NEW YORK | 200 Greenwich - 2 WTC | 1,226 FT | 55 FLOORS

[NYguy]

From stilesjp

[NYC4Life]

Amazing complexity at this site. Unlike the construction sites in Dubai, which are built in the middle of a desert and go up relatively fast, The WTC site has an intricate array of rail, subway, and underground utilities to contend with.

[NYguy]

The 77 Hudson (Jersey City) website boasts views of the new WTC:

[NYC4Life]

The diamonds on 200 Greenwich appear windowless in those renders.

[NYguy]

^ Those renderings aren't the best detailed, but they give an idea of what the towers would look like on the skyline.


wtc.com

[NYguy]

Model making with raddi inc

[NYguy]

Another sacrifice the community will likely have to make is the closure of Vesey St. between Church and W. Broadway. Silverstein Properties would use that block of Vesey St. to stage the construction of Tower 2.

“The contractor would like nothing better than to shut it down within the next few weeks,” said Sam Schwartz, the Port’s newly hired traffic coordinator with the Program Logistics Office.

Schwartz, better known in traffic circles as “Gridlock Sam,” likened Lower Manhattan’s streets to an obstacle course and said he would do everything he could to keep Vesey St. open. But the Port has already widened the sidewalks on blocks of Barclay St. and W. Broadway, in preparation for Vesey St.’s closure.

The community wants Vesey St. to stay open because it is a key east-west thoroughfare connecting Battery Park City to the Financial District. Many pedestrians who used to traverse the W.T.C. use the Vesey St. bridge to cross West St., and while the bridge will not be affected, pedestrians will have to go several more blocks out of their way in order to use it. Vesey, site of the temporary PATH entrance, can see 15,000 pedestrians an hour and 150,000 to 200,000 pedestrians a day, according to the Port.

NOVEMBER 1, 2008




As you can see, even on weekends the Vesey St connection to the WFC, PATH, and the rest of Downtown is a busy and vital thoroughfare. It will be an inconvenience if it has to be closed for the Tower 2 staging area, but if necessary, so be it.

[NYguy]

Tower 2 curtain wall mock up...

[Wheelingman04]

When will this be officially under construction? (When site prep is over)?

[NYC2ATX]

hold up.....did they start demo-ing Deutsche Bank again? It looks as if it is shorter still than the last time I saw it in a pic.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Wheelingman04

When will this be officially under construction? (When site prep is over)?

We're just waiting for Silverstein to make it official. (He was last waiting for the Port Authority to clean up after themselves).

[scalziand]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

hold up.....did they start demo-ing Deutsche Bank again? It looks as if it is shorter still than the last time I saw it in a pic.

That's what I thought too. Haven't heard anything official though.

[photoLith]

This probably never comes up in these discussions but whatever. Does anyone know how the plan to reduce the amount of migratory bird kills with these towers? That glass to a migrating falcon or warbler would look just like the sky and they would ram into it. I know at night during migration in Chicago they turn a lot of the lights off in the skyscrapers downtown to reduce bird kills but I don't know if they have such a regulation in NYC.

[Ilex]

Originally Posted by photolitherland

This probably never comes up in these discussions but whatever. Does anyone know how the plan to reduce the amount of migratory bird kills with these towers? That glass to a migrating falcon or warbler would look just like the sky and they would ram into it. I know at night during migration in Chicago they turn a lot of the lights off in the skyscrapers downtown to reduce bird kills but I don't know if they have such a regulation in NYC.

I get the feeling that a lot of architects just don't care about the birds :'(

[scalziand]

IIRC, They do that at the Empire State Building also.

[Duffstuff129]

Originally Posted by Wheelingman04

When will this be officially under construction? (When site prep is over)?

A relative of mine's company just bid on the underground electrical work for the job (not that anyone cares, but they didn't get the job), so everything will start very soon I'm sure.

[NYC4Life]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

hold up.....did they start demo-ing Deutsche Bank again? It looks as if it is shorter still than the last time I saw it in a pic.

Latest plan calls for the Deutsche to be completely demolished by August 2009.

[Nomadd22]

They're doing the Deutsche building differently now. Before, they were cleaning a few floors and tearing down a few floors. Now, they won't start tearing it down until it's completely emptied of interior and asbestos. Once cleaning is finished the frame should come down in no time.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008...e_over_retaining_wall_at_ground_zer.html

Battle over retaining wall at Ground Zero continues



A dispute over the retaining wall at Ground Zero may delay counstruction at the downtown site.

BY DOUG FEIDEN
November 13th 2008

A fierce $300,000-a-day fight between the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein was flung into arbitration Wednesday amid fears it will spark new delays in rebuilding Ground Zero.

The battle has raged since Oct. 5 when the builder rejected the agency's claim it had handed over "construction-ready" land for two huge office towers at the site - and no longer had to fork over late fees of $2.1 million a week.

Central to the dispute, first revealed by the Daily News, is the "Berlin Wall of Ground Zero," a steel-and-timber, retaining wall - 40-feet-tall by 400-feet-long - that sits in the middle of the site.

Silverstein says the barrier impedes his access to the site and the PA must keep paying penalties until they demolish it. Agency brass say they've turned over all "excavated and buildable" land, as required, and the wall sits a few feet outside the footprint they were required to clean.

During a five-week, cooling-off period, as elements of the World Trade Center redevelopment effort hung in the balance, the parties tried to hash out differences. They failed.

Silverstein and the Port Authority "worked in good faith" to settle the site turnover issues, both sides said in a joint statement.

"Both parties remain confident this disagreement will not interfere with construction progress on the World Trade Center site and look forward to continuing their building partnership."

Some observers disagreed, saying at stake is the fate of Silverstein's Tower 2, a 79-story, 1,270-feet skyscraper on Church Street that will be taller than the Empire State Building, and Tower 4, a 64-story giant a block south that will become the PA's headquarters.

A three-member American Arbitration Association panel - consisting of a retired federal judge, a construction industry attorney and a building executive - will hold three days of hearings starting on Nov. 24 to resolve the issue by early December.

The PA has already paid Silverstein $43.8 million in fines. It could be on the hook for more than $11 million more if it loses the arbitration case.

[NYC4Life]

The delays should be minimal, if any at all.