NEW YORK | One World Trade Center | 1,776' Pinnacle / 1,373' Roof | 108 FLOORS

[STERNyc]

Originally Posted by Daquan13

Why in the hell won't this guy Durst go find other unbuilt towers other than those for Ground Zero to pick on?

It is now etched in stone and he needs to back off and let the officials handle
things for Ground Zero!!

Its simple he's one of the city's largest landlords and he's afraid of competition.

[antinimby]

But he does make a good point though, you have to admit.

The FT doesn't have to be the first to rise.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by antinimby

The FT doesn't have to be the first to rise.

It doesn't have to be, but it needs to be. But because of all the delays it's had, the Freedom Tower will rise at the same time as the other towers. They'll all be completed at around the same time.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

By CHARLES V. BAGLI
February 13, 2007

The developer Douglas Durst and the real estate investor Anthony E.
Malkin say the tower is ill conceived, the result of a hasty six-
week “redesign” after the police raised security concerns. Mr. Durst said
that the value of the tower would increase over time, but added that it made
little sense to build everything at once.

Mr. Durst and Mr. Malkin say they are continuing in the footsteps of their
families. Mr. Durst’s father, Seymour, and Mr. Malkin’s grandfather, Lawrence
A. Wein, were ardent opponents of the original plan for the World Trade
Center. In 1964, they formed the Committee for a Reasonable World Trade
Center, which argued that the complex would flood the real estate market
with subsidized space and compete unfairly with private landlords.

The return of, The Committee
(ad in today's NY Post)

[STERNyc]

Originally Posted by antinimby

But he does make a good point though, you have to admit.

The FT doesn't have to be the first to rise.

I don't agree, the Freedom Tower should be the first to rise to symbolically show lower Manhattan is alive and well.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by STERNyc

I don't agree, the Freedom Tower should be the first to rise to symbolically show lower Manhattan is alive and well.

I agree. And as everyone has repeatedly been telling us and Silverstein, it's not ordinary office building, so costs shouldn't be a factor in it's development.

It's more of a symbol of the rebirth, as well as the signature element of the new WTC.

[NYRY85]

Just when it hasnt been delayed enough.

Good work Spitzer, it should be the first to rise.

[Daquan13]

Originally Posted by STERNyc

Its simple he's one of the city's largest landlords and he's afraid of competition.

Oh well, Ground Zero needs to be put back together again, so he'll just have to get over it.

Why doesn't this little boy gather up his sand & building blocks and go build a tower of his own if it's competition he's afraid of?

"Mommy, Kyle's building is taller than mine. He's cheating! I won't get as many tenants for my building like he will. Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa!!!" Haha!!

[Thefigman]

Originally Posted by NYRY85

Good work Spitzer, it should be the first to rise.

Agreed. Good move on his part to openly endorse the building and keep it moving. The big hole at ground zero needs to be obliterated.

[Daquan13]

I second that emotion!

The Freedom Tower is coming off paper and becoming a shure thing!!

[NYguy]

Observer

The Dursts and The Malkins
Still Don't Like the World Trade Center


"Everybody who called me or responded said they agreed with what we said," Douglas Durst, developer of One Bryant Park, told The Real Estate on Wednesday afternoon.

He was talking about the reaction to the ad that Mr. Durst and fellow real estater Peter Malkin placed that morning in major New York newspapers. The ad objected to moving ahead with the Freedom Tower.

The $2.4 billion tower, the ad said, "is the legacy of poor planning and decision-making by the Pataki administration," and will be "occupied by government agencies at overly expensive rents."

The duo called the 2005 redesign by David Childs "extraordinarily expensive to build and cumbersome for tenants."

Mr. Durst said that the ad, written like an open letter, was planned well before Monday's announcement by Governor Spitzer that he supported building the Freedom Tower after all.

"We had been working on doing an op-ed for a while," Mr. Durst said. "When it became apparent that something was happening this week with the Port Authority, there wasn't time for that. For an op-ed, they do a lot of fact-checking. It would have gone through a procedure."

The Port Authority on Thursday will discuss and likely approve construction contracts for the Freedom Tower. Mr. Durst said that he did not expect the ad buy, in The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Daily News and The New York Observer, would change the commissioners' minds.

"I don't know if we have made any impact except we feel we can sleep at night," he said. "What's being done now is so wrong that we both felt we could not keep silent about such an important project."

Both the Malkin and Durst families own considerable commercial real estate in Midtown. Mr. Durst said they were not worried about competition from Ground Zero because Lower Manhattan rents are much lower.

Rather, he said they were continuing a family tradition: his father, Seymour Durst, and Mr. Malkin's grandfather, Lawrence Wien, had formed the Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center to protest the original twin towers in the 1960s.

The ad this time around was sponsored by something called The Continuing Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center.

- Matthew Schuerman

[Daquan13]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Observer

The Dursts and The Malkins
Still Don't Like the World Trade Center


"Everybody who called me or responded said they agreed with what we said," Douglas Durst, developer of One Bryant Park, told The Real Estate on Wednesday afternoon.

He was talking about the reaction to the ad that Mr. Durst and fellow real estater Peter Malkin placed that morning in major New York newspapers. The ad objected to moving ahead with the Freedom Tower.

The $2.4 billion tower, the ad said, "is the legacy of poor planning and decision-making by the Pataki administration," and will be "occupied by government agencies at overly expensive rents."

The duo called the 2005 redesign by David Childs "extraordinarily expensive to build and cumbersome for tenants."

Mr. Durst said that the ad, written like an open letter, was planned well before Monday's announcement by Governor Spitzer that he supported building the Freedom Tower after all.

"We had been working on doing an op-ed for a while," Mr. Durst said. "When it became apparent that something was happening this week with the Port Authority, there wasn't time for that. For an op-ed, they do a lot of fact-checking. It would have gone through a procedure."

The Port Authority on Thursday will discuss and likely approve construction contracts for the Freedom Tower. Mr. Durst said that he did not expect the ad buy, in The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Daily News and The New York Observer, would change the commissioners' minds.

"I don't know if we have made any impact except we feel we can sleep at night," he said. "What's being done now is so wrong that we both felt we could not keep silent about such an important project."

Both the Malkin and Durst families own considerable commercial real estate in Midtown. Mr. Durst said they were not worried about competition from Ground Zero because Lower Manhattan rents are much lower.

Rather, he said they were continuing a family tradition: his father, Seymour Durst, and Mr. Malkin's grandfather, Lawrence Wien, had formed the Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center to protest the original twin towers in the 1960s.

The ad this time around was sponsored by something called The Continuing Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center.

- Matthew Schuerman

Oh, please.

Why won't these damn dillusional nut jobs grow up and go get a damn life!! Most of us DIDN'T like it at first, but as time went by, it got better and beautiful.

They are acting like spoiled and selfish little children, for God's sakes!! The WTC is what it's going to be and that's that!!

I'm so sick and tired of these individuals who are snobbish, snotty-nosed and spoiled to the point where they think that THEY are the only ones that should matter ultimately when it comes to things for Ground Zero!!!!!

[kznyc2k]

Reeelaaxxxxx, Daqaun. Nothing is being delayed by this ad. And you do know who Durst is, correct? If so you wouldn't be saying he needs to get a life.

The one thing I applaud them for saying is the blurb at the bottom of their ad, talking about naming the FT as being a WTC tower instead, since I hate the current name. Although, if you think about it, their logic is a bit goofy because they say why steal a name in use elsewhere when we already have our own - and yet by now most every city of medium or greater size has some mundane office building/complex named the "World Trade Center," including one here in Boston. Oh well, I guess it is NY's after all.

[Daquan13]

He we go again!!

Why the hell is there always so much damn controversy surrounding this project?

Yeah, I can see it now - them going back to court trying to back out of the deal with Silverstein and him having to sue them for breach of contract!!

[NYguy]

amny

Building contracts approved for Freedom Tower

BY HERBERT LOWE
February 22, 2007

The Port Authority Thursday approved contracts for the building of the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the agency announced.

In addition, the authority's Board of Commissioners OK'd spending $2 million toward creating a second vehicle access ramp to the subgrade at the World Trade Center site, the agency said in a news release.

The money will fund planning and preliminary engineering of a vehicle ramp connecting Vesey Street with the Freedom Tower parking level, a truck loading area and related infrastructure, the release said.

The authority, which owned the destroyed Trade Center and is building the Freedom Tower, has been recently solicited by private investors for ownership and development rights to the skyscraper and a second tower under the authority's control, officials said.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer threw his support Tuesday behind existing plans to finance and build the Freedom Tower, a multibillion-dollar effort to build office towers, a Sept. 11 memorial and a huge transit hub at Ground Zero. The 1,776-foot Freedom Tower has been under construction since last April.

______________

Star Ledger

Port Authority OKs $492M for Freedom Tower projects

February 22, 2007

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today approved more than $492 million worth of early-stage construction projects for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, financially advancing a project officially endorsed this week by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The projects include ventilation, electrical, plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and concrete for the structure's 200-foot-high, security-reinforced base, agency officials said.

The Port Authority pegged the overall cost of the site's 1,776-foot, signature skyscraper at $2.88 billion, with completion anticipated in 2012. The Port Authority took control of the project last year from developer Larry Silverstein, who will now develop three other smaller skyscrapers instead at the former World Trade Center site.

Spitzer, who once called the Freedom Tower a "white elephant," reversed course on Tuesday, saying a review showed "the best and wisest" course now is to proceed with the current design. Improvements in recent months within the city's commercial real-estate market played a large role in the decision, Spitzer said.

Seven columns for the tower's southern facade have been sunk and much of the concrete foundation already has been poured.

Contributed by Ron Marsico

[NYguy]

Bloomberg News

Port Authority Approves Construction of Freedom Tower

By David M. Levitt and Alan Mirabella
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg)

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved the construction of the Freedom Tower, removing the last impediment to redevelopment of the World Trade Center site more than five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The agency, which owns the site, estimated the 1,776-foot tower will cost $2.88 billion to build. The Port Authority authorized $492.3 million in contracts for construction and professional services at a meeting in Manhattan today.

The decisions came two days after New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said he supports construction of the building after earlier questioning its economic viability. Development of the Freedom Tower has been delayed by design and security concerns raised by government officials and families of the victims of the attacks, as well as a dispute with New York developer Larry Silverstein.

"Yes, it's full speed ahead and we are committed to the development plan,'' said Anthony Coscia, chairman of the Port Authority. "There is still a great deal to be done, no question. There will be challenges. But it's our full expectation that we will build out this site.''

The tower is being designed as the tallest building in North America with 2.6 million square feet of space and a 187- foot-high bomb-resistant concrete base.

Critics of the project include developer Douglas Durst who said in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times yesterday that the tower was hastily designed and construction should be delayed.

`We've Made a Decision'

"There are many opinions,'' said Coscia, responding to Durst. "It would be very surprising to me if there were complete consensus on a project as significant as the Freedom Tower. We've made a decision on how to proceed.''

The Port Authority has so far lined up the U.S. Customs unit of the Department of Homeland Security and New York state's Office of General Services as tenants for the building.

The Customs lease, for about 645,000 square feet of space, should be completed within a year. The General Services lease should be completed by the end of the first quarter, Michael Francois, the authority's chief of real estate and regional development, said today.

Those leases, for about 40 percent of the building, will ``help substantiate its financial strength,'' said Port Authority Director Anthony Shorris, who was appointed last month by Spitzer. ``That's a pretty good anchor.''

Tower May Be Sold

The agencies had earlier agreed to pay about $59 a square foot for the space, according to the office of New York's then- governor, George Pataki.

The Port Authority may sell the Freedom Tower, Coscia said.

"There's a lot of interest in a property like the Freedom Tower,'' Coscia said. "There are a lot of investors out there who are looking for at assets that have value and generate stable income, and we believe the Freedom Tower will be such an asset.''

Interest has come from ``a wide variety of private sector actors,'' Shorris said. He declined to disclose names or the number of inquiries the agency has received.

Governor Spitzer's approval came at a Feb. 20 press conference with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also gave their support for the project.

Spitzer's predecessor, George Pataki, laid a cornerstone for the tower on July 4, 2004. Less than a year later, the tower had to be completely redesigned after New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the glass base was too close to streets, leaving it vulnerable to a truck bomb.

The authority began installing beams for the tower foundation, which will also serve as a passageway for a new train station planned elsewhere on the 16-acre site, late last year.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

[NYguy]

NY1

Port Authority OKs $1 Billion For Freedom Tower

February 22, 2007

The Port Authority gave the green light Thursday to fund construction of the Freedom Tower, just days after Governor Eliot Spitzer backed the project despite earlier concerns.

At a meeting to discuss the World Trade Center redevelopment, board members agreed to fork over $1 billion to fund construction at the site.

The agency says they will hand out $500 million in construction contracts now and the rest by mid-year.

"I think what your seeing today is that the time for talk is past; the time for building has begun," said Port Authority executive director Anthony Shorris. "These are $500 million of contracts the board contract authorized today. Between now and what we've already authorized and what we will in the next month or two, half of this project is already bid out and it's moving ahead at as rapidly a pace as we can build it."

Officials also authorized a subsidiary to handle construction and service contracts for the tower.

The project is expected to be completed by 2012.

[STERNyc]

NYGUY does this mean that there are no more potential roadblocks for the Freedom Tower?

[JMGarcia]

I would imagine this is pretty well it.

Ultimately though, the PA (Spitzer) can change their (his) mind.

[DUBAI2015]

Hopefully, this means no more BS in the way of the Freedom Tower