June 30, 2008
Port Authority Confirms Delays, Billions of Cost Overruns with World Trade Center Rebuilding
Photograph of the World Trade Center site, taken by Joe Woolhead, courtesy of Silverstein Properties
The Port Authority released its status report of sorts about World Trade Center rebuilding, and it's a document (PDF) that grimly forecasts lots of patience and money--along with the difficulties--needed to see the whole thing through and.
PA Executive Director Christopher Ward prefaces his assessment with a note that highlights how previous costs and rebuilding timeline estimates were not realistic, there are tons of stakeholders involved, there's no "efficient, centralized decision-making structure" with the authority to make final decisions in place, and the logistics of all the projects are unprecedented. Here's how Ward explains the challenge:
To put this challenge in perspective, the WTC rebuilding program attempts to fit within the size of just a few city blocks:
• Five major skyscrapers, which will house Class A office space comparable to all of
downtown Atlanta;
• One of the world’s most significant memorials and museums;
• The third-largest transportation hub in New York City;
• A world-class retail venue serving all WTC users;
• A major performing arts center;
• A state-of-the-art vehicle security center;
• Two brand-new city streets (Greenwich and Fulton) and two brand-new pedestrian ways (Cortlandt and Dey); and,
• All of the critical infrastructure to support these projects (chiller plant, utility and communication networks, etc).And all of this is happening within the confines of a transportation corridor that moves 150,000
commuters a day through an active construction site via the MTA #1 subway line, which literally cuts through the center of the site, and the WTC PATH Terminal, which runs beneath the site.
No specifics are given in terms of costs and added time, but basically it boils down to tacking on a a few more years to each project and about $1-3 billion to the entire estimate of the project (however, these numbers are just estimates and the actuals may be smaller).
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it's embarrassing, but not surprising that this is taking this long to sort out.
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it's embarrassing, but not surprising that this is taking this long to sort out.
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Don't care. Haven't been near that area in 2 years. I will never go to the museum--what exactly is the draw? Just turn it into a park.
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I love it never construct the tower since its all BS. I want a job working on this thing so I can get paid for years with nothing to show for it. When I was reading this in the times some comments were the price of gas and iron are still going up so what ever estimates were given are pretty much wrong. I see buildings go up on the city every fing day. I understand that a lot goes in to putting together the new twin towers but damn, this is insane. I would really like some to to take some damn action on this project and scrap it or sell the land or do some thing. A big nothing is what we have now and paid millions for.
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No worries, it'll be ready just in time to get clobbered again by our friends in the sandbox.
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boohoo, poor Ward. It sounds like it's going to be too hard to do this. Let's just make it a park and save several billion dollars.
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Yay, bureaucracy!
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Las Vegas has no trouble building enormous casinos in a matter of months.
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Turn it over to TRUMP!
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Unprecedented!??!
-Empire State Building
-Brooklyn Bridge
-1893 World's Fair
-Eiffel Tower
-....
The list could go on and on. Unprecedented unfortunately does not apply here in my opinion.
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Is anyone really surprised here?
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This whole game that Paterson and Ward have been playing -- first with the governor's "letter" to Ward, then with this report, then with the governor's statement expressing glee at Ward's candor -- is a just a way for these two guys to rid themselves of the bullshit that Pataki was pushing for years and years regarding the site. Now that they've attempted to clean the slate of the totally unrealistic deadlines and budgets that Pataki's people set we still have to see what the actual schedule and budget will be, and more important whether they'll get it on track before they ride off into the sunset and a new governor takes over.
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Cut out the political hacks and just let Trump rebuild the Twin Towers and be done with it.
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With all the bullshit delays and requests for more billions of dollars, I wish Cuomo would start handing out indictments on this instead of cracking down on a couple of ezpasses for MTA board members.
As much as I hate the MTA, the waste on those perks is nothing compared to the billions of dollars at stake at the WTC site.
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How is this unprecedented? Wasn't there something not terribly unsimilar there before? They built it once already so why not again?
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No shortage of new office space in this town. But there is a shortage of public park space - especially since every new hi-rise condo built downtown comes with zero public space.
Make it Ground Zero Park.
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American governments at federal, state and municipal levels are more of a hazard to us and to Ground Zero than any terrorists can ever be. Indeed, since the current administration in the White House likes to keep us in constant terror, can we have them declared a terrorist organization?
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I agree with the suggestions for making it a park.
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The museum is just unbelievable as an attraction or as a remembrance. And that beautiful train station suddenly doubles in cost? What happened there? The towers just make no sense whatsoever. A park sounds good.
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watching an interview about this on NY 1 right now. absolutely disgusting. "let's not cut corners" "we can't provide any set deadlines"
won't even have the memorial done by the 10th anniversary.
wtf have these jokers been doing for the last 7 years? how much money have they burned through at this point? absolutely astounding.
fire these incompetent morons, put the people responsible in jail, plant some grass around a reflecting pool and call it a day.
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It's that "$20 billion" in federal money promised the rebuilding effort. Because it's a "vital national interest" to replace the destroyed towers, everybody gets to dip their buckets in -without the guilt, or the kind of instant accountability you'd get if only private funds were at stake. So naturally the train station is now over a billion to construct, the museum that nobody wants or is willing to pay for out of their own pockets becomes a tragic pawn in a game of financing chicken, and the hideous towers that nobody in their right minds could ever want, await their own padded cost hikes and pleas for subsidies. I wish Larry Silverstein a long, long life, to see what all his bullshit amounts to.
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Super buildings like the WTC are not economically practical projects. The Empire State Building didn't show a profit until the 1950's. The WTC didn't find enough commercial tenents after it was finished and had to be filled with a lot of state agencies, until the market got hot about 20 years later.
But, after 9/11 any such building faces real threats. Do YOU want to work in the Freedom Tower? Do you want the people you care about to work in the Freedom Tower?
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won't even have the memorial done by the 10th anniversary.
wtf have these jokers been doing for the last 7 years? how much money have they burned through at this point? absolutely astounding.
While the government is far from blameless, don't forget that a large portion of the memorial delay is because of some of the 9/11 families, which have been ridiculously unreasonable. They've fought every memorial design tooth and nail and even tried to stop construction on the entire site, which they consider hallowed ground. We could have been half done by now if not for these people who insisted their loss entitled them to unlimited sympathy and authority.
The Empire State Building didn't show a profit until the 1950's.
It's hard to show a profit in the 1930s when the entire country and much of the world is mired in the Depression. It's just as hard to show a profit in the 1940s when the country is on a war footing for half the decade. Both the ESB and the WTC were eventually profitable, though, which means they weren't the complete waste you make them out to be.
Do YOU want to work in the Freedom Tower? Do you want the people you care about to work in the Freedom Tower?
Why not? Do you think anyone will ever be able to hijack an airliner again? If you're going to keep this alarmist posture, you might as well tear down the Empire State Building, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge, Citi Field, Rockefeller Center, Trump Tower and a few thousand other skyscrapers and structures in the city, because they're all attractive targets for terrorists. Don't forget to empty out Sears Tower over in Chicago.
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While the government is far from blameless, don't forget that a large portion of the memorial delay is because of some of the 9/11 families, which have been ridiculously unreasonable
point taken with the 9/11 families. I can appreciate the politics behind giving consideration to their demands but at the end of the day, the misfortune of having a family member die during 9/11 does not give one any special qualifications in designing or building- and their desire to leave no stone unturned in retrieving remains certainly has slowed the process However, I don't only think mismanagement by the government is to blame here. As is frequently the case in New York City, those involved in the construction seem to always have one hand deep in our pockets, with the other outstretched for more, while giving lip-service to deadlines and budgets they had no intention of meeting.
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I never said the Empire State Building nor the WTC were complete failures. But, we are do not have the money to fund any pride projects like we did in the past. The latest super buildings are being built in cash-rich countries, like Dubai, without regard for profit. The MTA in 2008 doesn't have the resources.
Maybe you want to work in the Freedom Tower, but many don't. I'm sure many firms will shy away for a long time.