NEW YORK | 175 Greenwich St. | 1,079 FT | 80 FLOORS

[Dac150]

Hopefully they are feeling generous, but more importantly, recognize the need to build this tower.

[NYC4Life]

There is a need to restore not just the destroyed towers, but the office space lost, the vibrancy and the skyline's restoration. Bringing pride back into Lower Manhattan and make it competitive again. Hopefully the officials making the decision will consider those reasons to provide Silverstein with all the necessary funding.

[STR]

^On the other hand, there are very, very few places with automatic approval for a 3 million square foot building (note: because it's on PA land, they can ignore city laws like air rights, the size figures for the WTC buildings only include the rentable areas, and not machinery and other functional spaces. Private buildings on private land have to include all uses in their FAR's. As such, all of the WTC buildings on the main site will be at, above, or just under 3Msqft). 15 Penn and Manhattan west are the only other buildings in the pipeline in the size class of 2 & 3 WTC. The Girasole will only be 1.5 million, and there isn't a million sqft left in 1, 4 or 7 world trade. 5WTC is limited to under 2 million. So...given time and the economics of NY (which are dictated as much by air rights as anything else) the market will build them without additional government money.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by STR

the WTC buildings only include the rentable areas, and not machinery and other functional spaces. Private buildings on private land have to include all uses in their FAR's. As such, all of the WTC buildings on the main site will be at, above, or just under 3Msqft). 15 Penn and Manhattan west are the only other buildings in the pipeline in the size class of 2 & 3 WTC.

Like the WTC towers, those buildings will also have "larger than advertised" floor space. But I find that to be normal for commercial towers in Manhattan, lookin at the allowable zoning and the total size of the towers being built. 15 Penn Plaza is a good example of the diffence between what is "zoned" and what actually gets built.

But in the grand scheme of things, at the WTC, they are really only replacing office space that was there before. It will have to be re-absorbed, and that will take time. In the meantime, I don't expect Midtown to wait for it.

[NYguy]

From wtc.com

[BostonBuild]

Those latest photos certainly prove that every inch of the site is truly under construction now. Hopefully this momentum will carry all the towers to fruition, but for now, let's enjoy!

[NYguy]

http://lowermanhattan.info/news/fuel..._at_54530.aspx

Fuel Cells Arrive at the World Trade Center



December 1, 2010

Energy efficiency is a priority at the rebuilt World Trade Center, and a major piece of the green-building plan was installed on site starting in late October: fuel cells. Six fuel cells -- each nearly as large as a shipping container -- are now in place to supply about 30 percent of the power to 3 and 4 WTC.

The cells are considered more efficient than other power sources because they create electricity through chemical reactions rather than by burning substances. This results in primary byproducts of water and heat, thereby reducing carbon emissions. It also makes fuel cells more expensive and therefore less common in today’s skyscrapers.

However, both WTC developer Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority plan to use fuel cells to at least partly power all of the WTC towers -- part of their commitments to environmental safety, and allowing them to serve as large-scale examples of energy efficiency.

"If we can demonstrate that fuel cells work, that they can be highly effective, that they can achieve energy-saving goals, we hope that other owners of buildings and office buildings will choose to adopt them in the future," said Janno Lieber, Silverstein’s president of WTC development.

[STR]

^Got shake my head again at mainstream reporting. Burning IS a chemical reaction.

[turbosnail]

This is such a high quality tower - great to see the slab coming together..

[zilfondel]

What kind of fuel cells are they using? I mean, energy output.

Are they shooting for LEED in any of these buildings?

[uaarkson]

Gold.

[STR]

I'd be willing to bet that the actual units are the dual fuel hydrogen/natural gas units from Bloom Energy, which have been purchased by firms like Google and eBay to provide supplemental power to their data centers. Their "energy servers" produce 100kw a pop.

[STR]

It begins. Tower 3 appears to have gone through 3 design iterations since 2006, 1 moderate, 2 minor, but still noticeable. They've never released a full set of renderings of the final version, so this will be the first time the general public will get that chance.

[NYguy]

^ Looking forward to that one and the others.

[patriotizzy]

STR, not a big fan of how the frame looks on the entire base of the tower (now that you post a real close up). Lets hope it ends up looking better than that. Of course, it's not your rendering but the building's design.

[STR]

Yeah...Rogers seems to have been on a crosshatch kick with this one. On the interesting side, all of the vertical beams will be lit up Hong Kong style it seems.

On a completely positive side, of all the architects, Rogers (I believe) did the best job of minimizing the bulk of this huge building. You couldn't tell by looking at it, but it's virtually the same width as Tower 1.

[rjb001]

Originally Posted by brian.odonnell20

The whole site will be done by 2018, but one wtc will be done in 2013

Is that estimate based on current economic conditions? Because the economy is going back up now, which in turn would mean that building construction goes up as well. So isn't progress on the site only going to get faster? I just don't see how it could be 8 more years... You know what I'm saying? If 2 & 3 WTC reach ground level by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 how would it possibly take them 7 years to be finished?

[brian.odonnell20]

Originally Posted by rjb001

Is that estimate based on current economic conditions? Because the economy is going back up now, which in turn would mean that building construction goes up as well. So isn't progress on the site only going to get faster? I just don't see how it could be 8 more years... You know what I'm saying? If 2 & 3 WTC reach ground level by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 how would it possibly take them 7 years to be finished?

I know what you're saying that it couldn't seem that long, but 2 and 3 wtc are expected to reach ground level by much later than the 10th anniversary as far as I know. In addition, they both still need to secure the minimum amount of tenant space to both be constructed fully (which could take a few years depending on the economy and expiring leases). And in addition to that, the transportation hub still needs to be constructed and opened, which (so I've heard) could take up to 2018. And the economy is going back up, but it is recovering too slow to give businesses enough confidence to hire people at a large enough rate to lower unemployment, let alone create demand for more office space. Correct me if I'm wrong on progress and/or completion dates..

[STR]

Size comparison. Ignore the fact that the top 3/4 of 3WTC is completely featureless.

[NYguy]

^ It's getting there.