabled by heavy lifting from all those politicians and bureaucrats, cements Silverstein's now-in, now-out, now-in role in the Ground Zero firmament.

[BrooklynRider]

Any fashionistas out there that can explain that thing on that red shirt?

[londonlawyer]

Whatever dude. I guess Shelly SIlver is more powerful than we imagined!

Uhh. OK, dude.

[Citytect]

Mr. Silverstein’s other two tenants, Ameriprise Financial and the New York Academy of Sciences, are leasing a floor and a half combined. Mr. Silverstein is taking a whole floor for his property company. Minus the ground floor, that still leaves about 43 floors to go.

43 floors to go??? The building only has 42 office floors, right? So Silverstein really only (ha, only) has 34 and a half floors to rent in 7WTC.

42 office floors
- 1 Silverstein's Co.
- 1 NYAS
- .5 Amerisprise
- 5 China Center

=34.5 floors remaining

Also, isn't 800 people on 5 floors a lot, even in shifts???

[Jake]

Also, isn't 800 people on 5 floors a lot, even in shifts???

Heh, it's Chinese efficiency my friend, one shift works 12AM-->12PM and the other 12PM-->12AM

Someone will give me shit for this but lol, you can fit a lot of Chinese into a shipping container in NYC harbor, I'm sure they'll fit into 7.:D

[ZippyTheChimp]

Any fashionistas out there that can explain that thing on that red shirt?I'm sure it's not Falon Gong.

[antinimby]

Any fashionistas out there that can explain that thing on that red shirt?LOL, fashionistas on this site? Good luck finding any. Speaking of luck, I'm almost certain it is a symbol of a dragon and a phoenix, the ying-yang Chinese symbols of harmony, good fortune, prosperity and wealth. BTW, the Chinese love the colors red and yellow (also the colors of their flag), red means success and yellow represents fortune.

http://z.about.com/d/chineseculture/1/0/u/g/4/blsl01017.gif

[Jake]

http://www.theslatinreport.com/content/pictures/signpic.jpg

Second guy on the right, look over his shoulder, that's as much of the FT as anyone at 7 will see for many many years

[NYCResident]

Heh, it's Chinese efficiency my friend, one shift works 12AM-->12PM and the other 12PM-->12AM

Someone will give me shit for this but lol, you can fit a lot of Chinese into a shipping container in NYC harbor, I'm sure they'll fit into 7.:D

You're right.. I'm going to give you shit for this.. why would you make a stupid comment like that? And yes, I am Chinese.

[lofter1]

http://www.theslatinreport.com/content/pictures/signpic.jpg

Second guy on the right, look over his shoulder, that's as much of the FT as anyone at 7 will see for many many years
Third guy from the left will be gone soon -- but not soon enough, dag nab it!

[BPC]

Third guy from the left will be gone soon -- but not soon enough, dag nab it!

I wish the second guy from the left would be leaving soon as well. Given that he has done more than most to sabotage Downtown's redevelopment, his smiling mug there is a particularly nasty joke.

[Ninjahedge]

Actually, they all look like they have s**t eating grins on there.

I don't trust a single one of them.


As for teh shirt, what is a Gwai-lo (sp) doing wearing a chinese celebratory shirt? The thing looks a little tacky to begin with, but on her it looks just plain wrong!


And as for the colors, it ain't "yellow" it's "gold" that they like.

[antinimby]

Actually, I'm correct (as always ;) ). Yellow is the color. BTW, it's gwai-paw for a woman. You can check with your sources.

[Ninjahedge]

Actually, I'm correct (as always ;) ). Yellow is the color. BTW, it's gwai-paw for a woman. You can check with your sources.

I will ask my GF about it.

Sorry if I did not know that women were treated differently with the insult "whitey"... ;)


And they keep telling me gold. It is gold on the envelopes, and also there was some sort of contestment about wedding invitations on another board that they did not have enough gold in them.


Red and gold (literally shiny gold) are symbold of wealth and happiness I believe. Again, I will confirm... :P

[wns808]

will the OEM offices still be on the 23rd floor of the new 7 WTC as they were in the original 7 WTC?

[macreator]

will the OEM offices still be on the 23rd floor of the new 7 WTC as they were in the original 7 WTC?

Nope. OEM built a new headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn.

[kliq6]

Its official, the NY Inst Science and Ameriprise deals are official and of record, they can be viewed on therealdeal.net

The China deal is still just a offer sheet, i will update when official

[BigMac]

Wikipedia
January, 2006

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/WTC7_alone.jpg/600px-WTC7_alone.jpg

[RS085]

whats with the glass? or lack thereof

[Jake]

^That's the collumn where the exterior elevator was. It hasn't been patched up yet, but they can pretty much do that in a single day.

[lofter1]

If you're gonna build a box this is one great way to do it.

[Nordica]

The neighbor looks a bit out of plumb.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Keystoning (http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/digitalimage/more/ImageRescue.mspx), usually from tilting the camera up (in this case) or down.

[NoyokA]

NYPOST:

So, how solid is the presumed deal for Beijing-based Vantone Co. to lease 200,000 square feet at the top of Larry Silverstein's 7 World Trade Center?

Last week, both sides announced a term sheet had been signed. It's rare to hold a press conference to announce a term sheet, which is non-binding.

Vantone's broker, Jones Lang LaSalle honcho Peter Riguardi, said: "We have an extremely detailed letter of intent. I think both teams, us for Vantone and CB Richard Ellis for Silverstein, are very experienced and professional. We feel confident we can get through this."

[BPC]

Term sheets can be either binding or non-binding under New York law. It depends on a lot of things, most importantly the wording of the document.

[Zoe]

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/4391/02010615155mf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
A peek at the plaza design in front of 7 WTC

[BrooklynRider]

That refinished plaza will actually help this area alot. I hope it is a landscaped plaza and not all cement, maybe a fountain or something to give the area more life.

[Jake]

Keep in mind that it will be TINY. Probably enough room for maybe 4 benches. I think people will be drawn to the memorial park or Liberty park while this triangle of land will sit abandoned.

[NoyokA]

Keep in mind that it will be TINY. Probably enough room for maybe 4 benches. I think people will be drawn to the memorial park or Liberty park while this triangle of land will sit abandoned.

If thats the case, this plaza will naturally attract residents as compared to tourists.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Keep in mind that it will be TINY. Probably enough room for maybe 4 benches. I think people will be drawn to the memorial park or Liberty park while this triangle of land will sit abandoned.I don't think so.

North to south, it's one block long, so at least 200 ft. I've walked past there east to west many times, and I'd guess the distance from Greenwich to West Broadway is at least 100 ft. According to plans, this section of Greenwich St will not be open to traffic, so the effect of the plaza will extend up to 7 WTC.

I agree this will not be a spot for tourists, but I don't think it will be abandoned. Workers from the post office building and 7 WTC will use it.

[lofter1]

It is a fairly good size --- with lots of plumbing for the fountain, as well as large planted sections at both the north and south ends.

At the center is a large circular area where the fountain will be...

More pictures (click on "slideshow"): http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/7_world_trade_center_75464.asp

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

[antinimby]

I'm usually not a fan of too many little parks and plazas here and there, but even I believe this one here is good. It provides a good contrast (greenery, water, life) vs. the building's base (dark, stark, lifeless). This is a good feng shui solution to a bad base design. For even better results, they should encircle the whole building's base with plant life.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Designer brings light to Downtown projects

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_143/james.gif
Downtown Express photo by Ramin Talaie

Architect James Carpenter in his Tribeca studio with a model of his art design for the Museum of Jewish Heritage which will open in April. His lighting design for the base of 7 World Trade Center will also soon be visible.

By Ronda Kaysen

Whoever said a six-story Con Edison substation couldn’t be pretty? The boxy structure that makes up the base of 7 World Trade Center will come to life next month, dazzling passersby with shimmering light emanating from within and cascading in from the outside. Yes, that’s right, a mammoth substation will be something other than an eyesore.

Architect and sculptor James Carpenter has transformed the clunky base of the David Childs-designed glass tower into an airy wonder of light that will bring color to the streetscape.

“The results are going to be spectacular,” developer Larry Silverstein, who owns 7 W.T.C., told Downtown Express in a telephone interview.

The 10 transformers housed inside the tower need air to breathe, and so 7’s base is a porous series of prism-shaped slats set at varying angles, letting natural light in that bounces off interior prisms and returns to the street. At night, L.E.D. lighting mounted inside the structure will bounce off the prisms and out onto the street. Sensory cameras will pick up movement off the street and periodically reflect it as well. The result will be a moving stream of light and color that shifts throughout the day and a permeable building that hides the transformers from the naked eye.

“We needed to come up with a way of balancing daylight with artificial light,” said Carpenter, sitting inside James Carpenter Design Associates’ Hudson St. studio. The light display will be visible along the northern and southern facades of the building. The south faces Vesey St. and the Trade Center site. The north side faces Barclay St. The light will not dominate the street, said Carpenter. “It’s a very subtle light. It’s very quiet.”

Nearby residents hope Carpenter’s project will bring life back to the dreary corner of Barclay and Greenwich Sts. “I’m dying to see it. From the prototype, it looks like it’ll be fabulous,” said Community Board 1 assistant district manager Judy Duffy. “I love 7, it’s a really pretty building.”

Duffy added that she hoped it would set a precedent for the Freedom Tower, which will have a 200-ft. tall reinforced concrete base. Silverstein said it was too soon to tell what would come of the Freedom Tower base. “We haven’t gotten to that yet,” he said. Carpenter said he had not been tapped for any other Trade Center projects.

A 2004 Macarthur Foundation “genius award” recipient, Carpenter trained at the Rhode Island School of Design and specializes in light. Light plays a key role in the entire 52-story 7 W.T.C. building. Carpenter, who has worked with Childs’ architecture firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill since 1979, helped Childs design the tower’s skin to play with light from the sky. The surface of the glass structure absorbs light and at different angles it appears to fade into the sky itself.

Carpenter also designed the lobby’s interior wall, which features a permanent scrolling creation by artist Jenny Holzer. In various fonts and colors, a litany of American literature will march across the security wall, visible from the street.

“You’ll be able to feast your eyes upon American classic literature all of which will be wholesome stuff: motherhood, apple pie, the American Dream, all good stuff,” said Silverstein.

Carpenter, a Tribeca resident, started his business in 1978 on West St., across from what was then the elevated West Side Highway. He spent eight years in Soho, and then relocated to Hudson and Beach Sts., where he has been ever since. “This is our home until we drop,” he said. He is at work on two other Downtown projects to bring light and color to a neighborhood with narrow, crowded streets often darkened by looming office towers.

Carpenter, who worked on the Time Warner building in Columbus Circle and has been tapped for Moynihan Station, is teaming with architect Grimshaw to bring light into the new Fulton Transit Center. Light from the above-grade glass dome will reflect down into the subterranean levels, bringing daylight into the subterranean levels of the Lower Manhattan subway.

“How do you make people aware of their surroundings?” said Carpenter, adding that although the transit center was scaled back last year, it will still be infused with light.

Over on the western edge of Lower Manhattan, Carpenter is designing a purely aesthetic project—a permanent installation at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Another light project designed with L.E.D. light and an overlay of glass, the project is designed to play off the natural light of the New York Harbor. Several cameras will replay images of the harbor through the L.E.D., creating a dissonant effect. When the L.E.D. is filtered through glass, a live image of the harbor becomes clear to the viewer. “You have this opportunity to see the harbor and this way of looking at it and interpreting it,” said Carpenter. “It’s really about trying to make people more aware of the unique conditions of light.”

The project will open in April and be placed on the bridge that connects the original 1997 museum with the addition, which was completed in 2003. The only permanent Andrew Goldsworthy installation in the city, Garden of Stones, lies directly beneath the bridge.

The Carpenter project is “bringing the harbor into the museum,” said Ivy Barsky, deputy director of the museum. “His work is so poetic and beautiful and it’s such an interesting blending of light and space and time. It’s kind of cool that the visitor is going to be in between the core exhibition and the temporary exhibition and have time to be aware of his or her surroundings of the water and the air and the sky.”

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express is published by
Community Media LLC.
Downtown Express | 487 Greenwich St., Suite 6A | New York, NY 10013

[JMGarcia]

The most interesting bit from the article.
Duffy added that she hoped it would set a precedent for the Freedom Tower, which will have a 200-ft. tall reinforced concrete base. Silverstein said it was too soon to tell what would come of the Freedom Tower base. “We haven’t gotten to that yet,” he said.

[MidtownGuy]

Parks and plazas "here and there" are part of what make a city LIVEABLE and attractive, and form a major part of the image of a city that lingers in the minds of both residents and tourists. Pocket parks here and there provide pleasant places to have lunch , read a book, and socialize, not to mention OXYGEN. They can soften a city. For many workers cramped in cubicles, they are an oasis in the middle of the day.
Saying you don't like parks and plazas here and there is puzzling, maybe you could explain this a litttle?

[lofter1]

For even better results, they should encircle the whole building's base with plant life.
They have just rebuilt the sidewalk around the building across the street from 7WTC on Vesey, but in an odd way ...

They have left the iron casing that used to encircle trees fronting on that building on Vesey, but they have now filled the inner-most circle (the openings for the trunks) with concrete.

Hoping that this is temporary and that they will dig that out and plant some trees along there to enliven that stretch of sidewalk.

[Jake]

said about the FT base:
“We haven’t gotten to that yet,” he said.

:eek: My comment would be filled with some unpleasnat words so I'll refrain from saying anything.


anyway, about 7, its base, and its plaza.

I'm pleased they're making one and let me rephrase what I mean by "TINY" I mean that it will never be a gathering place. Sure it's a nice little triangular, have a quick bite place, but it's not a "im going to the 7WTC plaza" kind of a place. Don't get me wrong, I support it 100% but this "plaza" better not be THE plaza of GZ. I appreciate it but I definately want something nicer nearby.

[antinimby]

Saying you don't like parks and plazas here and there is puzzling, maybe you could explain this a litttle?A place with a park and plaza every block or two is what they call suburbia. When they are not everywhere and are strategically placed, parks become even more cherished.

[antinimby]

They have just rebuilt the sidewalk around the building across the street from 7WTC on Vesey, but in an odd way ...

They have left the iron casing that used to encircle trees fronting on that building on Vesey, but they have now filled the inner-most circle (the openings for the trunks) with concrete.

Hoping that this is temporary and that they will dig that out and plant some trees along there to enliven that stretch of sidewalk.Years from now, they will redo 7's base when they finally realize how terrible this design is. Ditto with the FT.

[Jake]

^I think years from now we won't even give that base a second thought, you'll see it so many times you'll just become accustomed to it. The base is quite beautiful at night.

[Citytect]

A place with a park and plaza every block or two is what they call suburbia.

That's an odd statement.

I don't think you can make a judgement of a city's urbanity based on number, size, or overall amount of public space. Most suburbias have fewer parks than cities. When everyone has a yard, parks become redundant.

[antinimby]

No, not odd at all. When you devote too much land to green space, basically the city becomes very suburban in nature. Whether that green space is a park, plaza, people's backyards or empty fields, it all acts the same way. Things become spread out and the advantages and conveniences of a dense urban area is nullified.

I know it is very un-politically correct to argue against parks and open space in this city, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

[Jake]

^I completely agree...I often miss green space but I find the NYC promenades and central park to be plenty of nature for those seeking it. If you're really in need of green just go to the Catskills or Vermont as many NYers including myself do.

NYC is steel, glass, and concrete. I think it's just a matter of taste. I like it and while I sometimes envy smaller cities that have their one skyscraper surrounded by greenery I wouldn't really want to swap our concrete jungle for their oak trees.

[BPC]

No, not odd at all. When you devote too much land to green space, basically the city becomes very suburban in nature. Whether that green space is a park, plaza, people's backyards or empty fields, it all acts the same way. Things become spread out and the advantages and conveniences of a dense urban area is nullified.

I know it is very un-politically correct to argue against parks and open space in this city, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

Jane Jacobs devoted an entire chapter of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" to this very point.

[ZippyTheChimp]

I don't think Midtown guy was talking about a Bryant Park every few blocks. The "pocket parks" are usually less than half an acre. They are not escapes into nature, but a part of the cityscape, no less than storefronts. Many are converted traffic islands. A good example is Tribeca Park on West Broadway and Beach St. It has good connections to several streets, and serves as a gateway into the neighborhood when moving south from Canal St.

I think the little Greenwich Plaza will serve that same function for the WTC.

The plazas and pocket parks don't define urban and suburban. You can have the same spaces in two different areas and wind up with completely opposite results. The difference is walkability.

Even the larger park spaces add to the urban setting. A long walk down Broadway would be less interesting without Madison Square and Union Square along the way. As luck would have it, they are perfectly spaced apart at 1/2mile.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Jane Jacobs was also locked in battle with Robert Moses, who was parks commissioner.

[Citytect]

Whether that green space is a park, plaza, people's backyards or empty fields, it all acts the same way.

Hardly. Green space in urban areas and suburbs act in completely different ways. Suburbs have more wasted space. Density is the real factor of urbanity not the number of parks. If a park is created in a dense area, more people use it. It is active and adds to the sense of urbanity.

If a park is proposed that people aren't going to use, then there's a problem. Otherwise, parks are a good thing, in my opinion.

[ZippyTheChimp]

That is in complete agreement with Jane Jacobs.
http://www.ce.siue.edu/CIVIL/class/ce475/Chap%2005.pdf

[antinimby]

If a park is proposed that people aren't going to use, then there's a problem. Otherwise, parks are a good thing, in my opinion.Right. I never argued against parks, just the overproliferation of them.

[pianoman11686]

When you devote too much land to green space, basically the city becomes very suburban in nature.

I don't think that's possible. Not in New York, at least.

I'm all for parks. I think New York would be a much nicer place if we devoted twice as much of our current budget for parks (which is really low as far as I know.) Just look at how successful Battery Park City is. Quality of life is often described as high, in large result to the open space and greenery. Hudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the East River Park will raise property values for sure and bring more people into those neighborhoods. The central area of Hudson Yards is also getting a sizeable park. My point? The more parks, the better. When's too much, you ask? Well, let's just put it this way: we won't be tearing down parts of the city just to add greenery.

[antinimby]

I don't think that's possible. Not in New York, at least.We (at least I wasn't) were not talking about NY or any city in particular, just the general concept of devoting land to open space.

My point? The more parks, the better.With that logic, then a city would be all the much better if we had a park every other block or wait . . . wouldn't it be even better still if we make every block a park?

My point is that parks are a good thing but like everything in life, too much of a good thing can be detrimental. For example, water is a good thing, it sustains life but if there was too much of it then it kills.

[TLOZ Link5]

That's an odd statement.

I don't think you can make a judgement of a city's urbanity based on number, size, or overall amount of public space. Most suburbias have fewer parks than cities. When everyone has a yard, parks become redundant.

Very good point. San Jose, which is almost entirely suburban in character, has the lowest gross and per-capita amount of parkland of any large city in the nation. While New York's population is massive — which thus skews the parkland-per-person figure against it, it actually devotes a much larger percentage of its land area to parks than most cities.

[BPC]

What Jane Jacobs argued is that parks are not inherently good. There are good parks and bad parks, just like there are good buildings and bad buildings, good streets and bad streets. Jacobs spends a lot of time in her book discussing what differentiates the good ones (she cites Washington Square Park as one key example) from bad ones. While she addresses a lot of factors, one of the biggest ones is that good parks are designed to draw the greatest number of users at the most widespread times. Another is that the park have a group of stakeholders vested in its well-being (think Central Park Trust or Battery Park Conservancy, although those post-date Jacobs).

Zip, you are correct that Jacobs's ideas were in reaction to Robert Moses, because Moses had the habit of bulldozing functioning New York City neighborhoods and replacing them with large-scale housing projects with lots of "green space." Today, if you ask most people today whether they would rather live in Soho or the West Village or Tribeca or other dense neighborhoods with little green space, versus neighborhoods loaded with green space like Coop City or Stuyvesant Tower or Peter Cooper Village, it really would not be even a close call. Real estate values tell the tale. Jacobs has been proven right and Moses has been proven wrong, in spades.

Anyway, I agree with antinimby that fetishizing green space is anti-urban.

[lofter1]

BPC: Don't you live in Battery Park City (which just might have more park space / green space than any other neighborhood in the Manhattan -- save for those bordering on Central Park / Riverside Park)?

[lofter1]

IMO the "greenstreets" policy has really enlivened NYC and is a real positive addition:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets.html

In 1996, Parks began converting barren concrete triangles and traffic islands into Greenstreets, making the pavement spring to life by planting trees, shrubs and flowers. So far, we've created more than 1,765 Greenstreets.

[BPC]

BPC: Don't you live in Battery Park City (which just might have more park space / green space than any other neighborhood in the Manhattan -- save for those bordering on Central Park / Riverside Park)?

I do. And while some of the green space (particularly the riverfront Esplanade) here is magnificent, other parts of it are rarely used and kind of pointless. Meanwhile, the main complaint of folks in this neighborhood is the lack of good RETAIL (stores, restaurants, etc.) -- which again is exactly what Jane Jacobs wrote about. Urban planners (particularly in her day, less so today) fetishize green space and ignore the importance of retail development.

[lofter1]

Active "use" of greenspaces is not the only way to judge their positive aspects.

Open, planted areas offer passive breathing / viewing space for the community -- and undoubtedly help property values in the immediate vicinity.

Imagine the buildings around the new "tear-drop" park with yet another structure -- retail or otherwise -- or roadway in its place; ditto for the Rector Place & N. End Avenue greenspaces.

One can enjoy the simple beauty of greenspaces without "fetishizing" them.

[Citytect]

One can enjoy the simple beauty of greenspaces without "fetishizing" them.

Exactly.

I find this whole debate puzzling. Who is fetishizing parks here? Is NYC on the verge of becoming suburban or something? What's the point in making statements like 'it's bad to fetishize greenspace'? What problem is that addressing? I don't see one. While the statement might be true, it seems to me it is really out of place here.

But if we're debating a hypothetical situation where NYC is creating numerous open spaces that aren't being used and are draining the livelihood of our neighborhoods, I think it's safe to say everyone agrees that that's not good.

[lofter1]

...a hypothetical situation where NYC is creating numerous open spaces that aren't being used and are draining the livelihood of our neighborhoods ...
Show me ONE place in NYC that matches that description and then I'll talk more about it ...

[BPC]

the future WTC Memorial Plaza

[ZippyTheChimp]

The WTC plaza could be a good example of what Jacobs was talking about.
" Parks are the creatures of their surroundings, and they are affected directly and drastically by the way the neighborhood acts upon them."She argued against the perception that parkland and open space were inherently beneficial.

To get this thread back to topic, it is a huge stretch to say that the 7 WTC plaza and the other parklets in the area, no matter how many, could make a dense area like lower Manhattan more suburban. If these spaces fail, then the surrounding neighborhood is already in trouble.

[NYatKNIGHT]

This open little triangle is hands down better than the wall that was once 7 WTC. It lets the sky into what will be a neighborhood of giants and provides a gateway from the north. Little odd shaped parks like this are all over downtown where different grids meet, breaking up the monotony - it's signature downtown NYC streetscape.

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

[NoyokA]

Downtown Express:

Designer brings light to Downtown projects

By Ronda Kaysen

Whoever said a six-story Con Edison substation couldn’t be pretty? The boxy structure that makes up the base of 7 World Trade Center will come to life next month, dazzling passersby with shimmering light emanating from within and cascading in from the outside. Yes, that’s right, a mammoth substation will be something other than an eyesore.

Architect and sculptor James Carpenter has transformed the clunky base of the David Childs-designed glass tower into an airy wonder of light that will bring color to the streetscape.

“The results are going to be spectacular,” developer Larry Silverstein, who owns 7 W.T.C., told Downtown Express in a telephone interview.

The 10 transformers housed inside the tower need air to breathe, and so 7’s base is a porous series of prism-shaped slats set at varying angles, letting natural light in that bounces off interior prisms and returns to the street. At night, L.E.D. lighting mounted inside the structure will bounce off the prisms and out onto the street. Sensory cameras will pick up movement off the street and periodically reflect it as well. The result will be a moving stream of light and color that shifts throughout the day and a permeable building that hides the transformers from the naked eye.

“We needed to come up with a way of balancing daylight with artificial light,” said Carpenter, sitting inside James Carpenter Design Associates’ Hudson St. studio. The light display will be visible along the northern and southern facades of the building. The south faces Vesey St. and the Trade Center site. The north side faces Barclay St. The light will not dominate the street, said Carpenter. “It’s a very subtle light. It’s very quiet.”

Nearby residents hope Carpenter’s project will bring life back to the dreary corner of Barclay and Greenwich Sts. “I’m dying to see it. From the prototype, it looks like it’ll be fabulous,” said Community Board 1 assistant district manager Judy Duffy. “I love 7, it’s a really pretty building.”

Duffy added that she hoped it would set a precedent for the Freedom Tower, which will have a 200-ft. tall reinforced concrete base. Silverstein said it was too soon to tell what would come of the Freedom Tower base. “We haven’t gotten to that yet,” he said. Carpenter said he had not been tapped for any other Trade Center projects.

A 2004 Macarthur Foundation “genius award” recipient, Carpenter trained at the Rhode Island School of Design and specializes in light. Light plays a key role in the entire 52-story 7 W.T.C. building. Carpenter, who has worked with Childs’ architecture firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill since 1979, helped Childs design the tower’s skin to play with light from the sky. The surface of the glass structure absorbs light and at different angles it appears to fade into the sky itself.

Carpenter also designed the lobby’s interior wall, which features a permanent scrolling creation by artist Jenny Holzer. In various fonts and colors, a litany of American literature will march across the security wall, visible from the street.

“You’ll be able to feast your eyes upon American classic literature all of which will be wholesome stuff: motherhood, apple pie, the American Dream, all good stuff,” said Silverstein.

Carpenter, a Tribeca resident, started his business in 1978 on West St., across from what was then the elevated West Side Highway. He spent eight years in Soho, and then relocated to Hudson and Beach Sts., where he has been ever since. “This is our home until we drop,” he said. He is at work on two other Downtown projects to bring light and color to a neighborhood with narrow, crowded streets often darkened by looming office towers.

Carpenter, who worked on the Time Warner building in Columbus Circle and has been tapped for Moynihan Station, is teaming with architect Grimshaw to bring light into the new Fulton Transit Center. Light from the above-grade glass dome will reflect down into the subterranean levels, bringing daylight into the subterranean levels of the Lower Manhattan subway.

“How do you make people aware of their surroundings?” said Carpenter, adding that although the transit center was scaled back last year, it will still be infused with light.

Over on the western edge of Lower Manhattan, Carpenter is designing a purely aesthetic project—a permanent installation at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Another light project designed with L.E.D. light and an overlay of glass, the project is designed to play off the natural light of the New York Harbor. Several cameras will replay images of the harbor through the L.E.D., creating a dissonant effect. When the L.E.D. is filtered through glass, a live image of the harbor becomes clear to the viewer. “You have this opportunity to see the harbor and this way of looking at it and interpreting it,” said Carpenter. “It’s really about trying to make people more aware of the unique conditions of light.”

The project will open in April and be placed on the bridge that connects the original 1997 museum with the addition, which was completed in 2003. The only permanent Andrew Goldsworthy installation in the city, Garden of Stones, lies directly beneath the bridge.

The Carpenter project is “bringing the harbor into the museum,” said Ivy Barsky, deputy director of the museum. “His work is so poetic and beautiful and it’s such an interesting blending of light and space and time. It’s kind of cool that the visitor is going to be in between the core exhibition and the temporary exhibition and have time to be aware of his or her surroundings of the water and the air and the sky.”

[evil_synth]

This sounds like it will look good, but I'd like to see it in person or in a render before I get too excited.

[ZippyTheChimp]

I walked by the building today, and a crane was out front. Workers were removing the metal facade panels. Most of the panels directly over the lobby opening up to where the glass starts were already removed.

I thought I saw a huge sign partially covered with tarp. I couldn't make out all the letters, but I think it spelled out:

BLOOMBERG SUCKS

[NYguy]

I thought I saw a huge sign partially covered with tarp. I couldn't make out all the letters, but I think it spelled out:

BLOOMBERG SUCKS

That Silverstein. Always with jokes...

[Derek2k3]

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=57762327&size=o

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=36722060&size=o

[Funkytown]

WOW, at first glance I had no idea that first pic was 7wtc.It is practically transparent.This is going to change once the building becomes occupied though.I think it's growing on me more with time-it's my favourite box in New York City with the Seagram Building a close second:)

[BigMac]

Curbed
February 21, 2006

7WTC Scrolls, Freedom Tower Holds

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_02_abcs.jpg

Behold! Down at the World Trade Center site, blogger A Test of Will (http://testofwill.blogspot.com/) snaps the above photo of a huge scrolling sign in the lobby of Larry Silverstein's 7 World Trade Center. (Suggested scrolling text: RENT NOW... SOMEONE... PLEASE....).

We kid. Because it's really not fair to make fun of 7 World Trade given that the thing is, you know, actually built. That's not the case for Larry Silverstein's Freedom Tower, of course, which is—get this—not going to be finished by 2008. Stunned? God knows we are. The NYT tossed around a 2011 date this past weekend just for sport, as like the Whole Foods opening date at Avalon Chrystie Place, this one is what you want it to be. The Freedom Tower will be ready when you are ready for it. Zen, baby. Soak it up.

Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[ablarc]

...it's signature downtown NYC streetscape.
Yeah, but where are the bollards to stop the truck-bombers?

[macreator]

Yeah, but where are the bollards to stop the truck-bombers?

Good point.

On a more serious note though, is it just me or is there a total lack of bollards in front of many important headquarters buildings around the City. Some building have even put up some strong planters in front of certain parts of their front but then neglected other sections that are vulnerable.

I mean how much could bollards cost? You'd think it would be worth it for certain buildings to install them, no?

[lofter1]

The stretch of street directly in front of 7WTC (between the triangular park and the building) is officially designated as a "Private Street" ( http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54939&postcount=724 ), so most likely there will be security features at the interstections / corners of 7WTC -- plus the raised planters in the park will serve as barricades for the front entrance.

[Derek2k3]

Here's a close up on the crown (http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=100529461&context=set-72057594048138270&size=l)

Awesome Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciamano/sets/72057594048138270/)

[Jake]

The crane for the window washers is monstrous, looks like some kind of a shimmering insect sticking its head out over 7

[Kris]

March 6, 2006
At Ground Zero, Accord Brings a Work of Art
By GLENN COLLINS

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/06/nyregion/06wall.583.jpg
In the lobby of 7 World Trade Center: David M. Childs, left, the architect; Larry A. Silverstein, the developer, with his wife, Klara; and Jenny Holzer, the artist of the wall of words.

Cultural negotiations at ground zero between the artist Jenny Holzer and the developer Larry A. Silverstein have ended not just in an agreement, but in a work of art.

The initial disagreements might seem puny compared with the disputes between Mr. Silverstein and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, between Mr. Bloomberg and Senator Charles E. Schumer, and between Gov. George E. Pataki and various other stakeholders at the site.

But the accord is a rare and public sign of progress in this very disputatious neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. Already, thousands of moving, ghostly-white words of text have been programmed by Ms. Holzer evoking the history of New York; they will scroll across a glowing, 65-foot-wide, 14-foot-high wall in the lobby of 7 World Trade Center. Though the artwork resides in the lobby, it is already visible several blocks away. It is the ornament of the first skyscraper to have been built at ground zero, rising from the rubble of the first 7 World Trade Center.

The artwork — a continuing stream of poetry and prose written by dozens of different authors, from Elizabeth Bishop and Allen Ginsberg to Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman — will move along a screen made of acid-etched, diffused, translucent glass illuminated by whitish light.

It will take at least eight hours for the entire text to scroll by, Ms. Holzer said. The piece will dominate the lobby of the 52-story building, a shimmering, sharp-edged parallelogram sheathed in glass at the intersection of Greenwich and Barclay Streets at the northern edge of ground zero.

Though the $700 million building is not scheduled to open until mid-May, the artwork is already being tweaked. The letters appear in a five-foot-high band of text about two-thirds of the way up the high-tech wall, which was created, with Ms. Holzer, by James Carpenter, a Manhattan designer.

Under the high slabs of glass, white light-emitting diodes are threaded on 14-foot-tall metal ribbons. The laminated, structurally fortified wall is also a security amenity, screening the public from the private precincts of the building, and acting as a blast shield in case of terrorist attack.

As with so much related to the World Trade Center site, the lobby art for Building 7 did not come into being without initial struggle. Mr. Silverstein thought a competition among glass artists might yield a grand centerpiece for the lobby, but David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the architects of 7 World Trade Center, had another idea.

He wanted Ms. Holzer, the 55-year-old art star whose enigmatic light projects — which often feature words that savage government and capitalism — have been displayed from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Reichstag in Berlin.

"The building is all about light and transparency," Mr. Childs said. "I thought the wall would be a prime opportunity to do something on a grand scale."

Mr. Silverstein was concerned that the location at ground zero imposed restraints. "Sometimes the message of artists is a downer," he said. "Down here, after 9/11, we need positive stuff. Good stuff, as opposed to the miseries of 9/11. I didn't know how we could work together." Mr. Silverstein added, "I decided not to do it because I felt that I'd have difficulties with her word program." He agreed only after prodding by Mr. Childs and an agreement from Ms. Holzer to remove text he found objectionable.

"I was taken aback at the gravity of the project," Ms. Holzer said. "I didn't want to make bad or insensitive art."

Mr. Silverstein asked his wife of 49 years, Klara, to work with Ms. Holzer. Theirs was an on-again, off-again collaboration for more than a year. Mrs. Silverstein reviewed Ms. Holzer's poetry selections and felt that several "were too graphic; I felt that they would bring back images that people might want to forget," she said. She worried that many of those who would pass through the lobby had personally experienced Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the rejected works was a poem, "Photographs of Sept. 11th," by the 1996 Nobel Laureate, Wislawa Szymborska; it focused on those who jumped from the World Trade Center. Ms. Holzer's texts became the poetry of compromise, and the project avoided the fate of famous disastrous collaborations like that of the artist Diego Rivera and John D. Rockefeller Jr. that resulted in the 1936 obliteration of the artist's anticapitalist mural in the lobby of the RCA Building.

"A lot of artists would have huffed and gone off," Mr. Childs said. "But Jenny didn't."

The Holzer-Silverstein collaboration was an odd fit. "He is very energetic and positive," she said, "and I'm energetic and always think the sky is falling."

There was little desk-pounding, but Mr. Silverstein said, "Conflict is part of the creative endeavor." Ms. Holzer has by no means finished with Mr. Silverstein's wall, and friction between artist and patron could resurface. After a while, she would like to refresh it with new text. "I hope to feed it again," Ms. Holzer said. "It would be nice to keep it alive."

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[Citytect]

Art?

[kz1000ps]

My thoughts exactly -- that word is brandied about way too much. Maybe we need to trample on personal expression/perception a bit and narrow down what the definition of "art" is (..I know it'll never happen).

[lofter1]

I went by and checked out the Holzer piece today -- very entrancing and thought provoking.

This work will serve as a unique & welcoming entry point into the WTC site for those coming in from the north on Greenwich.

The triangular park in front of 7 WTC will be the perfect viewing spot (they have now installed 8 light posts encircling the fountain as well as three flag poles near the southern end of the triangle -- pavers have been installed in ~ 2/3 of the park -- and huge blocks of rounded dark green granite have been installed around the fountain). Looks like the park will be finished by summer.

[BPC]

My thoughts exactly -- that word is brandied about way too much. Maybe we need to trample on personal expression/perception a bit and narrow down what the definition of "art" is (..I know it'll never happen).

Since when is poetry NOT art?

[lofter1]

Art?
Maybe you were thinking of this ...

ART: http://www.kinkadecentral.com/paintings/tk2y2-01.htm

Artist: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-kinkade5mar05,0,4387601,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

http://www.kinkadecentral.com/paintings/tk2y2-01b-lightfreedom.jpg

"The Light of Freedom"
by
Thomas Kinkade
Painter of Light

[Citytect]

Since when is poetry NOT art?

The poetry is art, not the ticker. Plugging in someone else's creative writing into an electronic board isn't very artistic, in my opinion. It might be cool to look at but that alone doesn't make it an art piece.

Maybe you were thinking of this ...

No.

[MidtownGuy]

That was my laugh out loud moment! I'm still cracking up.

[BPC]

The poetry is art, not the ticker. Plugging in someone else's creative writing into an electronic board isn't very artistic, in my opinion. It might be cool to look at but that alone doesn't make it an art piece.

I guess poetry is only art if it is jotted on to a papyrus with a quill and ink.

[BigMac]

In considering the wall of words, I think of the Guggenheim; the means of art display being artistic itself.

[TLOZ Link5]

My thoughts exactly -- that word is brandied about way too much. Maybe we need to trample on personal expression/perception a bit and narrow down what the definition of "art" is (..I know it'll never happen).

Ever been to the Tate Modern? There's a piece called An Oak Tree by Michael-Craig Martin that's literally just a glass of water on a high shelf.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=27072

I'm not certain if there's an attendant somewhere who constantly refills the glass as needed to replace water lost to evaporation, or if the artist does it himself, or what. It is also not to be confused with The Oak Tree, which is a 1790 oil painting by Joseph Farington.

My favorite from that museum, however, is Concert for Anarchy; every minute or so the keys explode out from the piano as depicted in the photo before retracting back inside, resulting in a very jarring and amusing cacaphony.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=26592&searchid=14973

[Citytect]

I wouldn't call photocopying a page from a book of poetry creating a work of art, just as I won't call scrolling someone else's poems on a wall creating a work of art. Credit where credit is due. The artists are the authors, not this Holzer woman.

[antinimby]

...not this Holzer woman.Calling her a woman is stretching it a little. Without the long hair, she could pass for a guy.

The people in this photo are all kind of ugly.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/06/nyregion/06wall.583.jpg

[lofter1]

Klara Silverstein is adorable ...

[lofter1]

Here's a better pic of Jenny ...

http://www.bundestag.de/bp/2002/bp0209/330_/Panorama_Holzer_dpa.jpg

[BigMac]

Curbed
March 6, 2006

7 World Trade Center: One Cool Tower

by Lockhart

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_03_7wtc.jpg

Standing at the edge of The Pit with an architecturally minded colleague one evening last week, we found ourselves gazing at 7 World Trade Center with unexpected glee. Noting same, our friend agreed, "Hey, I've always said it's a good-looking building." As did plemeljr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/plemeljr/), who did up an ersatz photo essay documenting 7WTC in all its glory (including, alas, its non-glorious base) and added it to the Curbed Photo Pool (http://www.flickr.com/groups/curbed/pool/).

[Jake]

Holy shit, how did I never notice the little steel "7" on the corner of the base of that building!? Did that just get put on?


This building IMO will be redeemed when it's lit at night for the first time, with abundant light the base really shines.

[lofter1]

Holy shit, how did I never notice the little steel "7" on the corner of the base of that building!? Did that just get put on?
Nope, the 7 has been there for quite some time. They've just removed a great deal of scaffolding and construction material in front of the building, so it might have been obscured.

[NYguy]

ny times

MANHATTAN: A TOP RATING FOR TRADE CENTER TOWER

The United States Green Building Council, a nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency in construction and design, today will designate 7 World Trade Center, a 52-story skyscraper at ground zero, as the first office tower in New York City to be certified as "green." The building, at Greenwich and Barclay Streets, developed by Silverstein Properties, is scheduled to open in May. The council cited the use of such design strategies as energy-conserving ultraclear glass, the recycling of rainwater to cool the tower, and construction from recycled materials.

GLENN COLLINS (NYT)

[BigMac]

Commercial Property News
March 8, 2006

World Trade Center Office Building Earns Gold LEED Rating for Environmentally Friendly Design

By April Michelle Davis, Northeast Correspondent

In an effort to bring environmentally friendly buildings to New York City, a Manhattan office building at the new World Trade Center has become the first ever green office building in the city's history. The building, 7 World Trade Center (pictured), received a gold rating today for environmental sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which has developed the only standard for a green building in the country, has certified the office building under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rating system. Silverstein Properties Inc., the owner of 7 World Trade Center, didn't return calls by deadline.

With the integration of natural resources, human health and community concerns into design and construction, buildings are becoming cleaner for occupants and the environment. According to reports by the U.S. Green Building Council, well-designed green building can often be cheaper to build and operate.

The gold designation at 7 World Trade Center was based on open space, energy-conserving natural lighting, improved indoor air quality through the installation of outside-air ventilation, energy conservation, water conservation and waste reduction.

© 2006 VNU eMedia, Inc.

[NYguy]

ny observer

Larry Shows Up Sasha Cohen


More good news for Larry Silverstein which coincidentally—we are sure—occurred less than a week before negotiations over his future role at Ground Zero conclude. His 52-story 7 World Trade Center earned the Gold LEED certification by the U.S. Green Buildings Council today, which means that it uses less energy than conventional buildings, provides cleaner air, and other good stuff.

There are four levels of this LEED system, and Silverstein never said that he was going for anything more than one of the two lowest: basic certification or silver certification. So the gold rating was a bit of a surprise—or maybe not.

“What we’ve found is that developers, especially developers of spec properties, under-promise,” Brendan Owens, director of LEED Design and Construction at the U.S.G.B.C., told us at the press conference today. It was clear from the beginning to those on the inside, he said, that Silverstein had wanted gold.

Among the final deciding factors that pushed the building to the next level was the little triangular park to the east, a feature that Silverstein likes to point to as evidence both of his profligacy and his advanced age. Younger and greedier developers, he has suggested, would just throw up some condos there and make a few million bucks.

At the press conference, Silverstein said that future buildings at Ground Zero (presuming he would build them) would also meet or exceed gold, which is quite a statement. The draft guidelines for the World Trade Center site issued by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation--and my goodness, they better get finalized soon because something might actually get built there before too long--only call for the silver rating, and then only the equivalent of silver rating, which means that one does not have to actually pay the U.S.G.B.C. for certification.

But while Silverstein earned the first-ever LEED medal for an office building in New York City, his came under the somewhat laxer “core and shell” requirements for spec buildings—buildings without one primary tenant, in which the developer does not have control over energy-saving features of the interior build-out. The Lord Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower will be completed in a few months and is expected to receive a gold (or does that mean platinum?) certification for an owner-occupied building. Then, in 2008, 1 Bryant Park, the Bank of America tower, is expected to meet the core-and-shell platinum standard. And by platinum, we think the builder, the Durst Organization, really means platinum, since that is as high as anyone can go.

-Matthew Schuerman

[TLOZ Link5]

Only the first? There have been plenty of green buildings constructed in New York over the years. What rating did Condé Nast get, if any?

[Citytect]

Only the first? There have been plenty of green buildings constructed in New York over the years. What rating did Condé Nast get, if any?

Conde Nast was LEED certified. 7WTC will be the first commercial building in NYC to receive a LEED rating above "certified" - the lowest rating in the system. The ratings are certified, silver, gold, and platinum. Thus 7WTC will be NY's first "LEED medal" recipient.

Edit: But I think Conde Nast is the only other LEED office building in the city right now. There are several LEED residential buildings.

[antinimby]

The entrance:

http://static.flickr.com/53/109912071_8cb3e4d5f1.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/43/109912476_c3e3fd7bf2.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/56/109914017_77ae01dee1.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilygeoff/109912476/

[BigMac]

Nice photos; thanks.

[Jake]

I really hate that lobby color though, would've been better if it was the color of the windows.

[BigMac]

Curbed
March 9, 2006

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_03_7WTCHolzer.jpg

Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[lofter1]

The light color changes ...

[Jake]

when? I always catch it at purple or pink. The lobby looks great though.

[LeCom]

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/6772/pict00257wtcucmar06lookingupto.jpg

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/338/pict00237wtcucmar06basetothewe.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1995/pict00267wtcucmar06basetothene.jpg

[Citytect]

Those gaps are still wide open between the rows of windows on the upper portion of the substation.

[lofter1]

methinks that those gaps are the way it is going to be.

odd, eh?

[LeCom]

No, not odd. Those are cooling gaps for the mechanical floors, I think.

[Jake]

Yeah I think they're staying,

BTW, what are the current plans for the lights in the crow, this was supposed to have a Bloomber-tower kind of crown, right? from what I remember of the renderings.

Any idea how this building will be lit at night once it's completed, which is soon?

[MidtownGuy]

I sort of like the gaps. The base looks nice and I love that pink color against all of the silver and grey- it looks very fresh.

[Citytect]

methinks that those gaps are the way it is going to be.

odd, eh?

I've always suspected they'd be left open. Seems so unfinished. And Zippy brought up pigeons earlier. Office workers might not like a swarm of birds hovering over the entrance of the building crapping on their heads.

It is odd that they spent so much time working on the metal part of the base, and then just leave holes in the facade above it. How hard is it to put up some vent covers?

[antinimby]

Can you see the reflection of the bombed-out looking Fiterman Hall? Could that also be another reason why they're having trouble finding tenants?

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_03_7WTCHolzer.jpg

[Jake]

Oh yeah the views from the lower floors are great, pigeon shit, a graveyard, a constuction site, and a half-collapsed asbestos storage building.

[LeCom]

^don't forget an abandoned 40 story tower

[ZippyTheChimp]

I've always suspected they'd be left open. Seems so unfinished. And Zippy brought up pigeons earlier. Office workers might not like a swarm of birds hovering over the entrance of the building crapping on their heads.

It is odd that they spent so much time working on the metal part of the base, and then just leave holes in the facade above it. How hard is it to put up some vent covers?I still think they will be covered with louvered panels.

Today there were two workers on a scaffold removing some sort of film from the frames. Also, if you look at the opening to the left of the ladder, that rope hanging out may be gasket material.

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3192/7wtc71c0og.th.jpg (http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc71c0og.jpg)

[Citytect]

I'm still waiting.

That rope just looks like it's steadying the ladder. Why would they use a gasket for that?

[ZippyTheChimp]

The ladder is well back from the glass. I'm talking about the long piece of "rope" hanging down at the middle of the opening.

Also, if you look closely, the middle panel is clear, while the others have a blue film on them.

[LeCom]

Today I visited 7 WTC. All of it. The lobby, middle floors, top floor, the base, tech floors, basement, everything. Pics (the ones that aren't of anything confidential, like the lobby and views) coming later.

I even got to see Silverstein in the lobby.

[Zoe]

LeCom - can you send me a private message on how you got in to see the building. I have been trying to lease some space in that building and can't get anyone to return my calls. Granted I am not a bank looking to take 20 floors, but still I am frustrated at this point.
Thanks

[BrooklynRider]

I was by the building last night and it seems there is a blue neon (?) light that runs down the south east corner of the building. It is the same color as the blue on Conde Nast and Reuters. Not sure if this is a precursor to that shadow light that will move with pedestrians.

The park, too, is coming along. Even with Fitterman heap across the street, this is really looking like one lovely little spot in the middle of the WTC scar.

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1912/7wtc72c0ww.th.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc72c0ww.jpg).

[antinimby]

I have been trying to lease some space in that building and can't get anyone to return my calls. Granted I am not a bank looking to take 20 floors, but still I am frustrated at this point.
ThanksI'm surprised. I would have thought Silverstein, at this point, is so desperate to just have some warm bodies in the building that he'd be willing give away some office space to anyone walking by. :D

[LeCom]

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1912/7wtc72c0ww.th.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc72c0ww.jpg).
fine fine pic, something "Wizard of Oz" about it.

[NYguy]

ny post

LARRY WOOS STATE

http://www.nypost.com/img/cols/loisweiss.jpg


March 22, 2006 -- LARRY Silverstein is trying to snare 500,000 feet of state offices for 7 World Trade Center.

But that major block could become more fodder for the current renegotiation of Silverstein's pact with the Port Authority.

Four of the five agencies are now ensconced at 60 Broad St. where the lease ends on New Year's Eve, 2007.

The Office of Court Administration needs 125,000 feet, the Insurance Dept. 125,000 feet; the Division of Housing and Community Renewal needs 60,000 feet, the Division of the Lottery 5,000 feet and the Dept. of Labor another 80,000 feet. Staubach Co. is leading the state's search.

Meanwhile the agencies' space at 60 Broad is being marketed - starting in the mid-$30s a foot - through Arthur Stern and Anthony Stapleton of Cogswell Realty Group, which manages and leases on behalf of the Wells Real Estate Funds ownership. Spokespeople for Silverstein, Cogswell, Wells, Staubach and the governor's office had nothing to reveal.

[NYguy]

March 22, 2006 -- LARRY Silverstein is trying to snare 500,000 feet of state offices for 7 World Trade Center.

But that major block could become more fodder for the current renegotiation of Silverstein's pact with the Port Authority.


Its amazing how the Port Authority and the state (Pataki) continue to insist that Silverstein make some concessions and forgo some profits because this is not a "typical" development. Yet they continue to hold out for a better deal of their own (Silverstein's rates too high?). With the state and the PA looking for that much space, it should have been a forgone conclusion that they would be the first to jump to the WTC site. That would have done much more to jumpstart things at the site as well as send a signal to the business community that the government was behind this project 100%. If even the PA and the state have yet to commit to the site, why should anyone else?

[krulltime]

March 18, 2006:


http://i.pbase.com/o4/55/435155/1/57429917.IMG_8115.jpg

http://i.pbase.com/o4/55/435155/1/57429888.IMG_8104.jpg

http://i.pbase.com/o4/55/435155/1/57429926.IMG_8122.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

I see you waited around until the lobby changed color.

[lofter1]

I always catch it at purple or pink. The lobby looks great though.
Jake, those photos ^^ are for you ;)

[millertime83]

anyone notice that the crown was lit tonight? I never saw that before.

Also, here are some photos I took inside the building:
http://cornerpocketproductions.com/photos/misc/small1.jpg
http://cornerpocketproductions.com/photos/misc/small3.jpg
http://cornerpocketproductions.com/photos/misc/small2.jpg
the elevators are really interesting. You enter the floor you want on this keypad, and it tells you which elevator to go wait at.

[mgp]

the elevators are really interesting. You enter the floor you want on this keypad, and it tells you which elevator to go wait at.

That is a new trend in elevators that I have seen in a few of the newer office towers. It is supposed to group people together based upon the floors they are going to, thus eliminating the number of stops and improving the speed you get to your floor. Whether or not it does that, I do not know.

[Jake]

Allow me to introduce the line to the keypad. It's original I'll tell you that, will it work, hmmm, we'll see. I don't think this is that big of a deal, most "smart" elevator banks already know to hang out near the lobby or have designated rest floors, it's really only apartment buildings that have that stupid "press the button and every elevator will race to you" system.

[Ninjahedge]

That is a new trend in elevators that I have seen in a few of the newer office towers. It is supposed to group people together based upon the floors they are going to, thus eliminating the number of stops and improving the speed you get to your floor. Whether or not it does that, I do not know.

Reminds me of the elevators that could see into the future.......



42

[MrShakespeare]

LeCom - can you send me a private message on how you got in to see the building. I have been trying to lease some space in that building and can't get anyone to return my calls. Granted I am not a bank looking to take 20 floors, but still I am frustrated at this point.
Thanks

Happy to hear that, Zoe! This is the best news I have heard all morning - about your interest, not your frustration. Best wishes! Silverstein should be aiming for smaller tenants, in addition to his pursuit of the big ones, but he has been a bit preoccupied lately! :)

[MrShakespeare]

Reminds me of the elevators that could see into the future.......



42

Ah-ha! Another hitchiker! ;)

[WizardOfOss]

Ah-ha! Another hitchiker! ;)
From The Restaurant at the End of the Universe:
It should be explained at this point that modern elevators are strange and complex entities. The ancient electric winch and maximum capacity eight person jobs bear as much relation to a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Happy Vertical People Transporter as a packet of peanuts does to the entire West Wing of the Sirian State Mental Hospital. This is because they operate on the unlikely principle of defocused temporal perception, a curious system which enables the elevator to be on the right floor to pick you up even before you knew you wanted it, thus eliminating all the tedious chatting, relaxing, and making friends that people were previoiusly forced to do whilst waiting for elevators.

Not unnaturally, many Lifts imbued with intelligence and precognition became terribly frustrated with the mindless business of going up or down, experimented briefly with the notion of going sideways as a sort of existential protest, demanded participation in the decision making process, and finally took to sulking in basements.


I rather take the stairs...

[thetunnelkid]

I wanna get in there again.

[antinimby]

WHAT ME WORRY?
Steve Cuozzo

http://www.nypost.com/photos/comm041106048.jpg
DÉJÀ VU: Larry Silverstein's 7 World Trade Center
is having a rough launch.
Photo: Lois Weiss

April 11, 2006 -- ANYONE who's sweating over the scarcity of tenants at Larry Silverstein's new 7 World Trade Center, opening next month, can learn from the example of another Silverstein project that faced an even rougher launch: namely, the old 7 WTC.

Silverstein's detractors can't make enough of the fact that the new 7 WTC has yet to find tenants for most of its 1.7 million square feet.

Omigod - only a few puny deals signed after two years of construction! A mere 60,000 square feet leased out of 1.7 million!

But although Mayor Bloomberg and others have seized on the plight of 7 WTC to argue against commercial reconstruction - and to try muscling Silverstein out of Ground Zero - it's a fool's game to make a mountain out of the project's molehill of signed deals.

For one thing, Silverstein has a term-sheet agreement with Chinese real estate company Vantone for 200,000 feet, and is in talks with others. But what if those deals fall through and 7 WTC is still mostly empty six months or a year from now?

Actually, quite a few Manhattan office towers have gone up without pre-signed tenants in the past 15 years - and all ended up fully leased and thriving by the time they were open or within a year or two later, even if some developers lost the buildings to their banks.

Those projects included 4 Times Square, 505 Fifth Ave. and 610 Broadway (fully or mostly leased at their completion) and three Times Square-area towers that stood empty for a brief interlude before filling up.

But the project whose troubled early history is most germane to the new 7 WTC is none other than the even larger, original 7 WTC, which Silverstein also built entirely on spec.

The first 7 WTC had 2 million square feet. From the time construction started in 1984, the building did not land an anchor tenant - Salomon Bros. - until 1988, a year after it opened.

Silverstein thought he had a deal with Salomon in 1986, when the Wall Street firm signed a term sheet for 1 million square feet. But later, Salomon chief John Gutfreund told Silverstein he wanted to move instead to a new project planned by Mort Zuckerman at Columbus Circle.

Silverstein then launched talks with Drexel Burnham Lambert, which wanted all of 7 WTC's 2 million square feet. But three days before the lease was to be signed that $3 billion deal collapsed, too, over the Michael Milken insider-trading scandal.

Just as today, the media predicted doom and gloom: the New York Times, on Dec. 3, 1986, warned, "The cancellation . . . throws 2 million square feet of prime office space back onto a market already weighed down with the largest vacancy rate in a decade."

Silverstein recalls, "I got a call from [late developer] Lew Rudin. He said, 'Larry, this is probably the worst day of your life. But I guarantee you, there will be other tenants to come along."

When 7 WTC opened in 1987, it had only a few small tenants. Salomon would not come to the rescue until 1988, when lawsuits bogged down the Columbus Circle project.

Other tenants followed, and soon, everyone forgot that the full and thriving 7 WTC had struggled at first.

Sure, 2006 is not 1986 - and downtown today faces challenges no one could have imagined 20 years ago. But history teaches us not to bet against a major new Manhattan office building finding tenants even in a market much worse than today's.

http://www.nypost.com/realestate/comm/66782.htm

[BigMac]

Curbed
April 10, 2006

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_04_7wtc-thumb.jpg

Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[ZippyTheChimp]

For Greenie:

Still no final answer on the lower facade, but there is one change. Mesh screening was added behind the openings. It looks to me like one continuous roll, and not completely fastened.

I can't believe that this is the complete installation, because it looks like crap.
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/5994/7wtc73c7ju.th.jpg (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc73c7ju.jpg)

[Ninjahedge]

Blast mesh?

That looks kind of like a catch screen for flying debris.....

[ZippyTheChimp]

In my world, pigeons = flying debris.

Some shots of the plaza.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/575/7wtc74c4bs.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc74c4bs.jpg)

Great views! :) http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4342/7wtc75c8hg.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc75c8hg.jpg) http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3623/7wtc76c4xn.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc76c4xn.jpg)


http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/760/7wtc77c6ye.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc77c6ye.jpg) http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/4733/7wtc78c3io.th.jpg (http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc78c3io.jpg) http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8420/7wtc79c5my.th.jpg (http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7wtc79c5my.jpg)

[Jake]

It's looking slightly better than I thought although I still think it's too small. IMO it will never be a real gathering place, sort of like having lunch in the middle of Broadway, people feel weird with all the other people passing by.

[BPC]

It's a traffic island, but better than nothing.

[Citytect]

Interesting, Zippy. Thanks for keeping an eye on that - I don't make it downtown that often. The mesh is certainly an economical solution to the bird problem. I can't say it's an aesthetically pleasing solution, but that's not surprising. I suppose there's still hope something will be installed in front of the mesh, though. I'm hoping, at least.

The plaza is looking good. Going to be a strage juxtaposition between Fitterman and the nicely manicured, leafy park... And then there's the hole and DB beyond that.

[BigMac]

Nice pictures Zippy. The style of the lights and benches seems to evoke the former Tobin Plaza.

[antinimby]

Could the openings be an intentional design feature and therefore is permanent? For ventilation purposes? We're getting awfully close to opening for that to not be sealed up already.
Honestly, the ONLY thing this building's got going for it, is the glass.

[Jake]

The crown looks magnificent when lit, I love its bluish tint, makes a great impression on the skyline. If the building is lit in the same way 7 will surely be the best looking building at night in NYC.

[Citytect]

Could the openings be an intentional design feature and therefore is permanent? For ventilation purposes?

Yes. The openings are for ventilation. We're just speculating whether or not the openings will be covered with something like louvers or screens to visually plug the gaps between the rows of window panes while still allowing air to move around the substation.

[antinimby]

If that is true, then it is a terrible looking design. It just looks unfinished. I've never really noticed this method for ventilation used in any other modern skyscraper. Usually you see a dark screen but they are always flush with the rest of the facade so it doesn't appear to have a gap. Examples of this can be clearly seen on Bloomberg or the Hearst tower.

[BigMac]

Curbed
April 12, 2006

7WTC: Worth The View?

By Matt Lobron

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_04_7WTC-thumb.JPG

Another day, another post about WTC redevelopment. Amy from NewYorkology posts some photos from a recent OHNY (http://www.ohny.org/ohny_website/start.html) tour of 7 WTC and gives us her run-down of the new building:

"During the tour there was no ignoring the fact that the building was designed with the terror attacks in mind. Not only is the southern view dominated by Ground Zero, but many of the building's features were designed to resist disaster. The building, with a gold rating for environmentally friendly design, is nearly ready for occupancy, although only a few tenants have signed on."

Forget for a minute questions about the downtown office market and obvious issues regarding safety. The lease might be cheap, but what remains unanswered is why would any company want to put up with the noise, mess and massive inconvenience associated with working next to a giant construction site for the next 5 - 10 years?

· The views from atop the rebuilt 7 World Trade Center (http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2006/04/the_views_from_1.html) [NewYorkology]
· Prime Views of the Pit: 7WTC Amenity? (http://www.curbed.com/archives/categories/world_trade_center_redevelopment.php) [Curbed]

Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[BPC]

Curbed
April 12, 2006

7WTC: Worth The View?

By Matt Lobron

Forget for a minute questions about the downtown office market and obvious issues regarding safety. The lease might be cheap, but what remains unanswered is why would any company want to put up with the noise, mess and massive inconvenience associated with working next to a giant construction site for the next 5 - 10 years?

1. Because if you work in NYC these days, odds are that you already work near a "giant construction site" of one form or another.

2. Because smart business leaders take a long-term view in determining where to locate their business, even if that means a few years of noise and inconvenience in the short term.

3. Because, while noise and inconvenience are factors, they are not the ONLY factors, and mustbe weighed against economic considerations. If a new lease can save a business millions of dollars per year, allowing it to grow, hire more workers, expand operations, invest in technology, etc., a corporate officer who stays true to his.her fiduciary duties will not simply overlook that simply becaus ehe/she prefers not to walk next to a dusty construction site two times per day.

[krulltime]

Tycoon of Chinese Real Estate Is Leasing at Trade Center Site


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/04/13/nyregion/13wtc395.jpg
Feng Lun at Central Park, an apartment complex his group developed
in Bejing. They are seeking real estate investments in New York City.


By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: April 13, 2006

BEIJING — His office here on the other side of the world is stocked with ancient Chinese classics. When he travels, his suitcase is often packed with philosophical tracts. Occasionally, he quotes Mao.

But Feng Lun is no academic. He is one of China's biggest real estate tycoons. And he is heading to New York City, as the only major tenant so far at the World Trade Center site.

Mr. Feng's real estate company, the Vantone Group, has just agreed to lease the top five floors of the rebuilt 7 World Trade Center, the 52-story glass tower that overlooks ground zero.

Mr. Feng intends to open what he calls a business and cultural "China Center" in 2007 in the building, the first skyscraper built downtown since 1987. "We're going to do something bold," he said in an interview. "I think the world will pay attention to our project."

Feng Lun (pronounced Fung LEW-in) is a pioneer of China's booming real estate market, so influential that some of the biggest names in American real estate, like Jerry Speyer, Mortimer Zuckerman and Sam Zell, have expressed an interest in forming a partnership with him.

In early 2005, Gov. George E. Pataki and a group of high-powered corporate chief executives traveled to China to negotiate with Chinese executives and government officials.

After a yearlong courtship, Mr. Feng and his Vantone Group entered into a nonbinding agreement with Larry A. Silverstein, the developer, in January to lease 200,000 square feet of space for an estimated $53 per square foot to start, or about $200 million over 15 years, including price escalators.

And the Vantone Group is one of the few companies even considering a lease — as much as 500,000 more square feet — in the troubled Freedom Tower project. The deal might be seen as a good-will gesture by China, which has a troubling and widening trade surplus with the United States.

"They are the first major commercial tenant to come into the World Trade Center site," said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy group. "So it's a very important commitment. And it is highly valued by the city and the state. We hope it's a magnet."

But why does Mr. Feng, a developer more familiar with the Great Hall of the People and the Forbidden City, want to be in New York City?

"A few years ago, the Chinese government encouraged companies to go abroad, and New York is the center; New York is the place to be," he said. "Also, in New York a lot of companies want to know Chinese companies. They want to do business with Chinese companies."

Mr. Feng, 47, is no stranger to big deals. He has extensive high-level contacts in the Chinese government and industry. His Vantone Group has a huge portfolio of office towers, shopping malls, high-rise apartments and luxury villas that will soon span more than 27 million square feet in China, a portfolio bigger than those held by most of New York's largest developers. One of his biggest apartment projects in Beijing is even called Central Park.

"He's about as big as they get," said Vincent Luk, the Beijing-based general manager of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, an international property consultancy. "Many of these guys came from government, and then they got into the real estate business. And now they're stars."

In person, Mr. Feng is charming and affable. Dressed casually in jeans and a green army vest, he smiled and chuckled frequently, as when he described his company's unusual ethics policy. "I have three rules for people in this company," he said half in jest. "One, you shouldn't have a second job. Two, you should never transfer money abroad. And three, you shouldn't have a foreign passport. You shouldn't be ready to run off to Europe."

He is, by most accounts, an unusual businessman, especially in China. He stresses vision and serving his country as much as the bottom line. He said his real interests were history, Marx, Hegel and Mao.

Then there are the pictures of Che Guevara and Yasser Arafat in his office. He explained that they were both revolutionaries, emphasizing that he admired Mr. Arafat's discipline and courage, not his politics.

"He spent his whole life trying to achieve one thing," Mr. Feng said. "He had great determination; real perseverance."

Mr. Feng grew up in northwest China, in the heart of coal country, during the Cultural Revolution, when the nation was disintegrating into chaos in the late 1960's and early 70's. His family fled the city of Xi'an amid violence. "It was a very chaotic period," he said. "I saw my teachers denounced. Some of them couldn't take it and went crazy. That period left a deep impression on me."

Mr. Feng studied economics at Northwest China University and then entered the Central Party School in Beijing, where future political leaders were trained. He taught Marxism and Leninism there after earning a Ph.D. in law.

Later, he joined an economic research bureau of the government but lost his job when the bureau was dissolved in 1989 because of its close ties to Zhao Ziyang, who was removed as general secretary that year for sympathizing with the student protestors who occupied Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Feng went to work for Mou Qizhong, then one of the richest men in China, helping to sell military weapons to the Soviet Union. (Mr. Mou was later sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for defrauding a state bank of $75 million.)

In 1991, Mr. Feng and a group of friends founded the Vantone Group, one of the country's first private real estate companies. The group bought and sold villas on the Chinese island of Hainan, then moved to Beijing just as the real estate market was opening up. The group became a real estate powerhouse, often by anticipating the government's development goals.

Today, Vantone has prime land in Beijing's new central business district and also other strategic locations in a city building feverishly ahead of the 2008 Olympic games.

While other developers are better known in Beijing, Mr. Feng is the first to go abroad in a big way. He first learned about the specifics of the ground zero project at a real estate training program at Columbia University in 2003.

Later, he met Mr. Silverstein and offered to invest in 7 World Trade Center (the developer demurred) before hitting on the idea of leasing space there as a hub for Chinese and American businesses.

He said the Chinese government gave him approvals and tax breaks but no money.

Now, Mr. Feng is working aggressively to find Chinese tenants. He's also asked a team of designers, including Weng Ling, the director of the fashionable Shanghai Gallery of Art, to create a cultural space. His plans include a media center, a tourism center and space that Chinese companies can rent while making the transition to New York.

Publicly at least, he is not concerned about the political infighting that has stalled the rebuilding at ground zero. His career in China has made him comfortable with projects that mix the public and private sectors. "I believe because of the government policy, they'll rebuild it," he said.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[millertime83]

the crown when lit makes it resemble the Time Warner buildings a little at night.

[NewYorkYankee]

I agree. I was suprised to see it lit up the other night myself.

[BigMac]

Curbed
April 13, 2006

Night Light at 7 World Trade

by Lockhart

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_04_7wtcnight.jpg

The NYT introduces the gentleman who's just rented the top five floors of Larry Silverstein's 7 World Trade: Chinese real estate tycoon Feng Lun. Beyond mere office space, Mr. Lun has a vision:

Mr. Feng intends to open what he calls a business and cultural "China Center" in 2007 in the building, the first skyscraper built downtown since 1987. "We're going to do something bold," he said in an interview. "I think the world will pay attention to our project."

Good, good. Really, though, this post is just an excuse to show off the above photo that plemeljr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/plemeljr/) dropped in the Curbed Photo Pool: "At night, 7 WTC changes from white to blue, and it is quite beautiful." Indeed. Thus, one plausible answer to yesterday's rhetorical question (http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/04/12/7wtc_worth_the_view.php). We love it when that happens.

Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[evil_synth]

Can someone snap a picture of the crown lit at night?

[Gulcrapek]

I was in the tour, which was thoroughly satisfying. I did not gain more respect for the building or the work of its architects (though Nick Holt is a very personable character, not something I'd associated with SOM), but the views were incredible and the lobby was interesting. The base lighting scheme was interesting as well; it wasn't in full swing but parts were running including faint LCD lights moving across the base behind the facade material. And the base itself, at least from the east side, was looking mighty fine at sunset. Gold and stuff. Pictures within a week.

[TomAuch]

Here's the money shot:
http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_04_7wtcnight.jpg

Here are the rest of his pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plemeljr/

[LeCom]

March 8

https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2006/04/451169.jpg

A week later I got to walk the corridor behind that glass.

[BPC]

Ground Zero's Saving Grace
The first building to rise from the ashes of the World Trade Center is cause for hope.

By Karrie Jacobs
Posted April 17, 2006


By the time the new 7 World Trade Center, a knife-edged 52-story office tower made of clear "water white" glass, made its nightlife debut in November of last year, I had stopped paying attention to the ongoing drama down at Ground Zero. Not that I was bored with the subject. It's just that from December 2003, when Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) design partner David Childs unveiled the shotgun-wedding version of the Freedom Tower--the one with the Brooklyn Bridge–inspired cable exoskeleton, the bird-eating wind turbines, and the Libeskindian torque--to September 2005, when the International Freedom Center was shoved out of the World Trade Center plans because it might encourage subversion, nothing good seemed destined to happen down there.

So 7 WTC snuck up on me. It had been an object of derision in the New York press because no one aside from the developer, Larry Silverstein himself, had leased a single floor until last December. From my vantage point on the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge, where I run in the morning, what I knew about 7 WTC was that there was something unusual about the way the glass facade responded to daylight. The surface of the building changed color and mood the way the ocean does, interpreting the qualities of the sky. Then in November I attended a party for the Architect's Newspaper on one of the tower's 52 famously unrented floors. It was a cold, clear autumn night and the view from the 49th floor, lit by LED-filled balloons, was just astonishing. For the first time it seemed that this replacement for the old 7 WTC, an unexceptional 1980s granite-clad tower that caved in at 5:28 p.m. on September 11, was not just a snappy speculative building but a genuine piece of architecture.

The building went up quickly because Con Edison badly needed the two substations that had been at the base of the old structure. Because it sits north of Vesey Street, off the main Trade Center property, it was never part of Daniel Libeskind's master plan, nor did any of the WTC site's stakeholders consider it sacred ground. "It was a strange building because it had to go ahead right away," Childs says. "It didn't wait for any approvals or master plans."

SOM responded to Silverstein's call for a building ASAP, according to associate partner Chris Cooper, by attempting to conjure up the magic of Lever House or the Seagram Building. And the curious thing is that they succeeded. But 7 WTC is not a slavish imitation of New York's most iconic Modernist office towers: it is a rediscovery of the extraordinary sensuality of glass, a renewal of our romance with the elemental box. The SOM design team collaborated with James Carpenter--who was trained as a sculptor but is best known for his sophisticated work with architectural glass--to, in Carpenter's words, craft a "whole building… about the qualities of light and reflections of light." Then the developer, at SOM's suggestion, brought in artist Jenny Holzer to drive home that point.

According to Carpenter, the variegated ocean effect I've observed is due in part to the qualities of the glass. Because of its low iron content, it's almost clear; it's also coated with a new substance that keeps heat out of the building but is not highly reflective, so you don't get tinfoil glare. The real trick, he says, was to "move away from the monolithic monotonous flat surface that's typically found on building skins." To do so he devised a system of curved steel spandrels and polished reflective sills, which mirror the conditions of the sky above, bouncing the light off the spandrels and onto the big sheets of clear glass covering the building. Carpenter also created a system to conceal and ventilate the substations that occupy the lower floors. He wrapped the base in a two-layer system of screens formed by triangular rods of extruded steel and embedded with LEDs. At night the north and south sides of the base will emit a mysterious blue glow, and the lights are hooked up to a system of motion detectors that will cause bars of light to track the movements of pedestrians along the street.

Inside the lobby, positioned behind an entry wall of blast-resistant glass and clearly visible from the new park out front (which when completed will feature a Jeff Koons sculpture), is an installation by Holzer. Her unusually tall letters--"mostly san serif type, to be right for the building"--march across a wall of glass behind the security desk at what she calls "a processional pace." Instead of the aphorisms for which Holzer is best known, she's programmed a series of readings about New York. "We have everything from words by early explorers going 'Behold!' to Whitman and on up to relatively new poems," she says. The texts include E. B. White's classic book Here Is New York in its entirety, a poem by Allen Ginsberg, and David Lehman's reconsideration of the World Trade Center after the first attack in 1993. "I wanted to make a mash note to the city. I don't know whether that's proper or not, but after racking my brain, that's what I came up with."

And again because form and function in this building are effectively commingled, the glass wall across which Holzer's type moves is actually a sophisticated blast screen, a sandwich of glass and plastic layers mounted on an energy-absorbing steel spring designed to shield the building's elevator core and lobby from bombs.

Now I understand the message that this building, with all its aesthetic beneficence, is trying to send: Larry Silverstein is worthy; he is more than equal to the task of building the five towers planned for the WTC site. I'm not sure I'm buying. But while the building is hardly a real estate success story--although a Chinese firm has leased the top five floors--its beautiful skin and sophisticated integration of art and architecture make me feel, for the first time in a long time, that the place emerging from the ashes of the World Trade Center--ongoing power struggles be damned--will actually be a good one.

Indeed I was feeling uncharacteristically upbeat when I strolled into the Green Towers for New York exhibition, at the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City, and encountered--right at the entrance--a model of the current iteration of the Freedom Tower (yes, it's considered a green building). Last summer, when SOM released a different version of the tower in response to security concerns, I reacted much as I did to the torture scene in Syriana: I averted my eyes. However, confronted with the large model, I noticed that the Freedom Tower had morphed into an updated WTC tower.

Childs acknowledges that the revised Freedom Tower, although it tapers at the corners, has roughly the same dimensions as an old World Trade tower, a 200-foot-square base that tops out at 1,368 feet. An extra-tall TV antenna will stretch the tower to its symbolic height of 1,776 feet (the last vestige of Libeskind). The building, once overburdened with symbolism, has emerged as something more ordinary. But if 7 WTC is what SOM can produce starting from the spirit of Lever House, perhaps they can do something equally pleasing starting from the silhouette of an old World Trade tower.

Indeed 7 WTC reminds me that architectural magic is more likely to emerge from necessity--terrorism proofing, green strategies--addressed with technological sophistication and a modicum of imagination rather than overworked symbolism and hot air. It also suggests that if we are trapped in a world where truck bombs are an eventuality, the awfulness of our current circumstances can be eased a bit by embedding our blast screens with poetry.

http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1894

[Kris]

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/innovation/innovation_03_28_06.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2006/id20060328_770161.htm?chan=innovation_architecture _product+spotlight

[panderson]

Then in November I attended a party for the Architect's Newspaper on one of the tower's 52 famously unrented floors. It was a cold, clear autumn night and the view from the 49th floor, lit by LED-filled balloons, was just astonishing. For the first time it seemed that this replacement for the old 7 WTC, an unexceptional 1980s granite-clad tower that caved in at 5:28 p.m. on September 11, was not just a snappy speculative building but a genuine piece of architecture.

Pictures from that party on the 49th floor mentioned in the Metropolis article are here: http://www.archpaper.com/feature_articles/partypics2.html

[PHLguy]

Nice view!


Ashame that it's the tallest building on the site though. That's sad.

[BigMac]

Night photos of halo (Test of Will) (http://testofwill.blogspot.com/2006/04/7-wtc-halo.html)

[macreator]

Halo looks alright....not as nice as Bloomberg though as it is not at all as bright.

I would prefer they light up the entire building at night ala Citigroup Center or the GE building at Rock Center.

Although, I'd imagine that would be too pricey for low-end Larry ;)

[Bob]

Citigroup is poorly lit. Needs some wattage a la GE. The lights on 7 are great!

[Scruffy88]

i agree on citigroup. Its one of our most iconic towers and i feel that its forgotten alot. It needs to be more in the forefront.

As for 7wtc. Once everything else gets built, it will sorta be forgotten. Definetly overshadowed. A lighted crown is enough i guess. Until then, full body lighting would look spectacular from across ground zero

[macreator]

An example of great tower lighting is the Metropolitan Life Tower at Madison Square Park

[kliq6]

if citigroup and there CEO who is pushing lower manhattan while moving SSB workers to JC, had any guts and true commitment to NYC, they would move SSB back to 7 WTC where they were before 9/11 and actually give this building a footing

[BPC]

Developer Silverstein ready to reopen at WTC site

Tue May 9, 2006 12:14 PM ET

By Mark Egan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The first new skyscraper built at the World Trade Center site opens in two weeks and developer Larry Silverstein is confident he will rent all 1.7 million square feet of office space within a year.

7 World Trade Center, a gleaming 52-floor tower adjacent to where the Twin Towers stood until September 11, 2001, officially opens on May 23. So far, Silverstein only has commitments for less than 25 percent of the new space.

"It took us about a year to get this building going in 1987. It should take about that amount of time this time around as well," Silverstein said in an interview. "This building will be very well accounted for by May, 2007."

Walking the 52nd floor, Silverstein proudly shows off the bare, cavernous space -- one of five floors slated for the "China Center," aimed at wooing American firms to China and helping Chinese firms set up operations here.

Silverstein made his first deal in the early 1950s when he leased a Lower Manhattan loft on Grand Street for 40 cents a square foot. If the billionaire learned one thing in the decades that followed, it's to let the view sell the building.

"The view is not bad. On a clear day, you can see forever," Silverstein said. "It's mesmerizing. You look out the window and say 'My God."'

First built in 1987, the original 7 World Trade Center was 47 floors high. Its tenants included branches of the United States Secret Service, the Department of Defense, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The building collapsed on the afternoon of September 11, 2001 when falling debris from the Twin Towers sparked fires which weakened its structure.

The rebuilding of 7WTC was spared the wrangling over Ground Zero because it is owned outright by Silverstein, unlike the Twin Towers which were leased to him by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The first 10 floors of the new building house an electricity substation supplying power for Lower Manhattan.

7WTC rents for $50 a square foot. But Silverstein insists that's cheap compared to Midtown Manhattan where rents can reach $100 a square foot.

"You want to pay those prices?" he asks.

CHEAPER THAN MIDTOWN

Noting the confluence of subways, ferries and highways, he adds, "Everything is here ... and we can rent at 46 percent less than Midtown. You think we're not going to get tenants?"

Walking to the south side of the building, he says simply, "There's Ground Zero. It's pretty staggering."

Wearing a gray suit with a Twin Towers lapel pin, the 74-year old is most animated when talking about safety.

He talks of the heft of the exposed steel beams and says the structure will stand even if two columns are destroyed. He says the fireproofing is 10 times better than industry standards, boasts about the width of the staircases and explains how the building would be evacuated if necessary.

"We studied what happened on 9/11 and we came up with a code we believe is necessary for high-rise buildings," he said. "This is the safest building in America."

Silverstein doesn't need reminding the site was hit by a fatal attack in 1993 as well as in 2001, when more than 2,700 people were killed.

"You don't lead your life by what terrorists tell you should do or shouldn't do," Silverstein said. "Hell no! Let's put it back and let's put it back better than it ever was."

Silverstein has been harshly criticized for delays in rebuilding Ground Zero. He himself blames government red tape.

"We found dealing with all these different entities almost impossible," he said, insisting each change to the master plan took months for all the government parties to agree while his decisions took days.

While the Port Authority still has to approve final details of the plan in September, Silverstein says, "My hunch is this will come together. It's too important.

"It will reestablish the skyline of Lower Manhattan," he said. "It's terribly important to me and it's important to New Yorkers. Will it be part of my legacy? I suppose so."



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

© Reuters 2006.

[NoyokA]

He talks of the heft of the exposed steel beams and says the structure will stand even if two columns are destroyed. Reuters 2006.

This quote doesn't inspire much confidence, atleast not with me. Destroy three columns and the building collapses? Should he really be releasing such information?

[BrooklynRider]

First built in 1987, the original 7 World Trade Center was 47 floors high. Its tenants included branches of the United States Secret Service, the Department of Defense, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The building collapsed on the afternoon of September 11, 2001 when falling debris from the Twin Towers sparked fires which weakened its structure.


::Rolls eyes & whistles::

Nothing in that building anyone would want to see destroyed. Yep, falling debris. Had to be...

[BPC]

Yes, BR, excellent point. I guess the document shredder has not yet reached the federal government, so engineering fake terrorist attacks is a much easier proposition. Come to think of it, "Osama Bin Laden" bears a striking resemblance to Omar Sharif. Hmm.

[kliq6]

Silverstein new as well, anyone heard that one?

[BrooklynRider]

Ok, we all know I'm in the minority here. But, indulge my imagination. People once thought the earth was flat and the center of the universe.

I appreciate you all not burning me at the stake, although there will be a window of opportunity if you come to our project on Saturday. See info here:

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=97237&postcount=134

Please support us. Three days to go!

::Shameless Promotion::

You walked right into it. Thank you!

[BPC]

Conspiracy theories aside, you are doing a phenomenal job on this project. Kudos to you.

[TomAuch]

This quote doesn't inspire much confidence, atleast not with me. Destroy three columns and the building collapses? Should he really be releasing such information?
Hey if the new 7 WTC collapses, then the conspiracy theorists will be able to claim controlled demolition II! (Sarcasm intended)

[kliq6]

new building opens in a few weeks, only three floors will be occupied then, they better get moving on this building, its a shame nobody wants in

[BPC]

7WTC is already approximatelty 25% pre-rented. Within a year, it will be up to 70% or more. And when the government finally gets around to taking down Fitterman Hall and DB, and building the memorial park, it will be impossible to find space in the building.

[TonyO]

http://www.startsandfits.com/2006/05/triangle-returns-decades-later.html

[Ninjahedge]

This quote doesn't inspire much confidence, atleast not with me. Destroy three columns and the building collapses? Should he really be releasing such information?

Stern, you destroy 1 column on some buildings (Oaklahoma) and the whole thing can come down.

Buildings are not designed, in general, to be redundant like that. To destrow 3 columns would be extremely difficult even with a deliberate attack. Saying "I don't feel comfortable, if only 3 columns need to be destroyed" is liek saying "I don't feel comfortable, only two wheels need to fall off before the car crashes!!!!" ;)

[TallGuy]

I've been thninking, and i am no engineer, but, in terms of protecting a supertall tower from a 9/11 type attack, why couldn't the building be surrounded by an external steel lattice skeleton, perhaps extending 10-20 feet from the exterior. This could be pretty thin steel; nothing thick to block any views or be overly visible. Just spaced perhaps two thin strips per floor horizontally, and every 10 feet or so vertically. Would this prevent a plane from hitting and damaging the tower? No. But would it be enough to break up the fuselage, and release the jetfuel externally? I would love to know. If most of the fule splatters on the side of a tower, ou then reduce the heat and intensity of the fire INSIDE, which is what ultimately brought down the twin towers.

[BrooklynRider]

You mean encase it in a pretty exo-skeleton, like a Chelsea boy.

[stache]

Does this mean I would have to buy a cocktail for a building before I could enter it?

[Ninjahedge]

I've been thninking, and i am no engineer, but, in terms of protecting a supertall tower from a 9/11 type attack, why couldn't the building be surrounded by an external steel lattice skeleton, perhaps extending 10-20 feet from the exterior. This could be pretty thin steel; nothing thick to block any views or be overly visible. Just spaced perhaps two thin strips per floor horizontally, and every 10 feet or so vertically. Would this prevent a plane from hitting and damaging the tower? No. But would it be enough to break up the fuselage, and release the jetfuel externally? I would love to know. If most of the fule splatters on the side of a tower, ou then reduce the heat and intensity of the fire INSIDE, which is what ultimately brought down the twin towers.


Nope.

Reasons being:

Cost. To even TRY something like this would make the building way too expensive.

Impracticality. The engine from teh jet went strait through the building, out the other side and landed 6 blocks away. A lattice skeleton would not do a heck of a lot to the massive portions of the plane.

Also, the steel on the perimeter of the WTC was MASSIVELY more than your typical structure, trying to put more on it is not a feasable solution.


Things are always destroyed easier than they are built. The key is not to make them, invincable, but rather to preven them from being attacked in the first place. Simply putting stronger locking doors on the cockpit (A "feature" Israel has had for years) would have prevented the entire thing from happening.

Prevention is always better than fortification.

[BrooklynRider]

Does this mean I would have to buy a cocktail for a building before I could enter it?

LMFAO

[TonyO]

NY Observer

Silverstein Throws Himself a Party

FILE UNDER: Ground Zero

You gotta give Larry Silverstein credit for making a big deal out of what others might just want to gloss over: finishing a building before anybody is ready to move into it. The opening ceremonies for 7 World Trade Center on May 23 will feature a midday concert with Suzanne Vega, Ollabelle and kids from PS 89 and PS 234. By that point, only Silverstein himself and his architects will have moved in. The other tenants-on-tap, including the New York Academy of Sciences , Vantone Realty Group and Ameriprise are to outfit their spaces by the summer and move by the fall.

-Matthew Schuerman

UPDATE: Lou Reed will perform too!

[TallGuy]

Ollabelle is going to perform? Ollabelle features the vocals of Amy Helm, the daughter of Levon Helm of The Band. Her mother is currently married to Steely Dan's Donald Fagan.

[lofter1]

Take a walk on the W.T.C. side —
Reed & Vega to play # 7

http://www.downtownexpress.com/images/front.jpg
Downtown Express photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio
Crowds are expected to come Tuesday to the area
near the new plaza outside 7 World Trade Center
for a free concert to celebrate the building’s opening.

By Josh Rogers

http://www.downtownexpress.com/index.html

Suzanne Vega and Lou Reed will be the headline acts Tuesday for a free concert to mark the opening of 7 World Trade Center — the only destroyed tower to be rebuilt since the 2001 terrorist attack.

Downtown Express is published by Community Media LLC.

[BigMac]

Architectural Record
May 17, 2006

Major Step at Ground Zero: 7 World Trade Center Opening

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/images/060517opening1.jpg
http://archrecord.construction.com/news/images/060517opening2.jpg

Almost five years after the attacks of September 11, the first major project near Ground Zero is about to open. Seven World Trade Center (7 WTC), a 52-story tower designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), and developed by Larry Silverstein, was at press time set to be completed on May 23. It is located just north of the World Trade Center site.

The 1.7 million-square-foot, $700 million building stands out downtown largely because it does not stand out. Its glass curtain facade is made of ultra-clear, low-iron glass, making it much lighter in color than any of the area's surrounding buildings. Behind the glass, curved stainless-steel spandrels reflect sky-like blue light back onto the windows. The relatively narrow building was pulled back from its eastern property line while adhering to the Manhattan street grid, which gives it an irregular-shaped floorplate. The setback allowed room to build a small, but lovely park, designed by Ken Smith. This acts as an entryway to the rest of the Trade Center site, which unfolds in front of it in dramatic fashion.

Like the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, also designed by SOM and developed by Silverstein, 7 WTC has a concrete base, in this case to provide security, and to house a Consolidated Edison electrical substation and the building's mechanical systems. The 11-story base's surface is fitted with an installation of reflective metal panels designed by New York artist James Carpenter with SOM. During the day, the surface reflects outside light, and at night it is animated by LED projections that mimic the movement of passersby. A glass ceiling in the lobby changes color throughout the day. The lobby also features an installation, with projected moving text about New York, created by New York artist Jenny Holzer.

Above the lobby most floors, which are column-free and fairly lofty, are still bare because tenants will not move in until the fall. The most dramatic element is the view: floor-to-ceiling glass reveal cityscapes on all sides. One can look down from the south side at construction on the Freedom Tower site, which recentlybegan. To the west, one sees construction on the Goldman Sachs building, and condominium projects seem to be going up everywhere else.

The building, the first high-rise in New York to complete LEED certification, is one of the greenest skyscrapers in the U.S. Rainwater is collected for irrigating the park and cooling the building; recycled steel was used in construction, and high-efficiency cooling, heating, and plumbing systems were installed. Daylight is provided to about 90 percent of the building's occupied space. Not surprisingly, the building also contains myriad safety features. Besides the concrete base, the building rises around a concrete core. If any exterior columns are compromised, the load will shift elsewhere. Exit stairwells are much wider than those in the old 7 WTC, and fans and vents ensure smoke won’t fill these areas. Since fuel tanks for diesel generators were thought to have stoked the fires which caused the original 7 WTC to collapse on 9/11, emergency power supplies for the building have been located away from the footprint.

The project still has few tenants, a sign that Manhattan office properties are not filling as quickly as residential ones. Most tenants of the old World Trade Center signed 10-year leases when they relocated after 9/11, says Silverstein Spokesman Dara McQuillan, so they can’t consider leaving until 2011. Seven WTC's major tenants are Ameriprise Financial, China-based Beijing Vantone Real Estate, the New York Academy of Sciences, and Silverstein’s offices. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for more residential development at Ground Zero, as have many planners and critics. But McQuillan says the Trade Center will be successful as a business complement to the area's residences, a “21st-century Rockefeller Center.' Officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation say that demand will increase once transportation facilities here are completed.

Sam Lubell

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

[Ninjahedge]

>cough<Engineering by WSP Cantor Seinuk>cough<

[kliq6]

ill be atthe opening, ill take some good pictures

[LeCom]

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9686/pict00227wtclookinguptothenwco.jpg

The plaza is finally completed
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/5581/pict00157wtcbaseplaza459224sma.jpg

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4263/pict00167wtcgreenwichstreetpla.jpg

It's the Seven
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4417/pict00277wtcbasetotheswthe7459.jpg

[Jake]

wow that's some beautiful scenery in the background of that plaza picture...

[lofter1]

I take it you mean ^ the ever-lovely Fiterman Hall :mad:

Wonder if that is a part of the fountain under the blue tarp?

[TomAuch]

This picture of the plaza makes it look like it's been around for 5-10 years instead of months to one year:

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4263/pict00167wtcgreenwichstreetpla.jpg

[kz1000ps]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Those pavers look well weathered, and the bushes are already nicely filled out.

[pianoman11686]

The size of the trees gives it away.

[BigMac]

NY Sun
May 23, 2006

Celebrating 7

New York Sun Editorial

The gleaming new office tower at 7 World Trade Center opens today. Let those who have charged over the past few months that Larry Silverstein was dragging his feet redeveloping at ground zero contemplate Mr. Silverstein's building. That is what new construction in New York looks like, and it happened because the government kept its hands off. Across the street from 7, the Port Authority has yet to excavate the sites of the three towers Mr. Silverstein will build under the deal he ultimately struck with the authority and the mayor. With two groundbreakings completed already, New Yorkers are in danger of losing count of how many times politicians have hailed the start of the Freedom Tower.

Even when it has looked like the path was finally clear, new problems have cropped up, as with the stir last week when everyone remembered they needed to double-check with Mr. Silverstein's insurance companies to make sure his pay-out, a key part of the financing for his deal with the Authority, was indeed as transferable.

Meantime, fewer than five years after the September 11 attacks, the private sector has brought New Yorkers a shimmering new office tower downtown. And how does the city's government react? It hires Daniel Doctoroff to mock a private entrepreneur (and taxpayer) for having leased only 20% of the building so far. Well, 20% of one building is more than the 0% of no buildings that the geniuses at the firm of Doctoroff, Bloomberg, Pataki & Corzine have managed to lease at ground zero.

Whether Lower Manhattan will support as much office space as Mr. Silverstein plans to offer at the rents he's willing to take is still an open question that only time will be able to answer. But he'll know when to adjust, or pay the consequences. New Yorkers give Mr. Silverstein enormous credit for being willing to bet on the future of this city and for putting his money, and his cranes, on the line. That's something the Port Authority and the city government have yet to do at ground zero.

© 2006 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.

[TallGuy]

It's worth taking a look at these photos and reflecting for a moment the smoldering rubble that lay on this very spot in the aftermath of 9/11. The wound is still there but it is a little smaller today.

[kliq6]

decent ceramony, makes me laugh to se certain people there, but i guess they need to mug for the camera. Pictures to be posted later.

Heard some decent news about a few potential tenants. Id love to talk but im now wokring on the leasing of this building so i cant mention anymore

[kliq6]

LARRY SILVERSTEIN HOSTS DOWNTOWN CELEBRATION TO MARK THE OPENING OF 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER

Jeff Koons Sculpture Unveiled in New Public Park;
Sculpture and Park Are Mr. Silverstein's Gifts to the City

NEW YORK, May 23, 2006 - World Trade Center Developer Larry A. Silverstein was joined today by public officials, architects, builders, artists, downtown residents, local school children and area workers for a celebration to mark the opening of 7 World Trade Center, the first office building to be rebuilt in Lower Manhattan and the first certified "green" skyscraper in New York City history.

The ceremony commenced with a singing of "God Bless America" by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan and about 70 children from two neighboring schools - PS 234 Independence School and PS 89. The event also featured the unveiling of Balloon Flower (Red), a sculpture by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons, and an official ribbon cutting for 7 World Trade Center, a 52-story, 1.7 million square-foot office tower, at 250 Greenwich Street.

The event, hosted by Mr. Silverstein to celebrate the resurgence of Downtown and salute its residents, workers and school children, culminated in a free, two-hour outdoor, public concert featuring Lou Reed, Suzanne Vega, Ollabelle, Citizen Cope, Pharaoh's Daughter, Brazilian Girls, Ronan Tynan, and Bill Ware Vibes.

"I have been involved in the World Trade Center for half of my 50-year career, and this is one of my proudest moments," said Mr. Silverstein. "More than 3,000 dedicated, hard working and brilliant men and women helped make this day possible, and I thank each and every one of them. 7 World Trade Center is much more than the newest office tower in New York - it is a symbol of the city's resilience and spirit. We have reclaimed an important part of the downtown skyline, and in doing so, we have set new standards in environmental quality, life safety and innovation.

"But this is just the start," added Mr. Silverstein. "As we speak, construction workers are hard at work on the Freedom Tower, and a host of visionary architects and engineers are working round-the-clock inside 7 World Trade Center to design the next three office and retail towers to be constructed on the site." Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Executive Director Kenneth J. Ringler Jr. added, "This magnificent building sets the bar high and gives us all something to strive for as the rest of the World Trade Center site begins to take shape. I'm pleased that we are now united in our ultimate mission of rebuilding."

The entire building is 52 stories with tenant floors starting at the 11th floor above street level. The first 10 floors largely are given over to a series of huge bays housing transformers for a Consolidated Edison substation and the street-level lobby facing Greenwich Street, which leads to elevator banks to the tenant floors. The Con Ed substation supplies electrical service to all of Lower Manhattan and replaces equipment destroyed by the attacks on the World Trade Center.

The surface surrounding the lower 10 stories of the building was designed by Mr. Childs in collaboration with artist James Carpenter, and is a study in reflected color and light. The surface is calibrated to create the illusion of depth. It is animated with light, which evolves naturally by day with the changing exterior conditions, and artificially by night with programmed LED projection sequences. To further complement the kinetic nature of the surfaces, artist Jenny Holzer has created a lobby installation with moving text "as big as Manhattan" chronicling the history of the city through historic poems.

The new 7 World Trade Center is located at 250 Greenwich Street and is bound by Greenwich, Vesey, Washington and Barclay Streets. To create a more vibrant and interconnected neighborhood, Mr. Silverstein's architect, David Childs, Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, designed a sleeker building, which allows for the re-introduction of Greenwich Street through the World Trade Center site and for the creation of a new neighborhood park.

"7 World Trade Center is first and foremost an urban gesture," said Mr. Childs. "By pulling the building back from its eastern property line, we allowed Greenwich Street to extend through the site, thereby reuniting Tribeca and the Financial District. A one-acre park now occupies the unused portion of the site, so there is light, air and landscaping in this previously congested area of the city. Designed before the master plan for the World Trade Center site was in place, 7 World Trade Center serves as a gateway to the new World Trade Center and sets an example for future buildings downtown in terms of urbanism, design excellence, safety, and sustainability."

Jeff Koons, one of the world's most widely recognized artists, created Balloon Flower (Red), the sculpture that sits in the center of the fountain in the new park at 7 World Trade Center. The mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture represents a twisted balloon in the shape of a flower that has been enlarged to monumental scale. Since 1995, Koons created Balloon Flower in five versions: blue, magenta, yellow, orange, and red. Balloon Flower is part of the series known as Celebration, consisting of twenty sculptures and sixteen paintings. Many works of Celebration, including a balloon dog and a mound of Play-Doh, are inspired by a child's playroom.

The triangular park was created by David Childs with Ken Smith and his colleague Annie Weinmayr of Ken Smith Landscape Architect, and is situated between the now extended Greenwich Street and West Broadway. It consists of a central open plaza with a fountain and flanking groves of trees and shrubs. As the seasons change, so will the colors in the park, providing a soothing natural complement to the adjacent tower.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which has developed the nation's only common standard of measurement for a "green" building, recently certified 7 World Trade Center at Gold status under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. As the first "green" office building in New York City, 7 World Trade Center has been recognized for its pioneering approach to providing occupants with cleaner air and more natural light, while conserving energy and other natural resources. Green efforts include: Rainwater collection for irrigating the park and cooling the building; use of recycled material in the construction effort and separation of refuse and recyclable materials on site; and use of latest glass technology, providing maximum building energy conservation and more natural light for tenants.

Tishman Construction Corporation Chairman and CEO Daniel R. Tishman, a leader in the green-design-and-construction movement, said, "It has been an honor to serve as Construction Manager for 7 World Trade Center. Our firm, led by my father, John Tishman, built the original Seven World Trade Center, and it was meaningful to all of us that we participate in its recreation. It was also important to generate a case study for life safety innovation and environmentally responsible design in high-rise construction. With this building, we have set a new standard, and we will apply even greater standards to Freedom Tower and beyond."

About Silverstein Properties

Silverstein Properties is a Manhattan-based real estate development and investment firm that has developed, owned and managed more than twenty million square feet of office, residential and retail space. In July 2001, Silverstein completed the largest real estate transaction in New York history by acquiring the 10 million sq. ft. World Trade Center, only to see it destroyed by terrorist attacks six weeks later on September 11, 2001. Silverstein has committed to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, starting with 7 World Trade Center. For more information, visit www.wtc.com..

[lofter1]

The sculpture at the center of the founatin is kind of cool: it looks like a twisted and tied red balloon (like what a clown might give you at a kid's birthday party). A nice whimsical addition to a very conservative but well done little park.

[lofter1]

Here it is ...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/05/23/nyregion/23cnd-koons.395.jpg
The ragged remnant of Fiterman Hall, pictured in the background,
played silent counterpoint to an exuberant Jeff Koons sculpture
that was unveiled today.

The nine-foot-high, multilobed, stainless steel sculpture, "Balloon Flower (Red)," sits in a circular fountain in a new triangular park, about one-third of an acre, designed by Ken Smith Landscape Architect. It is framed by planters filled with azaleas and boxwood and by small groves of sweet gum trees.

[BPC]

Essay

A Sign of Renewal and a Reminder at Ground Zero

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

Published: May 23, 2006

Fiterman Hall didn't exactly overshadow the official opening of 7 World Trade Center today (the sun was in the wrong position for that) but the ragged remnant of 9/11 offered a silent reminder of how much more work there is to do.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/05/23/nyregion/23cnd-koons.190.jpg
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

The ragged remnant of Fiterman Hall, pictured in the background, played silent counterpoint to an exuberant Jeff Koons sculpture that was unveiled today.

With its shattered walls and missing windows, its emptied floors behind shroudlike nets, the 15-story Fiterman Hall played silent counterpoint — like the unwanted party guest that everyone notices but no one acknowledges — to the candied-apple exuberance of a plump Jeff Koons sculpture that was unveiled by Larry A. Silverstein, the developer of 7 World Trade Center, outside the building's front door on Greenwich Street.

The nine-foot-high, multilobed, stainless steel sculpture, "Balloon Flower (Red)," sits in a circular fountain in a new triangular park, about one-third of an acre, designed by Ken Smith Landscape Architect. It is framed by planters filled with azaleas and boxwood and by small groves of sweet gum trees.

Sweet gums are also intended for the World Trade Center memorial plaza but Mr. Smith did not know this until today, so the choice was coincidental. "They have a fabulous fall color," he explained.

"Balloon Flower (Red)" mimics on a colossal scale the twisted balloon creations that are a staple of children's parties. It is meant as a bit of fun in an otherwise somber setting. "We thought everybody would walk by it and smile," said David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the architects of 7 World Trade Center.

Fiterman Hall, across Barclay Street, can wipe that smile off quickly.

This 1950's office building had been transformed into a classroom hall for the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Nearing the end of a six-year renovation, it was badly damaged on Sept. 11, 2001, by the collapse of the original 7 World Trade Center. It is to be decontaminated, demolished and replaced by a new Fiterman Hall.

But the federal Environmental Protection Agency has posed dozens of questions about a draft deconstruction plan that was submitted in January. The state Dormitory Authority, which is overseeing the project with the City University of New York, expects to submit an amended and expanded plan to the regulators in July.

On the fastest conceivable track, decontamination might begin in October and run through next February, with a four-. to six-month demolition to follow, suggesting that Mr. Koons's mirror-polished sculpture will be reflecting Fiterman's ghostly presence for quite some time to come.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/23/nyregion/24wtccnd.html?ex=1149048000&en=84eca85b1f5707ad&ei=5070&emc=eta1

[LeCom]

Everything is great about it, too bad the structure is butt-ugly.

Opened one day before my birthday too.

[BigMac]

USA Today:
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2006/05/24/tower-large.jpg

MrMet388 on Flickr:
http://www.gothamist.com/attachments/Jen%20Chung/2006_05_7wtckoons.jpg

[BigCityDreams]

I like it, especially the 7 on the side of the building..!:)

[BigMac]

joshuaRHETToric on BlogSpot:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/713/1947/1600/DSC04035.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/713/1947/1600/DSC04034.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/713/1947/1600/DSC04041.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/713/1947/1600/DSC04039.jpg

[jeffpark]

in this weeks REW it came out today
"
"Moody's Investors Service is in talks to take as much 500,000 S/F
at 7 World Trade Center"

[BPC]

Having toured the space, I can assure you that the building will fill up fast.

[antinimby]

That Jeff Koon's red balloon sculpture provides such a perfect contrast to the sterile and solemn surroundings, it's not even funny. Great idea.

[wns808]

USA Today:
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2006/05/24/tower-large.jpg

MrMet388 on Flickr:
http://www.gothamist.com/attachments/Jen%20Chung/2006_05_7wtckoons.jpg

:cool: what an amazing building!! this design blows the original 7 World Trade out of the water!! i like that sculpture too.

[kliq6]

there are three major firms currently looking at the space and now that it is open the leasing team has expanded and doubled its size to fill it up, when something breaks ill get it to the board ASAP

[BigMac]

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006_05_7wtc_stripes-thumb.jpg
(Test of Will)

[NoyokA]

This is a midtown skyscraper in Lower Manhattan.

[antinimby]

Why's that?

[BPC]

This is a midtown skyscraper in Lower Manhattan.

What was the old 7 WTC?

[kliq6]

on top of Moody's one firm that should be intersted in space in this is Citigroup. Make a statement, dont move the West street people to Jersey, move them into this building and show your commitment to LM

[BigMac]

NY Post
May 26, 2006

MOODY'S EYES 7 WTC DIGS

By LOIS WEISS

Moody's Investors Service is taking a hard look at moving and expanding to 500,000 feet in Larry Silverstein's brand new 7 World Trade Center.

"We're a growing company and looking at a number of options and 7 World Trade Center is one of those options," a spokeswoman confirmed.
Sources told The Post Moody's, currently housed in 99 Church St., with 340,000 feet spread over 11 floors, is being repped by Cushman & Wakefield.

"We need more space, Silverstein needs an anchor," said a Moody's source.

The possible move was first reported in Real Estate Weekly.

Copyright 2006 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[TonyO]

^ Moody's as anchor for WTC7 would be great news.

Downtown Express
Volume 19, Number 2 | May 26 - June 1, 2006

Editorial

Pausing to celebrate 7 W.T.C.

With so much lethargy to be frustrated about in Lower Manhattan, it is easy to overlook an uplifting moment. The last office tower to be destroyed Sept. 11, 2001 – 7 W.T.C. – is now the first to be rebuilt and open. If we’re “lucky,” it’ll be a few years before we see another day like this, so developer Larry Silverstein was right to stage a full-scale celebration Tuesday. We thank and congratulate him and his team and we share his wish to get the building fully occupied quickly.

Architect David Childs has given us a new sight in the sky that we think will look even better with time when the glass reflects adjacent buildings, including a new Fiterman Hall. The “extension” of Greenwich St. past the building didn’t turn out as it was billed because it will not allow for traffic to go through, but changing the building’s footprint did create enough room for a refreshing new plaza designed by Ken Smith. The new art in the plaza and the installation visible inside the building is good evidence that Silverstein, despite some misguided positions, is working to make Downtown better.

We will continue to disagree with him on some World Trade Center issues, but we have always known that the blame for construction delays goes to Gov. Pataki, the Port Authority and to a lesser extent, Mayor Bloomberg, who took too passive a role in his first term.

It is good news too that three of the world’s great architects, Richard Rogers, Fumihiko Maki and Norman Foster will be on the 25th floor of 7 W.T.C. designing three W.T.C. towers and retail spaces for Church St.

Silverstein has opened the building to school and community groups this year and we hope to see that good neighbor policy continue as long as space permits. Now that he has moved his firm’s office back Downtown in 7 W.T.C., he is after all, our neighbor again.

Welcome back Larry.

[lofter1]

What was the old 7 WTC?
A really ugly and brutal POS.

[Dagrecco82]

Wasn't WTC 7, the building from Working Girl?

[kliq6]

Yes!

[BigMac]

Press of Atlantic City
May 26, 2006

Capitalism soars at former WTC

DEROY MURDOCK

NEW YORK (SH) - Not since I peered over the Berlin Wall from West to East in 1987 has the contrast between capitalism and socialism been as stark as it was Tuesday in Manhattan.

On the north side of Vesey Street, real-estate developer Larry Silverstein led the joyous grand opening of 7 World Trade Center - a sleek, sparkling, 52-story high-rise that replaces its namesake predecessor. That building collapsed in flames at 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.

On Vesey's south side, Ground Zero remains a grim, gaping cavity where the Twin Towers proudly stood, until al Qaeda agents demolished them with passenger-filled missiles.

Four years and eight months after terrorists disfigured this country, Silverstein, a private entrepreneur, delivered a skyscraper that elegantly says, "The barbarians crashed the gates, but we repelled them, with our beauty and prowess intact."

Yards away, a tangle of politicians and bureaucrats - dizzyingly misdirected by New York's blundering GOP governor, George Elmer Pataki - has stalled, squabbled, and spun in circles. The distinction is staggering: Above, a palace of commerce; below, a canyon of tears.

Why this jarring juxtaposition?

"The redevelopment of the Trade Center has taken an excruciatingly long time," Silverstein told journalists in his stylish, new lobby. "There is the state of New York. There is the state of New Jersey. There's the city of New York ... The process is a very complex one." Once all these politicians crawled into Silverstein's bed, it's amazing he has slept a wink.

Silverstein has obeyed his contract, which compels him to rebuild 10 million square feet among five office towers. He also has paid $10 million in rent every month since 9/11, even though the buildings he leased currently occupy a Staten Island landfill.

Nonetheless, Pataki, Gotham Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Port Authority personnel, and other functionaries have dragooned Silverstein into moving the Freedom Tower, redesigning it, and agreeing to surrender it to the Port Authority upon completion. They have rerouted federal Liberty Bonds from Lower Manhattan, where Congress targeted them, to Midtown high-rises, luxury residences, and a Queens electrical plant. The Port Authority has failed to build a concrete slurry wall, without which a transit station and Towers 2, 3, and 4, cannot ascend.

Officials threatened to seize Silverstein's property, partially to build apartments. Silverstein replied in a Feb. 9 statement, "What the City (and the Port Authority) propose is a Soviet-style confiscation."

Administrators also slimed Silverstein for not surrendering when they ignored his lease and shook him down for money and space.

"He clearly demonstrated that greed is his main motivation," Port Authority Vice-Chairman Charles Gargano told reporters March 14.

Silverstein "has betrayed the public's trust and that of all New Yorkers," Pataki hissed March 16. Silverstein "must honor his commitment and finally put the interests of our nation ahead of his own financial interests."

Greedy and unpatriotic? This is the thanks New York's shameless politicians give Silverstein. Never mind his $500 million down payment, plus $560 million, so far, to rent a non-income-generating chasm.

So, how is government handling its Ground Zero duties?

"There are a couple of trucks down there, along with a pile of gravel," says one worker who overlooks Pataki's Pit. "They move it from one side of the site to the other every two weeks, like clockwork."

How, then, did 7 WTC grow so smoothly?

"Government got out of the way," says one rebuilding executive. "Larry was free to hire his own architect, not one selected by committee, nor by the governor." Pataki handpicked Daniel Libeskind, an eccentric, avant-garde designer, to envision the Freedom Tower. His blueprints were scotched in April 2005, thanks to NYPD security concerns. The fact that Pataki's pet never produced anything taller than a six-story war museum in Manchester, England, hardly accelerated things.

Silverstein's new building "is an instance where the private sector was left free to do what it does best," the executive adds. "They started designing 7 WTC on October 16, 2001, within five weeks of the attack. Its groundbreaking occurred in May 2002. The Freedom Tower's groundbreaking happened in April 2006, 47 months later."

Sometimes government gets it right, and sometimes business gets it wrong. But for those who doubt capitalism's potential and socialism's paralysis, let them come to Vesey Street.

New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Arlington, Va.

[krulltime]

500,000 feet! That is a big news for this whole WTC redevelopment.

[kliq6]

lets not go nuts till the deal is done

[NoyokA]

Why's that?

As far as modern buildings go, this one is all glass, and since the design is light and airy it looks like an all glass building. Expanisve lighting effects at the top and bottom for a modernist building. A large and impressive lobby and base that is set apart from the design of the rest of the tower and that makes an attempt to interact with its surroundings.

[BigMac]

Versions of Jeff Koons' "Balloon Flower":

http://www.animalnewyork.com/ALL%20FOUR.jpg

[antinimby]

Had me agreeing with you until this:
A large and impressive lobby and base that is set apart from the design of the rest of the tower and that makes an attempt to interact with its surroundings.

[antinimby]

Versions of Jeff Koons' "Balloon Flower":
http://www.animalnewyork.com/ALL%20FOUR.jpgAnd here I thought it was a unique design, too. Now I don't like it as much.

[LeCom]

Capitalism soars at former WTC

Ironically, same case can be made for arguing a counteropint: how socialist-like strict leadership, without concern for market demand, has put up a tower in no time, while the democratic free-for-all on the WTC site has led to nothing but power struggles, conflicts and lawsuits.


I'm not supporting either statement yet I'm saying that any event can be twisted to fit any position.

[Derek2k3]

High resolution images of 7 WTC can be downloaded here.
http://wtc.com/inner_page.aspx?id=11
News > Image Downloads

http://static.flickr.com/64/154882260_b216265fb9_o.jpg
David Sundberg, ESTO

[lofter1]

A shot of a rendering from that ^ site showing 7 WTC, the new plaza and the WTC Memorial in the background -- but a nice green lawn in place of the [Gehry] Performing Arts building ...

http://wtc.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://wtc.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://wtc.com/images/popup/img_downloads/enlarged_img/157000-pu.jpg

[BigMac]

GlobeSt.com
May 30, 2006

No Downtown Decision Yet for Moody's

By Jesse Serwer

Moody’s Investor Services, which currently leases 340,000 sf on 11 floors at 99 Church St., is on the move. But where exactly the ratings agency will land is yet to be decided. One of those options is the much-touted, newly opened, still largely vacant 7 World Trade Center. The 1.7-million-sf asset, the first building to be rebuilt at Ground Zero, opened its doors last week less than 20% leased.

A spokesperson for Moody's confirms that the firm is currently looking for space, “and 7 World Trade Center is one of the options. But we haven't made any decisions."

As of the opening last week, building developer Silverstein Properties was the only permanent tenant in 7 WTC. Ameriprise Financial and the New York Academy of Sciences are currently fitting out their spaces and will move in by the fall. Chinese firm Beijing Vantone, which entered into a preliminary agreement to take five floors for a Chinese trade center in January, is expected to sign a lease soon and immediately begin fitting out its floors, said a Silverstein spokesman.

“It has always been my policy not to discuss negotiations and transactions until they are complete," Larry Silverstein says. "But I can tell you that there is a strong level of interest in 7 World Trade Center from a wide range of users, some with major space needs. “By and large, by this time next year, all the space will be accounted for,” he added. “That’s about how long it took us at the original 7 World Trade Center.”

That prediction was echoed a week ago during CB Richard Ellis' New York City Market Forecast breakfast when John Powers, chairman of CB Richard Ellis' Tri-State region, pointed his bat in the air and said that by this time next year, 7WTC "will be mostly leased."

CBRE, which is handling the leasing for Silverstein, offered no comment. Neither did Cushman & Wakefield, which is handling the Moody's move.

Copyright © 2006 ALM Properties, Inc.

[BigMac]

http://www.nationalreview.com/images/7.jpg

[kliq6]

within the month, two leases will be announced

[TomAuch]

Good news! BTW, I was in the city yesterday, and I took some pics of 7 WTC. That plaza nextdoor as of now is somewhat underwhelming, but I feel that will change once there are more tenants and as construction hastens. Anyway, here are my pics:

http://static.flickr.com/52/157724976_b3280a87a9_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/46/157724977_3b55477b4e_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/75/157724978_7dbba4ac39_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/61/157726189_c751c124ce_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/74/157726191_2894a1e0fe_b.jpg

[BigMac]

Great photos; thanks.

[jeffpark]

whats the loss factor for this building,
is it nnn lease?

[kz1000ps]

http://static.flickr.com/46/157724977_3b55477b4e_b.jpg

Maybe I'm just starting to warm up to it, but for some reason I find the base attractive in this picture. Or maybe it's the greenery from the plaza acting as its foil..?

Nice photos, by the way.

[BrooklynRider]

The base itself isn't bad - especially considering what it could've been with the substation underneath. I do think the park out front is a superb enhancement. It looks lovely. YES - I said "lovely."

[LeCom]

https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2006/06/462827.jpg

[BPC]

Fantastic shot. Using something ugly -- the "temporary" Vesey Street pedestrian bridge -- to frame something beautiful -- the contrast between the Verizon building and 7WTC. Nice work.

[LeCom]

Thanks. Here is a preview for my upcoming thread on the inside of the Seven:

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/8418/pict00657wtcofficefloorsunsets.jpg (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=358445)

[TomAuch]

How did you get that shot from one of the upper floors? I thought that you couldn't get up that high.

[czsz]

The new streetlamps in these photos are also going up all along Broadway, from City Hall to the Battery. I like them- are they to be restricted to Lower Manhattan alone, or become the new city standard?

[BPC]

There was a piece in the NY Times about them a few years ago. I believe they are paid for by the Downtown Alliance.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The new streetlamps in these photos are also going up all along Broadway, from City Hall to the Battery. I like them- are they to be restricted to Lower Manhattan alone, or become the new city standard?There are new designs for the city.

City Lights Design Competition

[expose05]

so does that mean the 1920's replicas will be replaced around city hall. i like those better than the new ones. but around wtc its ok

[lofter1]

Historic / Landmark Districts tend to use "historic" style lamp-posts, so those around City Hall will most likely not be replaced (they were installed after renovation of City Hall Park in the late 90s).

I believe the new versions that were the result of the competition are meant to replace the "Cobra" style lamps that have generally been installed around the city since the 1960s.