130 Liberty St - Post 9/11 Demo - Deutsche Bank Building - by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon

[lofter1]

Wow, sure brings out the ugly in the Marriott hotel.

Back in December I wrote about the ugly backside of the Marriott. It seems they could build another tower of rooms on the east side of that lot, butting up against the near-blank wall we see in the pic ...

That one is ugly from the back, ugly from the front and just plain ugly all around.

Not surprising, since it's from Nobutaka Ashihara (also responsible for that ridiculous quoined thing on W 28th and the Bryant Park pile). He opts for lousy bricks everywhere.

The odd thing about this Marriott is that the base covers the whole block (it's all one tax lot: Block 55, Lot: 15), but they built the tower as if it backed up onto another property, and left the east side nearly blank, as though it were a lot line wall.

Is there the possibility there that the tower could be extended to the eastern portion of the block? Or is FAR here pretty much maxed out?

[Merry]

$100 Million Suit Planned Over Former Deutsche Bank Building

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

The last chapter in the tortured tale of the former Deutsche Bank building near ground zero will play out in court now that the 41-story office tower has finally been dismantled.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation plans to file a $100 million claim in State Supreme Court in Manhattan next week against Bovis Lend Lease, the construction manager it hired more than five years ago for a job that was supposed to be completed in June 2007.

If successful, the lawsuit would pare the taxpayers’ bill to about $57 million for a project that ultimately cost $266 million, more than twice the original estimate. Two former insurers of the tower — AXA and Allianz — agreed a year ago to pay $102.4 million toward the total cost. And this month, the corporation settled an asbestos case against Deutsche Bank, the former owner of the building, for $3.8 million.

“We will do everything within our power to ensure that we recover what is owed to the taxpayers and put it to use downtown, where there are still many unmeet needs,” said Avi Schick, chairman of the development corporation.

Bovis, which declined to comment, filed its own lawsuit six months ago claiming that it had been shortchanged at least $80 million for work it was ordered to do in decontaminating and demolishing the building.

Almost nothing has gone according to plan with the building, which was one of the nation’s most expensive and long-running demolition projects, finally finishing this month. The north side of the tower was heavily damaged during the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

The development corporation bought the building in 2004 and hired Bovis under an $82 million contract to oversee its demolition. The project was plagued by lengthy delays, political squabbling and a fire that killed two firefighters in 2007.

Bovis narrowly avoided being indicted in that blaze. The company is also at the center of an investigation by the United State attorney in Brooklyn into allegations of overcharges on 100 public-works projects.

The development corporation’s lawsuit will seek to recover money it advanced to Bovis as part of a 2007 agreement to get the stalled project moving, as well as certain costs for which Bovis may have obtained insurance payments.

The corporation is expected to turn the site over to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey next month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/ny...1&ref=nyregion

[Sherpa]

Avi, Avi, Avi Avi!! Avi, Avi, Avi Avi!! Avi, Avi, Avi Avi!! Avi, Avi, Avi Avi!! Avi, Avi, Avi Avi!!

[Merry]

Deutsche Bank Demolition Finally Reaches Street Level

All that's left of the former 41-story Deutsche Bank skyscraper is part of the basement.

By Julie Shapiro



slide show

LOWER MANHATTAN — The Deutsche Bank building is finally almost gone.

The former 41-story tower, damaged and contaminated with toxic debris on 9/11, has been demolished down to ground level, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. announced this week.

Crews are still dismantling the building's basement. The LMDC expects the job to be entirely done within the next couple weeks, so the site can be turned over to the Port Authority to build the underground vehicle security center and parking garage for the World Trade Center site.

The disappearance of the tower, though, does not end the controversy surrounding it.

Next month, the trial of three of the project’s construction supervisors will begin. The supervisors were charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after two firefighters were killed in a 2007 blaze at the building.

At the same time, the LMDC plans to sue contractor Bovis Lend Lease for roughly $100 million, based on Bovis’s alleged negligence and deconstruction delays. Meanwhile, Bovis is seeking $80 million from the LMDC.

Once the demolition is done, the Deutsche Bank building site will become a construction staging area for at least a few years.

The site was once supposed to house a commercial skyscraper, but some community leaders are pushing for a mixed-use building instead, given the lack of demand for more office space downtown.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer hopes to hold a public forum later this month to discuss future plans for the site.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110208/down...#ixzz1DQ5iZAKk

[Daquan13]

Even though it is down to street level, the base is being dug out and dismantled, and another hole will soon be there, it is STILL a site for sore eyes because that tall uglybug monstrosity that once darkened everyone's view is now is just a memory!! Hah!!!

[ZippyTheChimp]

a site for sour eyes

The common expression is "a sight for sore eyes", but yours seems to better fit the situation.

[Daquan13]

The common expression is "a sight for sore eyes", but yours seems to better fit the situation.

I meant to say SORE eyes. I corrected it.

[Merry]

The common expression is "a sight for sore eyes", but yours seems to better fit the situation.

LOL, I get it !

[GreenwichBoy]

[Travis]

They have to excavate a bit of the NW corner for the VSC right?

[lofter1]

I believe the VSC has claimed the entire plot bounded by Washington / Liberty / Greenwich and what used to be Cedar Street.

Seems they'd need to dig out separate bathtubs, one for the VSC (this one would apparently need to be part of the tub now being excavated on the block to the west) and another for the new building that will rise to the south.

[BStyles]

Actually the VSC was entitled to the entire plot, but until the Deutsche Bank building could be fully demolished they had to excavate the site in two phases, with this one following the LMDC handing over the Deutsche Bank site to the PA.

The PA wants to waste no time building an office tower on that site, and what's so hypocritical about it is that they'd stall Towers 2 and 3 because of the economic situation.

[ZippyTheChimp]

^
The situations at towers 2 and 3 are different, since one of them (tower 3) involves public financing. Silverstein can start tower 2 whenever he wants, but it would be stupid for him to do so before conditions are met to qualify for funding at tower 3.

[lofter1]

So is the plan to dig out one full L-shaped bathtub from West Street over to Greenwich and then south down to Albany Street? And then build that out with necessary below-ground structural stuff for both the VSC and the eventual tower (and the new section of Cedar Street)?

[ZippyTheChimp]

DB always had a bathtub that extends out to Liberty St. I guess the west wall along Washington will eventually be demolished.