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

[Daquan13]

I guess this is to be expected. Things can change at the drop of a dime for Ground Zero.

[oldpainless]

It will be both, depending on the angle you view it...

http://lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/freedom_tower_6.jpghttp://lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/freedom_tower_10.jpg
lowermanhattan.info
Thanks for the comparison. I've been studying the design closer and now I see how it achieves both looks. Pretty cool if you ask me. I like this design a lot.

[Daquan13]

A lot better than the former birdcage design, hey?

Still no word yet on who will install the elevators and escelators yet. I hope it will be Otis.

[NYguy]

Another look at the sublevel entrance to the observation deck...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/78077746/original.jpg


The office lobby...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/78077798/original.jpg

[NYguy]

Thanks for the comparison. I've been studying the design closer and now I see how it achieves both looks. Pretty cool if you ask me. I like this design a lot.

Yeah, the first view makes it look like a clone of 1 WTC, while the second gives you something completely different.

[Daquan13]

Too bad that there's no rendering of the obs deck and restaurant yet.

[Kent76]

I am confused!!
On wikipedia site of the Freedom Tower I have read that it will have 108 stories, but that the last 6 are unoccupated and don't count and so the stories are 102. Then I have read that the real stories are only 82, because some mechnical floors ( 1-19 and 91-100 floors ) are counted as 3.
What does mean it? I think that if 1 mechnical floor is high 3 meter or 9 meter it is still 1 floor !!!!
On the site is written that there is a proposed OUTDOOR OBSERVATORY on the top of the building.
Can somebody explain me what will be the REAL NUMBER FLOORS of the Freedom Tower ( example 69 office floors, 2 restaurants floors, 2 Tv equipments floors, 2 lobby floors, 1 indoor deck floor and ?????? real mechnical floors )

[Daquan13]

There are, to my knowllege, 82 floors for offices, the restaurant and obs deck, as well as retail space.

The other 15 or so floors don't count as public, office space or retail, therefore, the actual floor count IS supposed to be 82.

Those other floors, as you know, will be used for mechanical purposes such as electrical, elevator machinery, HVAC, etc.. I imagine that these "dead" floors will be grouped in sections like the 6 mec. floors at the top.

It still has yet to be officially confirmed as to whether or not the outdoor obs deck be included.

[Alliance]

It will be both, depending on the angle you view it...

http://lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/freedom_tower_6.jpghttp://lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/freedom_tower_10.jpg
lowermanhattan.info

Thanks for the comparison. I've been studying the design closer and now I see how it achieves both looks. Pretty cool if you ask me. I like this design a lot.

Excellent in the first view...really retarded in the second.

[antinimby]

There are, to my knowllege, 82 floors for offices, the restaurant and obs deck, as well as retail space.Where's the retail space at?

[Daquan13]

Most of, or some of it is supposed to be below street level.

The rest would be divided up amongst the towers on street level.

[CoolCzech]

Excellent in the first view...really retarded in the second.

Hmmm.

Quite honestly, I think the first view is rather awkward, and the second far more elegant - it looks almost like the main mast of a ship with a sail, sort of like that tower in Dubai, but better for being understated.

Still, I think that once the entire complex is done there will be angles from which the FT and 2 WTC will remind one of the old Twins...

[Locofresh55]

Excellent in the first view...really retarded in the second.

The second view makes the building look "bloated" got some love handles and some JLO hips. maybe it will look better than the rendering.

[kznyc2k]

Nothing wrong with some J-lo hips.. but only as long as there's a J-lo ass out back too! :D

[-GR2NY-]

Nothing wrong with some J-lo hips.. but only as long as there's a J-lo ass out back too! :D


wow, that was completely uncalled for, and completely funny. I totally agree!!

:cheers:

[DUBAI2015]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/226/482034470_a2ce64404a_o.jpg

Oh Yeah.

[Scruffy]

thats the first thing that ive seen that accurately represents the height of tower 2 vs tower 1

[CoolCzech]

Looking at the base of the FT's spire in that model, it would appear that the "ring" or "doughnut" isn't actually resting on the roof - it looks like it's actually suspended off the main shaft of the spire by those cables. Interesting if true.

[CoolCzech]

thats the first thing that ive seen that accurately represents the height of tower 2 vs tower 1

Yeah, heightwise 1 and 2 are veritable twins, aren't they?

[DUBAI2015]

Looking at the base of the FT's spire in that model, it would appear that the "ring" or "doughnut" isn't actually resting on the roof - it looks like it's actually suspended off the main shaft of the spire by those cables. Interesting if true.

You're right.
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/62776423/large.jpg

[NYguy]

thats the first thing that ive seen that accurately represents the height of tower 2 vs tower 1

With the top of the FT facade at 1368 ft, that would be only 31 ft higher than the highest point on Tower 2.
Tower 2 will appear to be most massive from some angles, but it has a thinner profile than Freedom from the
east or west. It's sloped profile, and the FT spire make the height difference appear more than it is...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66571989/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66571956/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66753660/original.jpg

[mczamalek]

Amazing progression of the complex since my last visit!:tup:

[antinimby]

Most of, or some of it is supposed to be below street level.
The rest would be divided up amongst the towers on street level.Are you talking about the FT or the other towers?

I had the impression that in your post that I had responded to, you were only talking about the FT.

I don't believe that the FT will have any retail, below or above ground.

[antinimby]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/226/482034470_a2ce64404a_o.jpg

Is this model on display somewhere and is it opened to the public?

If so, I gotta go there one of these days to check it out myself.

[DUBAI2015]

It's the same model as the one NYguy posted. At least it looks that way.

[NYguy]

I wish they would update the model at the WFC...

Compare that with this...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/53909776/medium.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/53909814/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/53909847/medium.jpg

NO contest...

[Wheelingman04]

Those new towers are gorgeous!!

[futurearchie317]

FT would look so much better if they could somehow integrate the base with the rest of the building. Like a slow transition from bomb shelter to sleek glass instead of just a horizontal line where one ends and the other begins. Any thoughts?

[Daquan13]

Maybe they'll look into that as time passes.

But since the base will be covered with glass panels anyway, don't count on them changing it at all.

[NYguy]

FT would look so much better if they could somehow integrate the base with the rest of the building. Like a slow transition from bomb shelter to sleek glass instead of just a horizontal line where one ends and the other begins. Any thoughts?

The models/renderings don't give an accurate interpretation. The base will be covered in glass, though it will still be very distinctive from the rest of the tower.

As we all know, there are security issues that have been dealt with. Perhaps if the tower were on the middle of 34th street, we wouldn't have it that way. But it is what and where it is.

The tower is part monument to the memorial anyway. Looking at it that way, its not that bad.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/78009066/medium.jpg

[NYguy]

In the final scheme of things, I don't think the base will matter much...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66466735/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66458468/original.jpg


I can see how it could be considered an asset at night time. I'm sure some will disagree...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66462361/medium.jpg

[NYguy]

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2007/04/23/daily54.html

Benson Industries wins Freedom Tower contract

Benson expects to start installing the curtainwall in the third quarter of 2009, with construction of the tower taking two to two and a half years.


A little more on the glass...
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,101730.shtml

Viracon Awarded Glass Supply Contract for Freedom Tower in NYC

Mon, 07 May 2007
Author : Viracon, Inc.

OWATONNA, Minn., May 7 ...Benson Industries of Portland, Oregon, who was recently awarded the curtain wall contract for the World Trade Center Tower One, has named Viracon, Inc. of Owatonna, Minnesota as their glass supplier for the project. The World Trade Center Tower One, also known as the Freedom Tower, is being developed by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey and will be constructed on the site of the World Trade Center buildings destroyed by terrorists in 2001.

"This is an extremely proud day for all of Viracon's 2,600 employees," said Brad J. Austin, Viracon's Senior Vice President. Over the past four years, Viracon has assisted New York architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to provide the best possible glass solution to achieve the aesthetic design, energy and security performance required for the project. The Freedom Tower is the first of four buildings to be constructed at the site.

At 1,776 feet tall, a tribute to our country's freedom with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Freedom Tower will be the tallest building in North America when complete.

Viracon, the largest single source glass fabricator in the country, was selected based on the company's ability to achieve stringent design and performance criteria for glass. "The architects at SOM relied on Viracon to provide a glass product that marries form and function together to achieve the design intent of the project with highly functional glass performance in terms of energy efficiency, security and safety," says Austin.

SOM's design for the Freedom Tower requires extremely long pieces of glass that are highly transparent and, at the same time, provide superior energy efficiency and security. Viracon installed custom fabrication equipment to meet the needs of the project. "To create the feeling of openness, the architects challenged us to fabricate exceptionally large-sized insulating glass units, which are well above the industry standard," says Rick Voelker, Vice President of Technical Services at Viracon.

"The glass sizes to be used are approximately two feet longer than typical fabrication limits." Viracon made significant investments into equipment and material processing in order to accommodate the increased sizes. Viracon is the only U.S. fabricator with the ability to work with such large sizes for energy efficient coated insulating glass.

With all the transparency created by such large pieces of glass, energy efficiency became an immediate challenge. In response, SOM specified Viracon's VRE-54 coating on highly transparent low-iron glass for the Freedom Tower project. The VRE coating is referred to as a hybrid coating because of its ability to simultaneously provide a crisp neutral appearance, combined with high levels of energy performance and light transmission. Viracon expects to begin fabrication on the Freedom Tower at its Owatonna, Minnesota facility in 2008. The building will contain just less than one million square feet of glass, making it one of the largest contracts Viracon has been awarded in its history.

Viracon is currently working on proposals for the three additional buildings to be constructed at the World Trade Center site. "It was a great honor for Viracon to supply the glass on the Seven World Trade Center project, which opened in 2006, and it is indeed a privilege for Viracon to be selected as the glass supplier for the Freedom Tower project, which undoubtedly will be one of the world's most prominent buildings," concludes Austin.

[DUBAI2015]

What happened to the old thread of this building? I cant find it.

[Daquan13]

Try looking in the Thread Archive on the main page way to the bottom of it.

[Dalton]

In the final scheme of things, I don't think the base will matter much...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66466735/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66458468/original.jpg


I can see how it could be considered an asset at night time. I'm sure some will disagree...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/66462361/medium.jpg


Don't these renderings grossly misrepresent the scale of WTC2 and WTC3? For example, I thought the peak of WTC2 is going to be only 20 or 30 feet shorter than the roof of the Freedom Tower. In these pictures it looks over a hundred feet shorter!

[Dream'n]

What happened to the old thread of this building? I cant find it.

I think someone from Boston ate it!

[Dac150]

I think someone from Boston ate it!

I have got to back my man Daquan on this. You need to stop with these uncalled for comments. They stir up turmoil which it not necessary. This thread has been running nicely, and the progression of the project is getting exciting. For the respect of the forumers, please lets not go down a negative path. Not arguing, but a simple request. Please.

[Daquan13]

I have got to back my man Daquan on this. You need to stop with these uncalled for comments. They stir up turmoil which it not necessary. This thread has been running nicely, and the progression of the project is getting exciting. For the respect of the forumers, please lets not go down a negative path. Not arguing, but a simple request. Please.



Thank you, Dac.

I've been trying to remain on topic in this and other threads and will continue to do so.

But in any case, the Freedom Tower continues to progress with much more anticipated things to come! It will be interesting to see the good things that will develop this summer!!

[NYguy]

Don't these renderings grossly misrepresent the scale of WTC2 and WTC3? For example, I thought the peak of WTC2 is going to be only 20 or 30 feet shorter than the roof of the Freedom Tower. In these pictures it looks over a hundred feet shorter!

Its the angle in which the renderings are drawn from. If you draw a line between the buildings at the angle shown, they are accurate.

[Realthang]

The base for crane 2 has been delivered this morning :banana: :banana:

[Ghost]

Yeah... I just can't imagine how they can operate when they are so close!
http://i14.tinypic.com/53rveih_th (http://i15.tinypic.com/53rveih.jpg)

[Daquan13]

The base for crane 2 has been delivered this morning :banana: :banana:



I can't wait to see a pic of it!!

[Ghost]

I posted one already :) right upper corner of the site. Still waiting Port Authority's pics from April...

[Daquan13]

Ok, I think I can see it. Had to enlarge the pic to get a much closer look. Can't quite make it out, but it IS there.

It's being put right next to the first crane, which appears to be set up and ready to be used.

[gzfollower]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/491228477_09d0b34b03.jpg?v=0

[2-TOWERS]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/491228477_09d0b34b03.jpg?v=0

looks like the twins are back:)

[2-TOWERS]

the observation deck looks great , too bad they could'nt have used the top of the donut, or the ring for the upper outdoor deck , that would be amazin

[M.K.]

[edited by moderation] ??????????????????????:shrug:

[northface]

are they using those cranes all the way up like the twin towers did? and just have them go up with the core?

[wong21fr]

Yes, they'll be hopping their way up with the tower.

[Daquan13]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/491228477_09d0b34b03.jpg?v=0



One has to wonder if putting two cranes in close proximity like that is dangerous. Time will tell.

[northface]

thanks wong21fr!

[SportsWorld]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/226/482034470_a2ce64404a_o.jpg

Is this model on display somewhere and is it opened to the public?

If so, I gotta go there one of these days to check it out myself.
I think this is a beautiful design. :worship:

[Daquan13]

It might be on display at Winter Garden or the SSM.

[NYguy]

One has to wonder if putting two cranes in close proximity like that is dangerous. Time will tell.

Everything's dangerous, but they know what they are doing. This will be exciting to watch. But it's just one tower. What will we do when the others start rising early next year?....:banana:

[Daquan13]

Everything's dangerous, but they know what they are doing. This will be exciting to watch. But it's just one tower. What will we do when the others start rising early next year?....:banana:



We'll sit back and watch them all join the party and soar into the sky - including Tower 5 whenever it gets going. It'll be fun! They should all be opening for business not too long after Tower 1 does.:banana:

[Bergenser]

This project is takes long time.

[northface]

anyways...is that second crane up yet? haha

[NYguy]

When is the approximate completion of this project?



2012

[djvandrake]

I was quite surprised to see the base for that second crane (sorry, I must've not been paying attention when that was discussed.) I'm also more than a little surprised to see them that close together. This should really speed construction if you can stage material on the North and South side of the tower. Very exciting stuff.

[Daquan13]

From what I was told, there are supposed to be two more coming for a total of four.

[Independence]

:banana:
V
V
V

[djvandrake]

Cool! That crane is going up quick. I checked it just a few hours ago and it was the base only, now it's almost as tall as the first one! :banana:

[mcdonnell77]

This is great. For some reason it feels like the freedom tower is really coming along.

[Daquan13]

But don't forget, the rest of the steel is still about a year away.

But at least there's more activity there than it was two years ago.

[CoolCzech]

It's just a rendering, and not a very accurate one: 2, 3, and 4 areWAY too short and puny compared to actual plans.

[mcdonnell77]

It's just a rendering, and not a very accurate one: 2, 3, and 4 areWAY too short and puny compared to actual plans.

Yeh, the peak of 200 Greenwhich Street should reach the roof of the freedom tower!

[NYguy]

It's just a rendering, and not a very accurate one: 2, 3, and 4 areWAY too short and puny compared to actual plans.


Not as off as you think. The Freedom Tower is already taller than those others. Placing the FT closer to the forefront in the rendering just makes it appear even taller than the others. Likewise, tower 4 will be taller than the WFC. It's just further back in the rendering.

[NYguy]

Added the heights to this model. Impressive by any standards. And this just Downtown Manhattan.
Towers just as large coming for Midtown...:yes:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/78608344/original.jpg

[NYguy]

So are you saying that like the Freedom Tower, 2 & 3 will also have a symbolic height (marked in blue)?

Roof heights are in white.

[NYguy]

Evolution of Freedom...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/01/03/opinion/20051230_oped_TOWERS.gif
NY Times

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43020592/original.jpg

[Daquan13]

Now according to what I've heard, there will be six floors of mech. space and the obs deck and restaurant below that. Is that true or false?

[NYguy]

Now according to what I've heard, there will be six floors of mech. space and the obs deck and restaurant below that. Is that true or false?


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/62776423/original.jpg

[scottlewallen]

"Twin Freedom Towers"... did some fun photoshopping and included the other towers WTC 2 (Foster), 3 (Rogers), and 4 (Maki). See all the renderings here (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)... based it on the images that were available at the time. The reflections/perspectives/shadows aren't perfect, but you get the idea. :)

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/jersey_twin_freedom_towers_nyc.jpg (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)

[nasdaq]

"Twin Freedom Towers"... did some fun photoshopping and included the other towers WTC 2 (Foster), 3 (Rogers), and 4 (Maki). See all the renderings here (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)... based it on the images that were available at the time. The reflections/perspectives/shadows aren't perfect, but you get the idea. :)

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/jersey_twin_freedom_towers_nyc.jpg (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)

That would look incredible!

[pico44]

:notacrook:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Freedomt.jpg
.


It may seem a little short, but 2 looks so incredible in this rendering. I just love the asymmetry of the diamonds. From this angle it looks like a flickering flame.

[vanhenrik]

"Twin Freedom Towers"... did some fun photoshopping and included the other towers WTC 2 (Foster), 3 (Rogers), and 4 (Maki). See all the renderings here (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)... based it on the images that were available at the time. The reflections/perspectives/shadows aren't perfect, but you get the idea. :)

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/jersey_twin_freedom_towers_nyc.jpg (http://tiburos.com/twin-freedom-towers-world-trade-center/)

i rely rely want this to happen !

[Ghost]

Sure you can keep hoping (in fact I did as well for long time) but the fact of the matter is, it's not gonna happen.

[DUBAI2015]

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/jersey_twin_freedom_towers_nyc.jpg

Never gonna happen.
We have proof that one Freedom Tower will and is being built not a new set of twin towers or twin anything so too bad, so sad, boo-hoo, NEVER gonna happen.
So bite me. :crazy:

[ZZ-II]

hehe, nice render. that would be a gread new WTC Complex ^^

[Daquan13]

Yeah, seriously, when are you guys going to stop this?

You already know what they're going to put there for Ground Zero.

[kznyc2k]

You guys apparently don't read. Never did the poster of that rendering say "I really hope this gets built." But what he DID say was he had some fun in Photoshop -- that's all. So let him have his fun.. no need to repeat "it isn't gonna happen" yet again. No shit it isn't going to happen, nobody said it would.

[mcdonnell77]

I really like this one:

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/harbour_twin_freedom_towers.jpg

It looks like the twins are back!

[M.K.]

Immagine that... they are not capable to build one tower fast... neither 2. I do not believe. Ethernity waiting for one, 2 would be nicier but too much stress for those 'occupied' people :koko:

[NYguy]

http://tiburos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/jersey_twin_freedom_towers_nyc.jpg

Doesn't work. The "twin-ness" is lost with the other towers there. EVen twin Freedom Towers won't work. The original Twins were so powerful because they were so simple, like two enormous blocks. Imagine just one World Trade tower, anywhere. It would look horrible. It's because there was a twin that it worked, but the new WTC towers don't need twins.

[NYguy]

Evolution of Freedom...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/01/03/opinion/20051230_oped_TOWERS.gif
NY Times

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/43020592/original.jpg

More from dance of the Freedom Towers....:banana:


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/41995996/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/26405478/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/26405483/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/33927578/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/27581964/medium.jpg_http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/27581968/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/27581984/medium.jpg_http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/27581981/medium.jpg

[Daquan13]

You guys apparently don't read. Never did the poster of that rendering say "I really hope this gets built." But what he DID say was he had some fun in Photoshop -- that's all. So let him have his fun.. no need to repeat "it isn't gonna happen" yet again. No shit it isn't going to happen, nobody said it would.



kznyc, you've just repeated it again. Oh. I guess you didn't read the phrase that was made at the bottom of the previous page; "I really really want this to happen."

But I really don't know how many times this forum has been cluttered with this rendering or ones similar to it. I've stopped counting.

And thanks NYguy!! You've said it all in a nutshell! You're right!

[Daquan13]

Incidentally, Libeskind had unveiled a version of his own for the tower in October, 2003 during his fight with Silverstein and Childs.

[malec]

But I really don't know how many times this forum has been cluttered with this rendering or ones similar to it. I've stopped counting.

But I really don't know how many times this forum has been cluttered with Daquan13 giving out whenever the twins are mentioned. I've stopped counting.

;)

[Daquan13]

But I really don't know how many times this forum has been cluttered with Daquan13 giving out whenever the twins are mentioned. I've stopped counting.

;)



Whatever.

Like CoolCzech already pointed out earlier, THIS IS THE FREEDOM TOWER thread.:rolleyes:

Well, and if I remember correctly, and I just checked, there ACTUALLY IS a thread on the former WTC towers near the bottom in the WTC Redevelopment section.

But apparently, it seems that no one wants to use it, and so, THIS thread gets hammered and clobbered with the stuff. I was the last one to post there. Just thought that I'd put my 2c in.:rolleyes:

[Chicago_Illa_Noiz]

This building... wack.

[kznyc2k]

Doesn't work. The "twin-ness" is lost with the other towers there.

Very good point.

[Dalton]

Evolution of Freedom...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/01/03/opinion/20051230_oped_TOWERS.gif
NY Times

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

[antinimby]

I wouldn't mind having that ^^ second tower (from the left) as WTC 4 instead of the one from Maki.

Minus the spire of course.

[Daquan13]

We got the best one - last one on the right.

The others had their structural height too damn short.

[mcdonnell77]

They are all awful! I'm glad that the freedom tower design now doesnt have a birdcage or some other contraption on it! But i still think it would look better taller. The roof should reach the height or the August 2003 design, then add the spire. I just think with all these proposed buildings and the burj dubai, the freedom tower will look tiny and it is not gonna be finished until 2010. Isnt the Chicago Spire suppost to be completed then also?

[Daquan13]

That one is not even u/c yet, but you know that Windy City is chomping at the bit to get even with the Freedom Tower and wants to eclipse it.

So, like the former WTC, the Freedom Tower may enjoy about 2 years with no rivals as the CTB until Windy City can pull something off.

[DUBAI2015]

You guys apparently don't read. Never did the poster of that rendering say "I really hope this gets built." But what he DID say was he had some fun in Photoshop -- that's all. So let him have his fun.. no need to repeat "it isn't gonna happen" yet again. No shit it isn't going to happen, nobody said it would.

Well said.

[GarCastle]

All these buildings (1-4 and likely whatever they do for 5) are quite cool looking. The twins were far from elegant, they were simple bulky monsters with even less style than the new Building 7.

I'm a super impatient person yet even I realize that these things take hordes of time.

Seriously if you don't like the style, you want it to be instantly done, or you want the same old crap that was there, then piss off. My god the other 99% of the people on this thread must be sick and tired of hearing that same crap LOL. I only pop in here every so often and the repetitive trash talk is really old. Let me know when you come to Philly, we have things we like to do to people like that!

Also if you are going to try and bash one of the most fun cities in the U.S.A. and their construction politics, then perhaps you should at least do some spell checking before you completely bastardize the language lol!


So now back to reality, who do we have to buy a camera so we can get some regular pictures of things besides webcams? :^)

[CoolCzech]

Wall Street Journal

Rebuilding Ground Zero
By STEVE MALANGA
May 12, 2007; Page A11

Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for several hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, that saved my life."


While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the second plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived.

A few weeks ago, as Mr. Silverstein and I met at his headquarters on the 38th floor of 7 World Trade Center, the 52-story skyscraper that he quickly rebuilt just north of where the twin towers once stood, we could watch the reconstruction of the rest of the Trade Center site proceed. He pointed out to me the footprints of the three other office towers he is developing there and predicted with some confidence that the site, which will include a fourth skyscraper, the so-called Freedom Tower, as well as a new transportation terminal, will be completed within five years. "I just want to hang around until then to see this through to completion," the 75-year-old developer told me.

Mr. Silverstein can take some satisfaction in watching the cranes operate after a long, tortuous and very public planning process in which the commercial revival of the site was often in doubt. He's fought against skeptics who claimed that downtown Manhattan would never again support an office market after the devastating attacks. He's listened patiently to some relatives of those who died on 9/11 as they lobbied against redevelopment, claiming the site was "hallowed ground." He's squared off against public officials who tried to hijack the redevelopment for their own agendas, pushing to turn Ground Zero into everything from parkland to an arts-and-cultural center to a giant housing project.

In the end, however, the vision that he fought for of a rigorous commercial redevelopment -- one that viewed the Trade Center as the hub of New York's financial district and an important symbol of our economic system -- is what won out. Now, with 7 World Trade already two-thirds leased and big tenants as well as investors starting to circle around the other proposed buildings, the marketplace looks to be endorsing Mr. Silverstein's vision and rewarding his tenacity. New York will be the better off for it. "The financial center's locomotive was the World Trade Center," he says, "and for the sustenance of the city and the region, we need to get those jobs back."

Although 9/11 thrust Mr. Silverstein into the public's eye, his association with the World Trade Center stretches back more than a quarter century, to 1980, when he obtained the right to develop a plot across the street from the North Tower. There he built a 1.9 million square foot skyscraper -- the first 7 World Trade Center -- which nearly bankrupted him. Drexel Burnham Lambert planned to lease the entire tower but pulled out just days before signing the deal, when government investigations into the activities of the head of its junk bond department, Michael Milken, emerged as a threat to the firm's future growth. Drexel ultimately collapsed, and Mr. Silverstein was left without a major tenant until Salomon Bros. leased half the building two years later.

Yet despite that brush with failure, erecting 7 World Trade only sharpened his appetite for more. "I remember at the topping out of 7 World Trade looking up at the twin towers and thinking, my building is huge, but it is made diminutive by the twin towers," he says. "So I said to myself, wouldn't it be incredible someday to own those?"

What seemed like only a pipe dream became a reality when New York Gov. George Pataki and New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman decided to get the bi-state government agency that controlled the towers, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, out of the real-estate business and sell off the twin towers. The Port Authority had opened them in the early 1970s, just as New York's economy was hitting the skids, and the heavily subsidized towers became a drag on the city's real-estate business, dumping some 10 million square feet of office space on an already saturated market. Though the Port Authority filled the towers for years with leases to government agencies, by the 1990s, when a redevelopment plan engineered by Gov. Pataki and then-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spurred a commercial revival in downtown Manhattan, the Trade Center became prime property.

Bidding to win control of the towers consumed Mr. Silverstein for several years. So preoccupied did he become that one day, just before bids were due, the developer was walking home across East 57th street in Manhattan while turning over some numbers in his head when he failed to see a car run a red light. It struck him, sending him flying through the air and breaking his pelvis in 12 places. He finalized his bid for the towers while in the hospital and eventually cemented a deal with the Port Authority. It was to be his crowning achievement, and after he integrated the new asset into his company he planned to turn over operations to his children and spend his remaining years cruising with his wife on his yacht. Instead, 9/11 intervened.

"After the attacks, I said to my wife, if you want to go sailing, I'll do that. If you want me to rebuild the Trade Center, I'll do that," says Mr. Silverstein. "And she said to me, you know you won't be satisfied with anything except rebuilding, so let's just get on with it."

The tale of reconstruction is actually two separate stories -- one of an unfettered Mr. Silverstein quickly rebuilding 7 World Trade, and another of a government-led effort to create a new master plan for the rest of Ground Zero foundering over a host of issues. Mr. Silverstein began planning for a new 7 World Trade -- which he controlled entirely and which had collapsed on 9/11 along with the towers -- barely a month after the attacks. Although in early 2002 Gov. Pataki and the head of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. asked him to slow down preparations for rebuilding 7 World Trade to accommodate government planning for the rest of the site, he pressed ahead, putting shovels in the ground by May of that year and opening the tower for business in the spring of 2006.

But if Mr. Silverstein thought his quick work -- which for several years represented the only signs of progress around the site -- was going to earn him congratulations, he was mistaken. Soon after 7 World Trade opened, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized him for not leasing it more quickly, claiming that the developer was asking prices that were too high. Government officials publicly pressured him to complete a deal with a Chinese developer who was to be the tower's first tenant, and then excoriated him when he cancelled the deal after the prospective tenant failed to provide adequate details on its financing.

But since then Mr. Silverstein has managed to lease 1.1 million square feet of 7 World Trade to blue chip tenants like Moody's, at rents that are 50% higher than what officials were urging him to accept. "I simply did not listen to all the naysayers because I was spending my money, not theirs, and fortunately I had no government involvement in 7 World Trade, which gave me the opportunity to do what I do best," he says.

While construction proceeded on 7 World Trade, Mr. Silverstein got bogged down in the battle over how to redevelop the rest of the site. The agency charged with leading the redevelopment was torn by conflicting visions and tried to shoehorn as much as possible into their plan -- a museum, a memorial to the dead, a home for a major New York cultural institution, residential development and office space. Critics urged cutting back the office space to make room for these varied uses. In the midst of his re-election campaign, Mayor Bloomberg even declared that the market couldn't support new skyscrapers anyway. He advocated instead building housing where the towers once stood, calling to mind a glum prediction about Manhattan by a character in Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead": "The age of the skyscraper is gone. This is the age of the housing project." The New York Daily News responded to the mayor's imprecations with the headline: "Butt Out, Larry."

Even so, a reviving office market and soaring interest in 7 World Trade helped finally persuade planners to focus on a commercial reconstruction. But once the master plan was in place, government officials did all they could to move Mr. Silverstein aside, ironically claiming that the developer must relinquish some of his control to government so that the rebuilding could move more rapidly. Mayor Bloomberg threatened to withhold Liberty Bonds, which Congress had created to help finance reconstruction, while the vice chairman of the Port Authority called Mr. Silverstein "greedy" for not agreeing to the state's demands.

Finally, Mr. Silverstein decided to give back ownership of the so-called Freedom Tower to the Port Authority -- though he will build the tower -- while retaining control of the three remaining office buildings on the site. The agreement, as well as court decisions which require insurers to pay Mr. Silverstein and the Port Authority some $4.6 billion toward new construction, have finally cleared the way for building to begin.

It is fitting that the final plan for Ground Zero owes such a debt to a private developer and the marketplace. The terrorists attacked the twin towers because they embodied the values of our democratic free-market economic system. The memorial that will rise on Ground Zero will make no reference to those values, nor seek to celebrate our way of life. Rather the memorial, in the way of postmodern monuments, will merely ask us to ponder the absence of those who died.

The real monument on the site will be its skyscrapers, and the buzz and hum of activity within them will celebrate the continuing triumph of the system that the terrorists attacked. "After five and a half years of laborious involvement in politics, we finally are at a point where we are building," says Mr. Silverstein triumphantly. "This is what I do."

Mr. Malanga, a senior editor at City Journal, is the author of "The New New Left" (Ivan R. Dee, 2005).

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