NEW YORK | One World Trade Center | 1,776' Pinnacle / 1,373' Roof | 108 FLOORS

[towerguy3]

Is there a webcam that shows the entire WTC site and updates images every minute or so?

[Puzzlecraft]

I just found these, http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/groundzero/ they actually stream live, will have to wait for daylight to see how much they really see.

Cam 2 has a pretty good view of the whole scene, Cam 3 is actually several cams with alternating views, one is aimed at the two Freedom Tower cranes, the area is lit with floodlights and there is some activity right now (6:33 PM ET).

[towerguy3]

Howdy from Vancouver. Can someone show a diagram of the current site and exactly in what spot each tower will go?

I was there last summer and the layout is kinda confusing. I know there's 6 towers but how will they be placed with respect to one another?

And is one of the towers going right into the sopt where the DeutschBank building is currently?:cheers:

[Brian.]

Quick question, how does the total sq. ft. of all the new wtc structures compair to the old complex?

[Rise To The Top]

Finally. When it's all said and done, this thing's going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records under "slowest construction."

Wheelock Square is much slower. Took over 2 years to get above ground, well over 2, and is much much smaller than this site.

[CoolCzech]

Wheelock Square is much slower. Took over 2 years to get above ground, well over 2, and is much much smaller than this site.

Because of the intricate blend of underground utilities and subway lines under these 16 acres, it's probably the most complex building site in the world... possibly the most complex there ever was.

[CoolCzech]

gothamist.com


We got a NotifyNYC alert this morning:

The Port Authority will be doing construction blasting at the World Trade Center site today beginning at 8 a.m. There will be a total of 7 controlled blasts during the day. This is a routine construction operation and there is no cause for concern.
The only cause of concern is how the Port Authority has incurred millions of fees for not turning over the Ground Zero parcels to developer Larry Silverstein on time. The PA was supposed to hand over part of the WTC site on December 31, for Silverstein to start work on Towers 3 and 4, but excavation has been much more difficult than predicted.

On the upside, the Port Authority completed an agreement with Westfield Group, an Australian-based developer of shopping centers, to operate half a million square feet of shops and restaurants at the site. Westfield told the Wall Street Journal, "We're back in there because we actually believe it's going ahead and that the buildings will be built, the space will get leased and people will come back down there to work." Still, it seems unlikely that the buildings will be complete by 2011 (the date bandied about) and that 2013 or 2014 seem more likely.

This past weekend, the NY Times showed an interactive look at the so-called "bathtub" at Ground Zero.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/01/11/nyregion/20080113_BATHTUB.html#/content=80ft

[ZZ-II]

lots of progress in the last few days, seems it is going faster now :)

[Puzzlecraft]

Picture from cam2 at 5:13 PM ET (enlarged 50% with contrast added) http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/groundzero/ showing more steel behind the two cranes than in the last photo posted here.

http://www.custompuzzlecraft.com/temp/Freedom_Tower_20080120.jpg

[thrillbilly]

Why is there a building by that staircase? I thought, from looking at the layout of the whole site, that the road was supposed continue through there and intersect to the right of it? (Looking at the picture posted above).

[DMAG]

Why is there a building by that staircase? I thought, from looking at the layout of the whole site, that the road was supposed continue through there and intersect to the right of it? (Looking at the picture posted above).

That is the "new" temporary PATH entrance while the Calvatra station is built. It will be taken down when the new station is complete.

Note...this will be the 3rd temp entrance.

[Ghost]

Picture from cam2 at 5:13 PM ET (enlarged 50% with contrast added) http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/groundzero/ showing more steel behind the two cranes than in the last photo posted here.
http://www.custompuzzlecraft.com/temp/Freedom_Tower_20080120.jpg
Here's better quality:

http://i31.tinypic.com/ffbgpv.jpg

[nick22185]

when will this building begin to rise? whats taking so long?

[zerokarma]

slowly coming along

[37TimPPG]

when will this building begin to rise? whats taking so long?


Looks like a lot of progress has been made in the past two weeks! The core will probably be above ground in another month or two?

This is VERY exciting!

Rise Baby, Rise!

And now...Dancing Bananas!

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[chex]

slow progress...

[speedy1979]

Here's better quality:

http://i31.tinypic.com/ffbgpv.jpg

Yea! :banana: :notacrook: I am very happy to see those columns where the parking garage used to be. I had almost given up hope they'd be installed.

[Ghost]

slow progress...
No it's not. You just don't realize the complexity of the site. You can't just fill it with couple steal beams.

[chex]

well yeah, maybe, i dont mean i want to see just steel beams, maybe if i compare a photo from 2 weeks with this i found the progress, but ive been checking the thread since ages ago, and to be realistic and comparing the begining of work on the site, it is slow... but hey, im happy to see progress even if it looks a small one at first sight...
thanx for the webcam pic!
i want to see the core above street level now...

[CoolCzech]

bostonnow.com

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero this past week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM8II5dl0Js

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero this past week.

According to the confidential source information to the finding is being kept secret because of scrutiny regarding rebuilding effort taking place at Ground Zero.

Currently Ground Zero is a huge construction site, where the city plans on building its Freedom Tower. The footage that was shot on Saturday January 19th inside Ground Zero depicts construction workers working overtime on the freedom tower, which is set to be finished in 2012.

What the general public fails to grasp is that Ground Zero is a memorial site for over 3,000 families. Around 45 percent of the victims of 9/11 were never discovered. While unidentified body parts are still being discovered to this day more than 6 years later.

This current situation is attributed to Rudolph Giuliani’s scoop and dump policy which threw away 45 percent of the remaining undiscovered family members into the fresh kills land fill in Staten Island. It was later reported by the AP that the remains were then recycled and used to fill up pot holes in NYC streets.

Rudolph Giuliani implemented his policy after the gold of the Nova Scotia was found at Ground Zero in 2001 on All Saint’s day. After the gold of Nova Scotia was discovered Rudolph kicked firefighters off the pile and implemented the scoop and dump policy. Many firefighters in outrage protested and were even arrested when finding out Giuliani’s decision to scoop and dump their fallen brothers.

Rudolph, who was formally a federal prosecutor, should know something about keeping evidence at a crime scene his actions speak for themselves. While he is using 9/11 as a platform for the presidential election he should think twice about mentioning his actions as mayor.

Manny Badillo lost his uncle Thomas J. Sgroi in the twin towers stated “It was one of the worst, disrespectful things you could possibly do to anyone who lost someone.”

The real important question to ask is if there will be DNA testing done on the newly discovered body fragments or will the city do what they did before and throw the remains into the garbage, recycle them and use them to fill up pot holes?

[PhxSprawler]

:previous: That sounds really disturbing. Is it exaggerated?

It is understood that in most cases debris and crushed body parts were meshed together too badly to separate, but come on! The un-separable recycled parts should be used in re-building the WTC, creating the memorial, or left alone. I can't imagine anyone would knowingly use human-contaminated compost to fill pot holes.

[Dac150]

:previous: That sounds really disturbing. Is it exaggerated?

It is understood that in most cases debris and crushed body parts were meshed together too badly to separate, but come on! The un-separable recycled parts should be used in re-building the WTC, creating the memorial, or left alone. I can't imagine anyone would knowingly use human-contaminated compost to fill pot holes.

I think they did what they could to find what they did. If it was decided that every fragment had to be removed before any removal or revitalization work could begin, then the site would look today as it did the day of the tragedy (and will continue to for many years to come). There just comes a point where finding finger bones in such a large site filled with millions of square feet worth of debris is just not practical.

When the debris was moved to Fresh Kills in Staten Island, every load of it was but on an assembly line and sorted through before final discard. This procedure enabled the removal of debris from the site and still allowed the search of remains (only off site). So Rudy isn't the devil they are making him out to be.

As far as these discovered remains are concerned, I don't doubt that there are still hundreds if not thousands of tiny remains scattered throughout downtown (in street cracks, on roofs, etc..). When the towers collapsed, much of the debris was blown throughout Downtown and into the Hudson and East Rivers. The point is, what remains for the most part is absent to the naked eye. You may not see it, but it is there.

[Daquan13]

What are they waiting for to move the old WTC stairs?

I thought Tower 2 was supposed to be getting underway in that spot.

[CoolCzech]

:previous: That sounds really disturbing. Is it exaggerated?

It is understood that in most cases debris and crushed body parts were meshed together too badly to separate, but come on! The un-separable recycled parts should be used in re-building the WTC, creating the memorial, or left alone. I can't imagine anyone would knowingly use human-contaminated compost to fill pot holes.

Just because I posted the article doesn't mean I necessarily agree with the statements in it. Most bodies were utterly pulverized, and the sort of remains we're talking about were small chips of bone... we're not talking anything like a "body," or even a skeleton. Most of the debris in the aftermath of the attacks was shipped off to a landfill in New Jersey... no doubt, some of those chips of bones wound up there. That any of the material was used to "fill potholes" seems unlikely, a bit of hyberbole by some guy trying to make his point that (presumably) he doesn't want to see the WTC site redeveloped.

[Realthang]

What are they waiting for to move the old WTC stairs?

There is work currently going on in regards to the stairs. They are surrounding the stair treads with a steel framework. When complete, the steel framework and the treads will be removed. The remaining structure will be demolished.

[Apex]

bostonnow.com

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero this past week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM8II5dl0Js

According to sources from the Port Authority Police Department, two more body fragments of 9/11 victims were found at Ground Zero this past week.

According to the confidential source information to the finding is being kept secret because of scrutiny regarding rebuilding effort taking place at Ground Zero.

Currently Ground Zero is a huge construction site, where the city plans on building its Freedom Tower. The footage that was shot on Saturday January 19th inside Ground Zero depicts construction workers working overtime on the freedom tower, which is set to be finished in 2012.

What the general public fails to grasp is that Ground Zero is a memorial site for over 3,000 families. Around 45 percent of the victims of 9/11 were never discovered. While unidentified body parts are still being discovered to this day more than 6 years later.

This current situation is attributed to Rudolph Giuliani’s scoop and dump policy which threw away 45 percent of the remaining undiscovered family members into the fresh kills land fill in Staten Island. It was later reported by the AP that the remains were then recycled and used to fill up pot holes in NYC streets.

Rudolph Giuliani implemented his policy after the gold of the Nova Scotia was found at Ground Zero in 2001 on All Saint’s day. After the gold of Nova Scotia was discovered Rudolph kicked firefighters off the pile and implemented the scoop and dump policy. Many firefighters in outrage protested and were even arrested when finding out Giuliani’s decision to scoop and dump their fallen brothers.

Rudolph, who was formally a federal prosecutor, should know something about keeping evidence at a crime scene his actions speak for themselves. While he is using 9/11 as a platform for the presidential election he should think twice about mentioning his actions as mayor.

Manny Badillo lost his uncle Thomas J. Sgroi in the twin towers stated “It was one of the worst, disrespectful things you could possibly do to anyone who lost someone.”

The real important question to ask is if there will be DNA testing done on the newly discovered body fragments or will the city do what they did before and throw the remains into the garbage, recycle them and use them to fill up pot holes?

Is this what they call a news article in Boston? It reads like an editorial.

[ramvid01]

Tower 2 will not start construction until 6 moinths from now or so.

[CoolCzech]

Is this what they call a news article in Boston? It reads like an editorial.


It is oddly written. But all the "sources" it mentions made it seem like it was written by a journalist, even if it was pushing a point of view.

[bigbrother2000uk]

Does anyone know if any TV companies are producing a documentary such as "the building of the freedom tower" etc, that will show the process and troubles throught construction?

[RandySavage]

^ http://www.projectrebirth.org/

[pablosan]

Great photo updates.

[UberAlles]

First visit to this board and it's a very interesting thread going on here.
As far as body parts. They did what they could but in real world praticalities the site needs to be rebuilt and life must go on. Not to get morbid, but we all die and personally I'll be cremated. I don't much care what happens to my body after it's over.

Most journalism these days has an agenda. In this case it looks to discredit Gulliani. As a personal note, many people including me see Gulliani as a good man and a hero.

[vmx]

bostonnow.com

What the general public fails to grasp is that Ground Zero is a memorial site for over 3,000 families. Around 45 percent of the victims of 9/11 were never discovered.

This current situation is attributed to Rudolph Giuliani’s scoop and dump policy which threw away 45 percent of the remaining undiscovered family members into the fresh kills land fill in Staten Island. It was later reported by the AP that the remains were then recycled and used to fill up pot holes in NYC streets.

HOLLY SH*T!!!
Is this for real? I must be a part of that general public that never knew that 45% was never discovered... and I only live some 80 miles away in Philly...
That is absolutely nuts!!!
Don't take me wrong, I am all for the new tower though... The sooner the better, imho...
I am definitely going to ask around my office tomorrow as well as my friends to see if they knew these horrible stats...

[statler]

Off Topic:
FYI
BostonNow is not a 'real' newspaper.

It's a freebie handed out on the T and consists mainly of poorly rewritten AP articles and content provided by 'online contributors' (blogs).

It makes the Metro (the other daily freebie) look like the NYT.
How it remains in business is a great mystery.

Sorry for the threadjack.

[speedy1979]

HOLLY SH*T!!!
Is this for real? I must be a part of that general public that never knew that 45% was never discovered... and I only live some 80 miles away in Philly...
That is absolutely nuts!!!
Don't take me wrong, I am all for the new tower though... The sooner the better, imho...
I am definitely going to ask around my office tomorrow as well as my friends to see if they knew these horrible stats...

Most of the people who died were above the impact zone so many of them may have been cremated by fires that reached 1800ºF :( and will never be recovered.

[Daquan13]

There is work currently going on in regards to the stairs. They are surrounding the stair treads with a steel framework. When complete, the steel framework and the treads will be removed. The remaining structure will be demolished.



Are they restoring the stairs back to the time before 09-11?

[gttx]

HOLLY SH*T!!!
Is this for real? I must be a part of that general public that never knew that 45% was never discovered... and I only live some 80 miles away in Philly...
That is absolutely nuts!!!
Don't take me wrong, I am all for the new tower though... The sooner the better, imho...
I am definitely going to ask around my office tomorrow as well as my friends to see if they knew these horrible stats...

Are you serious? Whoever wrote that article basically made up the worst story they could think of and then printed it. I'm sure the city of New York knowingly recycled body parts to fill potholes....sometimes I wonder whether or not people think before forming opinions. And don't even get me started on the "World Trade Center conspiracy" people.

[witchypoo]

Are you serious? Whoever wrote that article basically made up the worst story they could think of and then printed it. I'm sure the city of New York knowingly recycled body parts to fill potholes....sometimes I wonder whether or not people think before forming opinions. And don't even get me started on the "World Trade Center conspiracy" people.

/agree :cheers:
:haha: :haha: :haha:
Show me proof from unbiased sourceS of WTC victims in potholes, and then I might believe it. As for remains still at the site, that's believeable and unavoidable. With the sheer magnitude of the 9-11 WTC collapse, it wouldn't surprise me if there were remains >100 feet below the street still.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to seeing the FT pop it's head above street level. It'd be interesting to know the materials and construction methods they'll use to strenghten the base of the tower against future potential terrorist attacks. The base of the rendoring looks like that's what they're doing.

[NYguy]

http://www.nysun.com/article/70328

Highest Eatery May Top Freedom Tower

By PETER KIEFER
January 29, 2008


The Freedom Tower will be topped by New York City's highest restaurant, a 34,000-square-foot space on the 100th and 101st floors that the Port Authority, which owns the tower, yesterday offered up to entice interest among potential operators.

The Port Authority's request for expression of interest for a restaurant and banquet space high in One World Trade Center is already eliciting commentary from New York's top restaurateurs and real estate analysts.

A co-owner of Nobu, Drew Nieporent, said the attacks of September 11, 2001, had a lasting effect on the mentality of diners. About 150 restaurant employees and guests at Windows on the World were killed in the attack.

"I'm not advocating that it's the best idea, I think it has to sink in a little," he said. Of the terrorist enemy, he said: "You know, these people could do just about anything, they can be very creative and it doesn't just have to be something in a tall building. If they want to wreak havoc, a public space is better where there's a large congregation of people."

The Port Authority says it is hoping to create "one of the best-located and most well known dining establishments in the world," and the available space would appear, at least on paper, to have all the desired trappings sought by an ambitious restaurant or event space owner. There is the 360-degree view of New York City and the Hudson and East rivers on two separate floors, one of which is located adjacent to the public observation deck. There are five express elevators and the state of the art facilities that the Freedom Tower will offer when completed. Lower Manhattan has gone through a recent economic boom, with the average salary of residents there at almost twice the median of the typical New York City resident.

But the proposition of renting such a unique space at such an extreme height on soil with such a history could pose a number of challenges.

"Every floor you go above sidewalk level makes it more difficult," the owner of the River Café, Michael "Buzzy" O'Keeffe, said. "If you had only one floor like that — in a city like New York — it would probably be a big tourist attraction. But there are many floors like that here. There are many big tall buildings with tall views," he said, adding that "it was not easy to make Windows on the World work."

The new space is actually several floors lower than Windows on the World, which occupied the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. That restaurant, while not particularly well respected among food critics — at least by New York dining standards — was nevertheless one of the world's highest-grossing restaurants. According to a 2001 article in The New York Times the restaurant was making $24 million a year in the late1980s.

There have been numerous delays in the reconstruction plans of ground zero, so another problem posed is timing. According to the request for expressions of interest, the premises would not be delivered to any prospective tenant before the summer of 2012, and an opening could not occur before 2013 at the earliest.

"Our surveys show that the diners in New York change their attitudes, their cuisines change, trends in restaurants and where they're located change yearly. So to predict what's going to be good location seven to ten years from now is difficult to say," a spokesman for the Zagat survey, Michael Mahle, said.

An executive vice president at Newmark Knight Frank, Jeffrey Roseman, said the space would be "for a special sort of operator."

"It is an event restaurant space more than anything else," he said. "These are the kind of places you take your grandma on her birthday. I mean, how many times did you go to Window on the World? For special anniversaries and parties."

Mr. Roseman and Mr. O'Keeffe both said they did not see September 11 and the emotions that come with it as a threat to a restaurant in the space.

"The hole has so much press, so the building will have so much press, and it would certainly probably be the most publicized building on earth," Mr. O'Keeffe said.

"So I guess then it will lend itself to being visited by an untold number of people. So even though the other conditions might hold for a normal building, this one, because of all the press it is likely to get, will probably be a big tourist place."

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/nyregion/29rebuild.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower


By DAVID W. DUNLAP
January 29, 2008

For the price of a meal, Windows on the World atop 1 World Trade Center offered diners a spot in the stratosphere, a spot that was lost — along with so much else — on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It may be merely a footnote to a national calamity,” William Grimes, then a restaurant critic for The New York Times, wrote a week later, “but the collapse of the World Trade Center’s two towers ended an era in New York City dining.”

On Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the new 1 World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), set out to find whether anyone wants to try to revive that era.

It issued what is called a request for expressions of interest from developers who would design, construct, operate and manage a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors of the new tower.

The space, commanding a 360-degree panorama nearly 1,250 feet above street level, would be served by as many as five express elevators.

The grand opening is planned for early 2013.

The restaurant operator may also be chosen to run the 24,000-square-foot observation deck on the 102nd floor.

But a question posed by Mr. Grimes yet to be answered:

“Will diners ever again find that perspective enchanting?” he wrote more than six years ago, and added, “Exhilaration has now become too closely interwoven with terror.”

___________________________________

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01292008/news/regionalnews/freedom_tower_eatery_will_be_tall_order_135908.htm

FREEDOM TOWER EATERY WILL BE TALL ORDER

By TOM TOPOUSIS
January 29, 2008

Talk about high-end dining.

Evoking memories of the World Trade Center-topping Windows on the World, the Port Authority yesterday unveiled plans to lure a restaurant and banquet hall to the upper decks of the Freedom Tower.

The new restaurant will be located on the 100th and 101st floors with wrap-around views of the city and points far beyond, making it the highest restaurant in America, as was its WTC predecessor.

The eatery will sprawl over 34,000 square feet, larger than all but a few city restaurants, and it will be located directly below the tower's observation deck.

With the tower set to be finished in 2012, PA officials are trying to get a head start on the restaurant, putting out a formal request for expressions of interest while construction of the 1,776-foot-tall tower has yet to reach street level.

The PA expects the landmark restaurant to be open in early 2013.

"This is another step forward in the redevelopment of the historic site. The Freedom Tower is an iconic structure that calls for a world-class dining destination," said PA spokesman Steve Coleman.

In its pitch for restaurant operators, the PA is billing the new dining spot as positioned to be "one of the best and most well-known dining establishments in the world." Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Windows on the World was the highest grossing restaurant in the nation, with a reported $37 million in business in 2000.

The tower's restaurant would be served by five dedicated express elevators running directly from the lobby.

No name or theme has been chosen for the restaurant. PA officials expect to work out those details with a prospective operator.

_______________________________

Quote from the Star Ledger:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/port_authority_wants_plans_for.html

The dining areas will be 1,241 feet and 1,254 feet above street level.

[NYguy]

Photos of the old restaurant...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/windows_on_the_world/windows_on_the_world.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows.jpg

Before the restaurant's destruction in the Sept. 11 attack, Windows on the World at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center was one of the most famous eateries in New York.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows_world7.jpg

Windows on the World opened in 1976, and offered diners spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline to the North.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows_world2.jpg

The restaurant was also a magnet for celebrities and politicians: US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton attends a luncheon in 2001.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows_world5.jpg

Chef Michael Lomonaco's cheese fondue

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows_world6.jpg

Hipsters enjoy the Strato-lounge Party at Windows On The World in 1997.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/29/gal_windows_world4.jpg

The restaurant's trademark airplane hung over the Windows on the World gift shop

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the design for Silverstein's 99 Church Street (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=122343) was revealed...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92288662/original.jpg

[Down_Under_the_El]

^^ This is filling in nicely. :D

[Dac150]

Are they still calling it 'Windows on the World'? I had thought they are, but now not sure.

[JDRCRASH]

It makes sense, since the North Tower's top floor had one as well.

Oh my goodness....nice pic Nyguy.

[Dac150]

It makes sense, since the South Tower's top floor had one as well.

Oh my goodness....nice pic Nyguy.

No it didn't, only the North Tower.

[Ghost]

No, no, watching those pictures of the old WTC makes me kind of happy and sad at the same time :S

[BradMacD]

So that's not going to be a part of the new WTC complex is it? It fits in nicely with the rest. Glad to see this area growing up more vertical than ever. :)

[NYguy]

Interesting points...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/nyregion/29rebuild.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower


By DAVID W. DUNLAP
January 29, 2008

On Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the new 1 World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), set out to find whether anyone wants to try to revive that era. It issued what is called a request for expressions of interest from developers who would design, construct, operate and manage a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors of the new tower.

The space, commanding a 360-degree panorama nearly 1,250 feet above street level, would be served by as many as five express elevators.

The grand opening is planned for early 2013.

The restaurant operator may also be chosen to run the 24,000-square-foot observation deck on the 102nd floor.

___________________________________

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01292008/news/regionalnews/freedom_tower_eatery_will_be_tall_order_135908.htm

FREEDOM TOWER EATERY WILL BE TALL ORDER

By TOM TOPOUSIS
January 29, 2008

The eatery will sprawl over 34,000 square feet, larger than all but a few city restaurants, and it will be located directly below the tower's observation deck.

The tower's restaurant would be served by five dedicated express elevators running directly from the lobby.

No name or theme has been chosen for the restaurant. PA officials expect to work out those details with a prospective operator.

_______________________________

Quote from the Star Ledger:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/port_authority_wants_plans_for.html

The dining areas will be 1,241 feet and 1,254 feet above street level.

[CarlosV]

I just heard on TV the whole complex has been pushed back a couple of years 'cause the whole site is NOT ready............damn i hate this now

[trvlr70]

I just heard on TV the whole complex has been pushed back a couple of years 'cause the whole site is NOT ready............damn i hate this now

WTF? This is worse than the Big Dig. NYC needs a touch of Chicago-style government perhaps.

[Dac150]

WTF? This is worse than the Big Dig. NYC needs a touch of Chicago-style government perhaps.

Well first off, that comment you made about the governemnt has nothing to do with it, so where you got that from I don't know. Right now the WTC is in the hands of the Port Authority and soon Silverstien.

And to be honest, I rather them do a quality job then rush the process. After the amount of time we waited to get a shovel in the ground on ths site, we can wait an extra 2 years or so for the final product.

[Dac150]

Are they still calling it 'Windows on the World'? I had thought they are, but now not sure.

Still waiting for an answer if anyone has one. NYguy?

[Ghost]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01292008/news/regionalnews/freedom_tower_eatery_will_be_tall_order_135908.htm
No name or theme has been chosen for the restaurant. PA officials expect to work out those details with a prospective operator.

[NYC2ATX]

WTF? This is worse than the Big Dig. NYC needs a touch of Chicago-style government perhaps.

Oh yes, mob connections are exactly what the Bloomberg administration needs. ;)

:hell: This is fucking sickening though (pardon my french), but I don't blame the City of New York or Bloomberg for this, after all every other project in the city, with the exception of a few, is on schedule. Larry Silverstein in an incompetent crackhead is all, and the Port Authority ain't doing shit to help matters. Lets hope Silverstein doesn't dick around with 99 Church, there would be no excuse for that.

Sidenote: Woolworth, 10 Barclay and 99 Church are gonna be a cool cluster of towers. :yes: It's as though each one is on a stage formed by the other two, especially Woolworth.

[WonderlandPark]

I just heard on TV the whole complex has been pushed back a couple of years 'cause the whole site is NOT ready............damn i hate this now

Well, since seeing this post, I have checked the news feeds for 2 days now and don't see a single thing that says the Freedom Tower, World Trade Center, WTC, PATH, Silverstein, or anything related is delayed. Go ahead and google news it for yourself.

[37TimPPG]

Well, since seeing this post, I have checked the news feeds for 2 days now and don't see a single thing that says the Freedom Tower, World Trade Center, WTC, PATH, Silverstein, or anything related is delayed. Go ahead and google news it for yourself.


I can't find any news of a delay either. I checked the media websites: NY Post, NY Times, Newsday, WNBC, WCBS, WABC, FOX.

I hope there was just a misunderstanding - here's hoping it's full steam ahead!? :notacrook:

[Daquan13]

Still waiting for an answer if anyone has one. NYguy?



WOTW?

Last I heard of them was that they were supposed to, or were trying to have started up an eaterie somewhere near Ground Zero. And this was sometime before the rebuild began.

Anyone know anything about that one?

But I think it will be interesting to find out just WHO is going to take on the job or running both the restaurant and the obs deck.

My guess is that it will again be a swank posh eaterie like the one that was there before. I think it should be a steakhouse & seafood restaurant.;)

[Daquan13]

I just heard on TV the whole complex has been pushed back a couple of years 'cause the whole site is NOT ready............damn i hate this now



Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that was for the memorial only.

[Knightwing]

Hypothetically, if they weren't just talking about the memorial and things do indeed need to be delayed, what exactly needs to be done to get the site 'ready'?

[Dac150]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that was for the memorial only.

That is what I heard back in either late November or early December. I think people might have just got that confused with the actual buildings.

[CoolCzech]

A snippet of an interesting article:

There’s a question, though, of what might be called identity maintenance. Ever since boxier buildings began proliferating in the late 1960s and the ’70s, the Lower Manhattan skyline has lost a good deal of its signature look. It has begun to look more like Houston or any other not-quite-special city. The 1776 spire intended as replacement for the Twin Towers — painfully slow to materialize — may bring back a renewed sense of downtown skyscrapers actually “scraping” the sky and not just ending in flat tops. That skyline now does cry for a pizzazz that the Twin Towers didn’t supply.

(http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=10&id=18155)

I think that it is true that once the entire downtown ensemble of WTC and other new towers is finished, lower Manhattan will look better than at any time since the classic days of the 1920's and '30s.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92288662/original.jpg

[Dac150]

I guess that point of view all stems from personal opinion. For me the 'classic' Lower Manhattan skyline was from the East Rive looking at the Brooklyn Bridge and Downtown during the time of the Twins. The runner up would be the Twins behind the WFC.

I also think though that buildings such as the WFC, 55 Water, 1 NY Plaza, Continental Center, 1 Financial Square, 60 Wall, 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, 1 Liberty Plaza, & the rest of the group have made the Lower Manhattan skyline more iconic then ever. And the Twins to me were the perfect fit, something the new WTC will not have (IMO).

[Alliance]

I'm sorry, but flat tops does not equal Houston, especially with the proliferataion of spires in New York. If New York is looking like Houston, its because of the quality of the buildings, not their roof ornaments.

[NYguy]

Hypothetically, if they weren't just talking about the memorial and things do indeed need to be delayed, what exactly needs to be done to get the site 'ready'?

NO towers are being delayed. Check the threads of the various towers for updates. The memorial opening has been pushed back, but that's old news. There are no major delays, and everything is and has been moving according to schedule, with the minor exception of the PA's dig.

[NYguy]

I'm sorry, but flat tops does not equal Houston,

It certainly doesn't. It's a popular quote from people who like to complain about it, but how someone can look at Houston and Manhattan and see the same thing is beyond me.

[Deepstar]

I'm sorry, but flat tops does not equal Houston, especially with the proliferataion of spires in New York. If New York is looking like Houston, its because of the quality of the buildings, not their roof ornaments.

Houston doesn't look anything like Manhattan IMO.

[Lecom]

I think that it is true that once the entire downtown ensemble of WTC and other new towers is finished, lower Manhattan will look better than at any time since the classic days of the 1920's and '30s.
Definitely. As the city fully establishes its current time as one of its great eras, much like at the end of the 20's, its skyline is about to undergo yet another magnificent transformation that will mark its time with a bold statement. Interestingly, this would be the third classic look of the same Financial District - replacing the 30's to 50's pyramid of pre-war spires and 70's to '01 Twin Towers-dominated cluster.

[Chi649]

A snippet of an interesting article:

There’s a question, though, of what might be called identity maintenance. Ever since boxier buildings began proliferating in the late 1960s and the ’70s, the Lower Manhattan skyline has lost a good deal of its signature look. It has begun to look more like Houston or any other not-quite-special city. The 1776 spire intended as replacement for the Twin Towers — painfully slow to materialize — may bring back a renewed sense of downtown skyscrapers actually “scraping” the sky and not just ending in flat tops. That skyline now does cry for a pizzazz that the Twin Towers didn’t supply.

(http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=10&id=18155)

I think that it is true that once the entire downtown ensemble of WTC and other new towers is finished, lower Manhattan will look better than at any time since the classic days of the 1920's and '30s.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92288662/original.jpgThe comparisons between what was downtown on 2001 vs. what will be after all of the buildings on ground zero are finally built got me thinking. It's really not a fair comparison because had the WTC stayed intact, would there not be some new towers added downtown anyway? Is it possible there would have been a Freedom Tower or a new WTC2 type tower added in addition to the twins?

Many people have expressed the opinion that the new WTC complex will be architecturally superior to the old one. I am tempted to agree but one of the main things that gives a city great architecture is diversity of style. The twin towers were an awesome example of the modernist movement of the 60's/70's. By losing these towers and replacing them with current designs, some architectural diversity has been lost. This is one reason why I felt the twins should have been rebuilt, to preserve NYC's history.

Anyway, the decision was made a long time ago to build new designs instead and the new WTC complex will look amazing when done. The Freedom Tower is a good design in that it has similarities to the old WTC such as dimension and a spire/antenna. I think it is essentially a modern version of what was WTC1. Therefore, the restored skyline won't be altered too radically or as much as it could have been, which I think is a good thing.

So if the twins can't be rebuilt, then I think this is the next best thing. However, not rebuilding the twins is an architectural downgrade IMO, for the reasons I have mentioned. I'm not trying to start a debate whether the twins should have been rebuilt. I have fully accepted that they won't and I embrace the new designs and can't wait for them to be built.

[SkyWatcher]

I suppose he means the post modern phase every city went through, but comparing to Houston?

[Apex]

I think Houston comes most readily to mind when discussing such things as Houston really came into its own at the Post-Modern period.

[Daquan13]

Hypothetically, if they weren't just talking about the memorial and things do indeed need to be delayed, what exactly needs to be done to get the site 'ready'?



Who knows?

I think that the media got its wires crossed and gave out the wrong info. Like they always do.

[CoolCzech]

csmonitor.com

Building at World Trade Center is a showcase of terrorproof technologies

Architects around the world are erecting skyscrapers that use a hollow concrete core surrounded by bomb-resistant glass and other security innovations.
By Harry Bruinius | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

New York

When a documentary crew wanted to film the emergency glow-strips that line the expansive stairwells in 7 World Trade Center, Dara McQuillan called down to the security desk and asked them to flick off the lights. Moments after the stairwell went dark, however, a backup power system switched on and ruined the shot.

Mr. McQuillan, vice president of communications for the building, called again, but when the security desk shut down the backup system, this time a battery-powered generator flooded the stairs with light. The crew never got its dramatic glow-in-the-dark shot.

It has been hailed as the safest building in the world, its 52-stories of glass elegance belying a concrete core built to be a bunker in the sky. It is the first skyscraper to be completed at the World Trade Center site, and as it approaches its second anniversary, its innovative architecture and endlessly redundant security features – most of them designed from the lessons of the Twin Towers catastrophic collapse – offer a template for high-rise buildings in a post-9/11 world.

"The biggest change in high-rise construction now is this sealed, hardened core," says Dr. Herb Hauser, president of New York-based Midtown Technologies, who worked with the architects of the skyscrapers that will ring the new World Trade Center. "This means that the structure around the core can go down, or be on fire, or be invested with a biological or chemical problem, but the actual core itself will be protected."

At least three skyscrapers under construction that will surpass the height of the world's tallest building, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, are using the concrete-core technique (as well as a number of others under proposal in Russia and Korea). Indeed, the 1,776-foot high Freedom Tower, the anchor of the World Trade Center site, will in many ways simply be a larger version of the adjacent 7 WTC. The Chicago Spire, at 2,000 feet high, and Burj Dubai, soon to be the tallest building in the world at a staggering 2,700 feet, will also each have hollow concrete spines anchoring floors that will cascade and twist around them.

•••

Making buildings with a concrete core isn't a new idea, but the cost of constructing them in the past has been prohibitive. "The main drawback at one time was that a steel frame was so much faster to build," says Mir Ali, professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "It took you approximately three to four days to build a steel-frame floor. With concrete, it used to take 10 to 14 days a floor."

But with advances in construction techniques – better and cheaper concrete, more powerful pumps, easy-to-assemble slip and fly forms – crews can now put up a concrete core as fast as a steel frame. Moreover, very tall steel-frame buildings like the former World Trade Center towers and the Sears Tower often shimmy and sway in the wind. The top floor of a concrete-core high rise is as solid as a first-floor lobby.

And yet, since such buildings are, in part, towering symbols of power and strength, and therefore important symbolic targets, the question persists: Will tenants want to work in them? Ellis Rubinstein, president of the New York Academy of Sciences, the first organization to sign a lease at 7 WTC, recalls a number of board members and employees who were wary of working in a high rise at the site. "But the reverse was also quite true, actually. There was a great deal of pride that we were standing for the revitalization of the area," he says.

In addition to 7 WTC and the Freedom Tower, Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the site, is planning three more massive skyscrapers in the area. "Larry's big gamble in building over 7 million square feet of office space without tenants is that people will soon want more out of their buildings," says McQuillan.

Old Wall Street buildings, forming the "canyons" of 1930s-era high rises, often choke off the signals for legions of BlackBerrys, and just aren't built for the high-tech business needs of today. In 10 years, Mr. Silverstein believes, Wall Street firms will head a few blocks west to Greenwich Street, near the World Trade Center site, leaving the historic business district to the luxury loft renovators. But first he must convince them these state-of-the-art buildings are state-of-the-art safe.

•••

The sense of security architects tried to build into the hollow spine of 7 WTC, which has tenants on 30 of 42 available floors, starts with the glow-strip lined stairs. Stadiumlike in size, the stairwells allow a space where evacuees can rest or the wheelchair-bound can wait for assistance. They are also pressurized to force out smoke, and engineers have incorporated dual standpipes and extra water storage for the sprinkler system.

But beyond the concrete core, 7 WTC has a host of other security features. The building's skin is made almost entirely of glass, and since the foundation is designed like a diamond parallelogram, the structure gives off a crystalline appearance – hardly the look of a concrete bunker in the sky.

The glazing process incorporates new bomb-resistant technologies into the glass that eliminate flying shards – and actually shield the structure from an explosion, deflecting the energy of a blast. Windows are double-paned, laminated, and layered with a new plastic polymer. The windows near the lobby are reinforced with inner cables that would, like a rubber band, absorb a blast and snap back.

The lobby features another use of "new" glass. A 65-by-14-foot art installation behind the reception desk doubles as a bomb shield for the elevator lobby. The installation has two laminated glass walls. Each wall is a series of vertical panes that tilt inward, like a giant hinge, and spring back in the event of an explosion. Designed by James Carpenter and conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, the display flashes illuminated poetry and prose.

"It's quite robust in its strength, although it's relatively delicate in terms of its visual presence," says Mr. Carpenter, a sculptor and architect at James Carpenter Design Associates here.

Throughout 7 WTC, architects have tried to convey openness and optimism rather than a fortress mentality. Even the first eight floors, which are windowless and house a utility substation, are wrapped in a stainless-steel screen that glows a faint blue after dusk. The wall contains light sensors that create a drifting illumination whenever a pedestrian walks near it. "We're always trying to harness two things," says Carpenter, "performance and visual aesthetics."

Indeed, as four larger towers begin to rise at Ground Zero, architects in a post-9/11 world must balance safety with art, commerce, and community interests. "There's no doubt in anyone's mind that as they're building these towers," says Hauser, "somebody overseas is thinking about how to take them down again."

**************

If Larry is right, I wonder how many more megatowers may be coming to Greenwich Street in a decade or so...

[WestCoast]

"And yet, since such buildings are, in part, towering symbols of power and strength, and therefore important symbolic targets" :yuck:

BUILDINGS ARE TARGETS: FILM AT 11!!!

who writes this shit?

[RockMont]

"And yet, since such buildings are, in part, towering symbols of power and strength, and therefore important symbolic targets" :yuck:

BUILDINGS ARE TARGETS: FILM AT 11!!!

who writes this shit?



Anything can be a target. Whether it is, or not, or can be, can be two different things. The Twin Towers were targets just like victims of the Holocaust were targets. The thing to do is to take measures, not to ever let it happen again. We can't be altered off our course, influenced, or made cowards of by a bunch of sub-human savages. That is why Israel is what it is. I don't approve of everything Israel does within its own borders, but as we all know, the state of Israel has its reasons to exist. I know I am getting off-topic here, but we must never give up our way of life, and give in to any sub-human scum, that wants to terrorize us like that, or that wants do dictate to us. As I've said before, we mustn't back down, by not rebuilding. That's the worst thing to do.

[Daquan13]

Well, let's all just hope that there are no attempts made to attack the NWTC at all.

[Rise To The Top]

Can we please get back on topic? It pisses me off to see people bitch back and forth about this building being a target. Take it to another thread.

Seems like the rain and ice has taken its toll on the timeline. Hopefully this shit clears up, I'm starting to get sick of it.

also, is the new tower the one to the left of the cluster?

[Daquan13]

This IS the Freedom Tower thread, and I don't see anything wrong with discussing topics concerning the tower.

I believe that we are within our priveliges to talk about the tower as long as there is no fighting.

[CoolCzech]

The terror threat clearly impacted the entire design of the FT... no one can say that, within the bounds of discussing security measures for the tower, it's "off topic."

[pablosan]

That was a pretty good read. Thanks for posting it.

[Lecom]

"And yet, since such buildings are, in part, towering symbols of power and strength, and therefore important symbolic targets" :yuck:

BUILDINGS ARE TARGETS: FILM AT 11!!!

who writes this shit?
The media's old and tired tricks. How will "news" sell if it does not have sensationalist bullshit?

[towerguy3]

The Freedom Tower is only half as tall as the Al Burj they're building in Dubai (3,445 feet)

[CoolCzech]

The Freedom Tower is only half as tall as the Al Burj they're building in Dubai (3,445 feet)

Last time I checked, that was just a proposal.

[Tom In Chicago]

^Yeah. . . for reasons I have yet to figure out, someone is convinced that Al-Burj is under construction. . . and has subsequently moved the thread into this sub-forum. . .

Anyhow why are there so few construction photos of Freedom Tower? I can't seem to figure out why the most symbolically important new building in the United States gets so little coverage from skyscraper enthusiasts. . .

[Dac150]

Anyhow why are there so few construction photos of Freedom Tower? I can't seem to figure out why the most symbolically important new building in the United States gets so little coverage from skyscraper enthusiasts. . .


Because there is not much to see at this time. I see the site almost everyday, and unless you really look for key things, it looks no different than the previous day.

[CoolCzech]

NY1 Exclusive: Work At WTC Site Progressing Well
www.ny1.com


Comparing work at the World Trade Center site to building five Empire State Buildings at once, the head of the Port Authority says the agency is making progress that can't come fast enough. NY1's Amanda Farinacci got an exclusive tour of work at the site and filed the following report.

After years of delay and false starts, work at the 16-acre World Trade Center site is finally moving full steam ahead -- with simultaneous construction on the office towers, the memorial, the Freedom Tower, and the transit hub.

"The site has to be organized like a dance, almost," said Port Authority Director Anthony Shorris.
"I'm working here today, you're working here tomorrow, because the wall on this side may be the Freedom Tower and on that side is the memorial, so the orchestration of all those players is extremely complicated."

Each of the towers will be built up from eight stories below ground, so the bulk of the work going on right now is excavation work. Official say it will be done soon so that site developer Larry Silverstein can begin construction on his three towers at the site in the coming weeks.

"Now it's time to stop talking and start building," said Shorris.

Currently, there are about 700 workers on site, and by summer, there will be nearly 2,000. Next week, the so-called "survivor staircase" will be moved off site. The plan is to bring it back, placing it at the entrance of the memorial museum.

Metal bars that hold back the slurry wall are covered by a blue protective tarp to preserve the original wall of the Trade Center bathtub. Shorris says the progress can't happen fast enough.

"I think the challenge has really been recognizing that the pent up expectation that we all have, after five years, we finally said 'okay, it's done, let's start building,'" he said. "You want it to be done, and, you can see, this doesn't happen overnight."

The Port Authority expects to close the temporary PATH station on Church Street and open a new one on Vesey Street sometime in April , paving the way for the permanent Calatrava terminal to be built sometime in 2011.

- Amanda Farinacci

[Dac150]

This is all what I like to hear. Progress will only continue to boom.

[phillylover906]

I can't believe how realistic those renderings are! It will stun everyone when it is finished being built.

[Lecom]

^Yeah. . . for reasons I have yet to figure out, someone is convinced that Al-Burj is under construction. . . and has subsequently moved the thread into this sub-forum. . .

Anyhow why are there so few construction photos of Freedom Tower? I can't seem to figure out why the most symbolically important new building in the United States gets so little coverage from skyscraper enthusiasts. . .
Because most New York skyscraper enthusiasts are over at WNY, and besides the FT is often quite difficult to get a good shot of. Having kept almost daily progress of its construction in 2006, I know pretty much every spot where you can get a glimpse, and there are barely any at all. Things should get much easier once it rises over street level.

[Lecom]

I can't believe how realistic those renderings are! It will stun everyone when it is finished being built.
Wait till you see the lobby. I was tripping out like an acid freak when I saw how the mockup refracted light into different colors, and I didn't even smoke back then.

[pablosan]

I can't wait until the tower begins to rise.

[Daquan13]

^Yeah. . . for reasons I have yet to figure out, someone is convinced that Al-Burj is under construction. . . and has subsequently moved the thread into this sub-forum. . .

Anyhow why are there so few construction photos of Freedom Tower? I can't seem to figure out why the most symbolically important new building in the United States gets so little coverage from skyscraper enthusiasts. . .



It'll probably gain more interest and attention when the steel starts to rise above the streets.

At least there is no indication or sign of any work stoppage or slowdown. The were a lott of photos taken of the site at one time.

[androo3]

Seems like this one is never going to rise. Has to be the slowest projects ever. That title on that article WTC progressing well is almost laughable. Maybe well is considered slow. Was it just me or did burj dubai have the same start date or maybe before.

[NYguy]

Anyhow why are there so few construction photos of Freedom Tower? I can't seem to figure out why the most symbolically important new building in the United States gets so little coverage from skyscraper enthusiasts. . .

No easy access to the site. Most shots are from overhead. Before construction began, the site was more open. When the tower begins to rise above street level later this year, you won't have a shortage of pics.

[NYguy]

Because most New York skyscraper enthusiasts are over at WNY,

Not accurate (as you know, wired new york is not a skyscraper forum), but that's not what he meant. The question was directed at the NY skyscraper enthusiasts on this site. And there are enough here to get pics.

[NYguy]

Seems like this one is never going to rise. Has to be the slowest projects ever. That title on that article WTC progressing well is almost laughable.

Only to the uninformed.

[NYguy]

Another look at the memorial and footprints...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92817855/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92817877/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92817855/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/92817877/original.jpg

[Down_Under_the_El]

Very nice!! What is the building directly east of the freedom tower going to be exactly?

[theWatusi]

is there significance to the number of trees?

[Knightwing]

^That looks amazing.