$3 Billion Predicament: Grand Avenue Project Delayed
By Rich Alossi
January 11, 2008
The $3 billion
Grand Avenue Project, being developed by New York-based Related Cos., has been delayed. Official groundbreaking is being
pushed back to summer at the earliest, according to a company representative we spoke with today.
Site prep work
continues, however, as the tinkertoy structure is being tested for demolition engineering purposes.
The official word on the delay is that “some key folks had conflicts with the timing.” Key folks, eh?
Blogdowntown recently
reported on the
Concrete Frequency symposium with Frank Gehry, designer of the project’s first phase, in which the outspoken architect openly criticized the project’s funding. Gehry contends that “Money is not available and the developer is in denial.” This would seem to fit in perfectly with Mr. Gehry’s allegation.
With an unsteady market and construction costs that have
climbed by over $1 billion since last year, this latest delay is unfortunate but hardly a surprise. However, it’s regrettable that Downtown has to pay the price of keeping another deadzone in our still-struggling Civic Center.
Previous Coverage
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Work Begins at Grand Avenue Project Site
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New Grand Avenue Renderings
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Source:
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