Quote:
During a Crain’s Power Breakfast on Wednesday, Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said developers are still expected to set aside a third of the units at 5 World Trade Center as affordable, but the high cost of building materials — especially steel — have made moving forward, for now, untenable.
The agency acknowledged in March that the 1,200-unit project was on ice. At the time, officials said at a Manhattan Community Board meeting that they and developers Silverstein Properties and Brookfield Properties were exploring the mix of residential units to make sure that the project could move forward.
When asked on Wednesday if the project’s affordability levels will be changed or more market rate units will be added, Garcia said the agency is focusing on a different question.
|
Now that the smaller Tower 2 is underway (from 2nd largest office tower on site to smallest), there’s more than a half million square feet of space left off the table. IMO, they should send that unused space to site 5, drop the ridiculous height limit, and build a 1,362 ft tower, creating a perfect bookend to the Freedom Tower.