World Trade Center Developments

[BigMac]

WTC.com
June 26, 2012

WTC Construction Update, June 2012

4 World Trade Center

Structural steel is now above the 72nd floor, with concrete being poured above the 67th floor. The curtain wall installation, which began in late April 2011, has reached the 66th floor. Both the above and below-grade mechanical work is advancing. Installation of the stone finishes on the walls of the commercial lobby and elevator banks is nearing completion. In addition, the fireproofing and masonry is underway along with the building's elevator shafts and cab installations. Two cranes are now active on the site. A top out celebration was held on Monday, June 25.

3 World Trade Center

The installation of the massive above grade structural steel columns and beams has begun on the southern side of 3 WTC. Erecting forms, rebar and concrete placement for decks and walls is proceeding, as is the below grade utilities installation. The sub-grade steel superstructure work has been active since April 2011 and now the tower's lower podium will reach seven stories in height by late summer 2012.

2 World Trade Center

Work at 2 World Trade Center includes setting superstructure steel and installing form work and rebar. Back of house mechanical spaces are being fit out and completed. As of late spring 2012, the 2 WTC structure is nearing its completion to grade milestone and has the option of full construction pending real-estate market conditions.

1 World Trade Center

Under the Port Authority's supervision, tower steel has risen to the 104th floor with the installation of glass curtain wall at the 79th floor and concrete floors poured to the 92nd floor. President Obama made a ceremonial visit to the site on Thursday, June 14 to sign the "topping out" beam and to get an update on the overall construction progress.

World Trade Center Transportation Hub

Steel erection for the Transportation Hub oculus substructure has begun as well as construction on the connection to the Vehicular Security Center. Steel and concrete has also been placed underneath the 1 subway line along the Greenwich Street corridor. Preparations are being made installation of the east arch truss. The Transportation Hub construction contract was awarded to Skanska in summer 2010. Construction of the West Street pedestrian underpass (the "east-west connector") , linking the World Trade Center with Battery Park City's World Financial Center, is now active on the west side of the WTC site ( just south of 1 WTC and across West Street). The east-west connector structural components are being installed across West Street.

National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center

The National September 11 Museum is in the midst of interior fit-out and artifact installation in the underground space with the opening date TBA. With more than 225 trees now on site, more soil installation and tree planting is underway and will continue in phases through the rest of the year. Utilities, waterproofing, and other activities are progressing with both structural steel and façade installation now complete at the above-ground Memorial Pavilion. The Memorial reflecting pools and waterfalls were commissioned in late August 2011 with the bronze nameplate installation completed in June 2011. The "Survivors Stairway" was relocated to its permanent home in the underground Memorial in December 2008 and the Slurry wall reinforcement was completed in spring 2009. 75% of the Memorial Plaza opened on September 11, 2011.

World Trade Center South Bathtub / Vehicular Security Center

South Bathtub "Phase 1" is the site bounded by Liberty, West, Cedar, and Washington. Work there includes steel and concrete installation and welding. A tower crane is mobilized inside the site at West and Liberty Street. South Bathtub "Phase 2" is the site bounded by Liberty, Washington, Albany, and Greenwich (the former 130 Liberty site). Work there includes concrete placement and steel erection. Port Authority crews are now working daily double shifts at the South Bathtub, with occasional extended hours to 1 a.m. The 130 Liberty Street site turnover to the Port Authority took place in late February 2011 and preliminary design research is currently underway for the future Liberty Street Park. The reconfigured Liberty Street Bridge opened April 21, 2010 followed by the removal of the historic ship discovered on site took place in July 2010.

© 2012 Silverstein Properties, Inc

[BigMac]

Star-Ledger
July 4, 2012

AAA says Port Authority violating federal law by spending toll money on World Trade Center

By Steve Strunsky


In a lawsuit spurred by last year's record toll hike, AAA is seeking documents it believes will show whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey routinely violates federal law by spending toll money on the World Trade Center.

In a lawsuit spurred by last year’s record toll hike, AAA is seeking documents it believes will show whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey routinely violates federal law by spending toll money on the World Trade Center.

Marta Genovese, in-house counsel for the club’s New York State chapter, said AAA lawyers plan to file a motion Friday asking a judge to force the Port Authority to turn over detailed revenue and spending figures related to the agency’s $2.7 billion reserve fund. Genovese said the figures should reveal whether it was even possible for the Port Authority to avoid using toll money to finance the trade center’s redevelopment.

"Show me what happened to our toll revenues," said Genovese, adding that AAA had received a related document, but most of the figures were blacked out. "In the middle of all of this is a big, fat pool or revenues that’s now at $2.7 billion. And you’re telling us that none of our money is in that? Well, how do we know that? They did give us a document with revenues and expenses, but everything was redacted."

The Port Authority declined to comment on the suit Tuesday.

The suit was filed by the club’s New York State and North Jersey chapters in U.S. District Court in Manhattan last September, just after the toll hike took effect. The clubs are seeking to overturn the hike on grounds that Port Authority press releases and officials’ statements said it would help pay for the trade center’s redevelopment. AAA says that would violate federal law barring agencies from spending toll money on nontransportation projects.

Despite the public statements, Port Authority lawyers have denied that toll money is spent on the trade center, arguing that because the agency’s interstate transportation network, or ITN, operates at a deficit, toll revenue from its bridges and tunnels cannot even pay for transportation projects, much less the trade center.

Word of the suit’s latest development comes a day after the Port Authority began turning over financial documents requested by the chairman of the New Jersey Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex).

On Monday, the state Office of Legislative Services received three FedEx boxes containing 13,000 pages of documents, with an index saying they related to the toll increase, the canceled ARC trans-Hudson rail tunnel, hiring practices, overtime, document requests and meeting minutes.

"We’ve got the haystack, now we’ve got to find the needle," said Wisniewski, who also chairs the state Democratic Party.

The Port Authority confirmed it had delivered the documents to Wisniewski but would not elaborate.

The agency turned over the documents voluntarily, and Wisniewski did not have to exercise the subpoena power that fellow lawmakers granted him to investigate the toll hike and other bistate financial issues. But Wisniewski was not impressed, noting that some of his requests date to October 2010, when he wrote to the Port Authority asking for documents related to Gov. Chris Christie’s cancellation of the ARC — or Access to the Region’s Core — project.

Wisniewski said he expected a preliminary report from the legislative office by the end of next week assessing what the delivery contained compared with what he had asked for.

"Right now," he said, "I don’t even have a very clear idea of exactly how responsive it is."

© 2012 New Jersey On-Line LLC. All rights reserved

[BStyles]

You know, I had a feeling that there was a law behind it, but I decided to see how it was going to play out.

[ZippyTheChimp]

West St rebuild

Lane reconfigure #1

[lofter1]

I wish they'd maintained some of the mild curves along this stretch. I know it's a hiway, but there's no need to have it straight as an arrow along here.

[ZippyTheChimp]

If you follow the line of the completed section north of Vesey St, it does curve out. You can see it beginning to curve back at the ends of the new lanes.

A sharper curve would be dangerous - not for cars, but for pedestrians if they put a crosswalk at Fulton St.

And to what purpose? It would take space away from the bikeway, WFC truck lane, and walkway.

Go to the NYC map and toggle between 1996 and 2010.

[Music Man]

Looks like they were doing some driveway or bikeway construction in front of 2 WFC in 1996. Look at all complicated traffic ramps to the parking decks they stuffed into the center median and compare it with the current security center parking access.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Bulkhead remediation throughout BPC. Concrete injection to replace timber sheathing that was being eroded by marine borers. A consequence of cleaner water.

[BigMac]

(jag9889 on Flickr)

[mariab]

Good news, and nice sailboat btw.

Still under construction, One World Trade Center now more than half full after deal with feds

The General Services Administration is joining magazine publisher Conde Nast and the Vanatone China Center in the 104-story tower, which is due to be completed at the end of 2013

By Benjamin Lesser / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 2:20 PM

DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

The tall ship Cisne Blanco, of Brazil, sails past the World Trade Center May 23.



The total space leased at One World Trade Center has officially passed the halfway mark after a federal agency decided to take six floors.
The 20-year agreement signed Tuesday between the Port Authority and the General Services Administration came after more than five years of negotiations.
As a result of the deal, 55% of the 104-story tower has now been leased.
The GSA is the third organization to lease space at the tower, joining publisher Conde Nast and the Vantone China Center.
One World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is scheduled to be completed by late 2013 or early 2014.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz2108HKLHC

[BigMac]

New York Post
July 19, 2012

Four fired in WTC boozing

By JOSH MARGOLIN

Four union steamfitters rebuilding the World Trade Center lost their clearance to work on the site yesterday after Port Authority detectives found them drinking heavily during lunch, The Post has learned.

“Obviously, it’s my own fault; I should have known better,” said 48-year-old Michael Galvani, of Wantagh, LI. “I had two beers with my burger. I think there’s a lot worse going on on that job, but I’m going to pay for it.”

Copyright 2012 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

[mariab]

I think there’s a lot worse going on on that job

?

[USSManhattan]

...yes, do tell, Mike, do tell.

[LeCom]

“Obviously, it’s my own fault; I should have known better,” said 48-year-old Michael Galvani, of Wantagh, LI. “I had two beers with my burger. I think there’s a lot worse going on on that job, but I’m going to pay for it.”

What I read:

“Obviously, it’s my own fault; I should have known better,” said 48-year-old Michael Galvani, of Wantagh, LI. “I had two beers with my burger. I mention "two" so it doesn't sound very bad, though I don't realize that drinking on any construction site is inappropriate. I'm going to imply that there are terrible shenanigans going on so my own incompetence sounds more forgivable, so please picture me as an innocent scapegoat.”

Typical. The same sort of behavior and incompetence cost two firefighters' lives during the demolition of Deutsche Bank.

[BigMac]

Wall Street Journal
July 24, 2012

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

New Hitch In Ground Zero Plans: No Takers

By ELIOT BROWN


Construction at 3 World Trade Center has stalled at eight floors.

For years, rebuilding of the World Trade Center site was held up by construction delays and fights between government agencies, insurers and a developer.

Now the problem is a lack of tenants.

While two office buildings are well underway at Ground Zero, construction of a third tower, 3 World Trade Center, is stalled at eight stories, well shy of the 80 floors planned. The reason: its developer, Silverstein Properties Inc, the company run by Larry Silverstein, hasn't been able to find a tenant, and he can't build any higher without one, based on a two-year-old deal with government agencies.

When Mr. Silverstein started construction in mid-2010 on the building, then-expected to have 2.5 million square feet of space, he had hoped he would be able to find a tenant by now and keep building to the tower's top. But cement stopped pouring at the 8th floor in the past few weeks.

The stunted growth of 3 World Trade Center reflects the stagnation that has taken hold in the nation's largest office market and the struggles Lower Manhattan faces in rebuilding the more than 11 million square feet of space lost in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Financial firms, traditionally the tenants that give developers reason to build, are contracting, stung by a slow economy and disappointing earnings. Several big banks last week announced plans for a new round of cuts. Companies from Bank of America Corp. to Pfizer Inc. have opted to cut back on their office space in the city in the past year, citing no current need for the real estate.

Mr. Silverstein hopes he can resume the upward momentum on 3 World Trade Center soon. His neighboring tower at the site, 4 World Trade Center, is due for completion by late 2013 and is about half-leased by government agencies. The signature tower on the site, One World Trade Center, which is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is 55% leased, mostly to publisher Condé Nast. Once called the Freedom Tower, it is due for completion in early 2014.

Mr. Silverstein's plans for 2 World Trade Center, which would have been the second-largest tower on the site, have been put on the shelf.

The two towers nearing completion have nearly 2.5 million square feet unspoken for, roughly as large as 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan.

"They're excellent office buildings," said Mark Weiss, vice chairman at real-estate services firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank who represents tenants that have looked at the site. "There's just not demand."

While the developers say they are bullish on their ability to lease up the buildings, slow job growth, economic uncertainty and companies opting against moving as a cost-savings measure are putting pressures on New York landlords and developers looking to lure tenants.

So far in 2012, 40% of Manhattan leases tracked by real-estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. have been renewals of existing space, more than double the proportion in 2007.

To be sure, large companies such as Time Warner Inc. are searching for Manhattan space, and many companies prefer new towers to old, which could put 3 World Trade and the other towers at the site well-positioned once the economy improves and companies are ready to move.

Mr. Silverstein is confident he will eventually line up enough tenants to resume building. "We are 100% committed to building 3 World Trade Center to the top as quickly as possible," said Janno Lieber, Mr. Silverstein's deputy who oversees the World Trade Center development. "We are marketing the tower widely and remain optimistic that we can meet our preleasing targets over the next year."

Mr. Lieber said a slower-than-anticipated recovery has made for a more-challenging environment, and "the predominant factor" affecting all new projects is that companies are increasingly choosing to renew their leases instead of move.

Mr. Silverstein, 81 years old, has been a fixture at the World Trade Center site since weeks before the towers were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. He won the long-term lease to control the twin towers. In better times, he and the Port Authority imagined four towers would rise together. The economic downturn threw cold water on that vision.

UBS AG UBSN.VX +0.77% was in advanced talks to be the main tenant in 3 World Trade until it abruptly pulled out of discussions following a rough second quarter in 2011, Mr. Silverstein has said. Last summer, the bank opted to keep many operations in Stamford, Conn., saying at the time it was pleased to stay there.

Other companies that had discussions with Mr. Silverstein's firm but have opted against taking space at the tower include investment bank Jefferies Group Inc., Viacom, and Citigroup Inc., according to multiple real-estate executives with knowledge of the talks. Viacom and Citigroup recently signed large lease renewals to stay in place. Representatives of Viacom and Jefferies didn't respond to requests for comment, and a spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment.

Just to the west of the World Trade Center site, Brookfield Office Properties Inc. hasn't yet been able to lure large tenants like Viacom to fill more than three million square feet at the World Financial Center set to become vacant late next year, Brookfield has said.

The space, which houses part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is as large as the entire Empire State Building. The Bank of America unit is keeping a smaller presence in the property, and cut down its needs there after its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Mitch Rudin, Brookfield's president of U.S. operations, said the company had hoped the office market would be more active. He is optimistic Brookfield will find new tenants.

"This is a long-haul game," he said. "We're confident as we look on a timely basis that we'll have this leased."

As for 3 World Trade Center, Mr. Silverstein needs a tenant of at least 400,000 square feet to continue, based on a 2010 subsidy deal with government agencies. Without it, the first eight floors would be completed, perhaps to hold retail.

Copyright ©2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved