So great he didn't rebuild the Twin Towers. Even though he claimed he admired them and he always wanted to own them....which he did for a couple of months.

I get the vibe he like many others of his ilk see dollar signs not iconic beautiful buildings.

I'm happy to eat plenty of humble pie but watch 2WTC be a downgraded disappointment. Just watch!


* Just give me that outside observation deck in some form whatever happens!

You’re definitely not a New Yorker.

I am skeptical of that - remember 9/11 scared many into thinking that people would not want to work or live in very tall skyscrapers, and look what has happened.

Very different ball game, this will be about saving money in the end for said business. It was always going to happen that over time more people would work from home but now it's likely to be happening quicker.

Yes. Also keep in mind that occupying towers such as these, while somewhat necassary, are also somewhat image based. It’s why there’s a tiered office market in the first place. Anyone who was going to have a huge presence in this tower likely still would. Also, the pandemic will have no effect on lease expirations, which will always continue regardless of situation. Also, the newer office towers will be better equipped to handle working environment changes. That could also lead to someone considering leasing space in a new tower, as opposed to staying put in or finding space in an older one. Bottom line is, we’ve seen talk of drastic changes and effects from one situation or another, from floods, hurricanes, storms, blackouts, terrorists attacks, blizzards, you name it. And yet, not only has the city come back, its building entirely new business districts, and expanding or renewing older ones. I would put my money on that continuiing.

This isn't the same though is it? Sure it would be if it was say 10 or 15 years ago, when most didn't have high speed internet and apps that didn't help an office keep in contact etc. You'd then simply add 'fear of a virus' to that list if this was years ago.

The move from the office to working from home in part was going to increase as time goes by and this pandemic has accelerated it.

10 years from now this will be seen as a significant moment in the history of the workplace.

People predicting the demise of office space and cities are delusional. I don't think that everyone will be moving to Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. City living is not only optimal from a cultural perspective, but it's also important for environmental purposes.

Maybe for some places. And this has all been said before. The situations may change. But the doomsayers are always the same. The sky is falling. Except, it never does. I can’t speak for what happens in other places, just what goes on here. The show will go on. Come back in five years to give me your reviews. (Never accept reviews from critics who haven’t seen the show yet).

Even if the demand for office space were to collapse, you could still build a residential or mixed-use tower here. I don't expect this site to remain empty. I expect it to feature a supertall Foster+Partners-designed skyscraper that conforms to the Libeskind master plan, one way or another.

There’s no possibility that it will be residential or mixed it’s zoned as commercial space

It's most certainly going to be office, as it should be. But it's state land. If they wanted to change it, they could. They've already made it possible for tower 5. But the point here isn't to just get something built. They're replacing what was lost. Residential buildings can and do go up anywhere. There's nowhere in that part of Manhattan, with the space to put up a 3 msf office tower. It's one of the last, few, developable sites at all Downtown. If there's a future for office space Downtown, you hold onto this site. If you've given up Downtown as a commercial market, then you go ahead and put up a residential tower. But this site is basically the Penn Station/Grand Central of Downtown. If would be foolish not to put as much office space here as you can. And one more point, it's not as if the residential proposals Downtown are going up any faster.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...?adppopup=true

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos...96?s=2048x2048



https://media.gettyimages.com/photos...01?s=2048x2048

I thought you were posting proposals for WTC2 then. I don't whether to laugh or cry at that current artwork though. Be nice if they change it to reflect the 20th anniversary next year......



Well there are some run down sites south of the WTC complex. I suppose they will landfill Battery Park City to the north at some point? Wasn't Amazon HQ going to be something to do with that a while back?

It was just something to animate that space because it's an entrance/exit to the PATH terminal.




Any landfill would likely be on the east river side, at least they have flirted with the idea. Manhattan as a whole, and in this case in particular, has been widened by landfill. The financial district is twice the width of it's early days as New Amsterdam. The WTC site itself is built on landfill. But any other progress with landfill in the Hudson has run into a brick wall of NIMBYs.

As for the area south of the WTC, that's where some of the most historic buildings are located, and also one of the most densely built places on earth. It just doesn't have the sites available for large scale construction like the WTC. A residential tower like 45 Broad Street could get squeeze in because it doesn't require much of a footprint. The last time there was any chance or a large scale demolition was for a planned 900 ft NYSE tower on Wall Street. That was dropped in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.



https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...fmB2IYP.g1.JPG



https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...NhH2x00.g2.JPG



https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...h4cwNko.g3.JPG



https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...K6azB9a.g4.JPG



https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...1vwqTR5.g5.JPG

Yeh the footprints aren't big enough for supertalls but perhaps 300/400ft buildings like the proposed one part of the same block as the Burger King across from WTC4. That was what I meant when I said south of the WTC complex as there is a few run down buildings.

But the landfill in the eastside I assume is to do with protection from future flooding? Pedestrianize parts of FDR?

Yeah, that block south of 4 WTC isn't gonna give you anything large enough to be considered a major office building Downtown.

As for the landfill, it's always an option, and was considered for protection as well...
https://edc.nyc/sites/default/files/...lity_Study.pdf

https://ny.curbed.com/2019/10/1/2089...anning-process



https://urbanecologysite.files.wordp...duk.jpg?w=1000
https://urbanecologysite.wordpress.com/




Meanwhile, the years of studies for that, followed by the years it would take to actually get that built to where a point it would have been an option makes it no option at this point. Can the City do it? It has, again and again. But it's still not better suited to a large office tower than the current WTC site with it's transit options.



https://www.instagram.com/p/CADRZjTj3QN/

https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram...3c&oe=5EF52506

At least 20 new blocks? I wonder how long this would take to construct? Shame they can't for now expand Battery Park City to the north perhaps one day.

That would take years also.

110-112 Liberty Street Hotel is a example of what I meant in an earlier post in this thread. Plenty of smaller plots that can be developed just south of the WTC site.



https://www.newyorkyimby.com/2020/05...-district.html

I know what you meant. It's not a site suitable for large scale construction like the WTC, even if you demolished that whole block. Lower Manhattan just doesn't have sites like that. Part of it is the nature of Lower Manhattan's streets, and the other is that it's just overbuilt. A lot if historic buildings down there.