It will have to be completely gutted and re-skinned but don't let the City's estimated budget be an indicator for how much it might cost. The City originally estimated it would cost $40 mil, then $60 mil and finally $80 mil before they threw in the towel and searched for a more cost/benefit sensitive project for the PSB. Hence, they chose to spend $200 mil to re-purpose the former downtown post office?????????????
......back to my first point, is that a large part of that cost to redo the PSB was the cost to decant the existing building, find temporary space for all departments for a couple of years and then re-populate the building - extremely costly.
Although it would be expensive to gut/fix/re-purpose the existing PSB i don't think the costs would be as high as the City's estimates.
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"But a city can be smothered by too much reverence for its past. The skyline must keep acquiring new peaks, because the day we consider it complete and untouchable is the day the city begins to die." - Justin Davidson - May 2010 Issue of New York
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