http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2009/02/03/news/local/doc4988575191e69711375795.txt
Local plant in running for Freedom Tower Project
By Andrea Ciccocioppo
February 3, 2009
A local glass plant may be in competition with an overseas firm for a contract on The Freedom Tower in New York City.
PPG Industries has submitted a bid to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a contract to produce some of the facade glass for the main building of the new World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan.
“We did bid on providing some highly aesthetic glass for the first 20 floors for the facade section of the tower,” PPG spokesman Jack Maurer confirmed.
PPG has created a formula and design for the extra heavy glass, which would be produced on a newly renovated line at the South Middleton Township plant, should PPG be awarded the contract.
Maurer said it has been a multi-million dollar project to develop the glass, including alterations made to the local plant.
“We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of manpower hours,” Maurer said. “We’re waiting to hear.”
“They did submit a bid,” said Steve Coleman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
But the Pittsburgh-based company wasn’t the only company to offer a bid on the glass.
According to PPG officials, a company in China is in competition for the contract. Coleman would not comment on any specific bidders solicited for the project, but he did say, “We solicit bids from any/all firms that meet our specifications,” Coleman said.
The Port Authority, as a public agency, must select the lowest qualified bid.
The Freedom Tower is one of three high-rise buildings being built on the site of the former World Trade Center along Greenwich Street, which was destroyed by a terrorist attack in 2001. The $3.1 billion project will also include a museum dedicated to the history of the site.
Two years ago, the first steel columns were installed in the tower’s foundation. Since then, “We just finished the foundation of the building,” Coleman said.
The core of the building is roughly 30 to 60 feet above street level, he said. Steel will follow.
“Right now, we’re still on target for the project to be completed in the second to fourth quarter of 2013,” Coleman said.
The bid award for the glass could come in the next couple of months.
Based in Pittsburgh, PPG produces glass, Fiberglass, paint, sealants and coatings. It employs about 415 people at its plant on Park Drive.
“We’re of the opinion if there’s any building that ought to be made with American glass, it would be the Freedom Tower,” Maurer said.
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NYguy, off-topic question. I'm looking at that last photo... Did someone convert the Whitehall building(s) to residential a while back? Just curious if you or anyone else knows about that...
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