Results tagged “churchstreet”

Developer Larry Silverstein announced yesterday that he will build an 80-story building at 99 Church Street, in place of the former Moody's headquarters, just a block away from the World Trade Center site. Twenty-two floors will be for a Four Seasons hotel; the other floors will include 143 condominiums, making it the "tallest residential structure" in the city.

Principal Tyona Washington of Canarsie High School opened up a piece of mail that contained a noose made out of string as well as a 2-page letter containing, per Newsday, "a common racial slur and words suggesting that a black person should not be running the school." The letter also referred to "white power" and had the signature of a white administrator, but police do not believe the letter was from that individual.

As the NYPD Hate Crimes unit, as well as the FBI and Justice Department, investigates the noose found outside a Columbia professor's office, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly commented about the school's cooperation. Apparently the school only turned over surveillance videos after the NYPD provided a subpoena - three days after the noose was found on Teachers College Professor Madonna Constatine's office door knob.

Another noose was found Thursday afternoon - and this time, it was outside the Church Street Post Office. Um, WTF is going on?

The Post created this handy graphic explaining the progress of buildings at the World Trade Center site. Describing construction as "booming," the Post suggests the "least heralded project" is the "massive, 80-foot-deep...bathtub" for three Church Street office towers and their foundations. Any takers on whether these projects get finished in time? We will bet that Freedom Tower opens in 2011, even if it's not completely finished, for a 10-years-after-September 11 ceremony.

Developer Larry Silverstein is probably sleeping better: Yesterday, seven insurance companies agreed to pay $2 billion in payments, which brings the total insurance payout to $4.55 billion and allows all the constructions projects to move forward with what Governor Eliot Spitzer called "certainty." He also said, "It permits access to the capital markets, it resolves and eliminates one of the outstanding hurdles that had remained and it brings to closure years of litigation."

The Tribeca Film Festival is starting this Wednesday night, so you still have a few days to get your tickets and make dinner reservations. The New York Times gave a few local suggestions including Dennis Foy, Mai House, and Turks and Frogs. Cercle Rouge is offering a prix fixe, three-course menus for lunch ($19.95) and for dinner from 4 - 7 p.m. ($34.95), just for the occasion.

Dennis Foy, a self-taught chef who has owned and operated restaurants in the tri-state area for over 30 years (most recently, EQ, which closed shortly after 9/11) can currently be found in Tribeca at the eponymous Dennis Foy. Although the restaurant has been open since December, a recent visit on a Thursday night found more empty chairs than one might imagine. Could it have been the cold weather, or perhaps the location, which is not prone to street traffic?

February 11: Second New Indian Dinner - A Benefit for Kids with Cameras

In case you've been caught up in your holiday shopping, we wanted to let you know about some recent restaurant openings:

READING: Head to the NYPL for the Borowitz Report On The Future - "in a totally improvised and spontaneous program, cybersatirist Andy Borowitz will answer the audience's questions about what the future holds for current events, pop culture, sports, business, and Paris Hilton, with the guarantee that he will be at least as accurate as the New York Post," runs the NYPL description. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

At noon today, Suzanne Vega and Lou Reed will play a free concert at the opening of 7 World Trade Center. As we all know, 7 WTC is the only tower to be rebuilt since 9/11; the plaza already opened this week.

Wow, this is the happiest we've ever seen World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein, pictured here with Silverstein Properties vice president Janno Lieber, after announcing that he will accept the Port Authority's deal (ultimatum) over the development of Ground Zero. (Usually, in photographs, you can tell he's not the happiest camper.) There are still a couple "logistical issues" for Silverstein and the Port Authority to work out, but he has agreed to the recent proposal of (1) giving the Port Authority control of Freedom Tower - though Silverstein gets to build it; (2) control of three additional buildings along Church Street, (3) building a mall (co-designed with the PA) with an opportunity to buy the mall later, and (4) taking a lower developer's fee.

The government powers that be when it comes to the World Trade Center site - NY Governor Pataki, NJ Governor Corzine and NYC Mayor Bloomberg - have worked out a plan that was presented to WTC developer Larry Silverstein in hopes of getting the Ground Zero rebuilding off the ground. The deal is for Silverstein to build Freedom Tower (but the Port Authority would control it) as well as giving him control of three additional buildings and a mall along Church Street, with an opportunity to buy the mall later, and limiting how much his developer's fee is - plus promising 1 million square feet of tenants. And somewhere in there, concessions from Silverstein would translate into $100 million for the WTC Memorial. If he doesn't agree to that, then he gets $50 million in cash, plus Tower 5, which is worth $250-300 million. The third option is for Silverstein to argue this out in court. Yes, Gothamist wishes there was a flow chart with clip cart of Silverstein, Pataki, et al. too.

Ah, the past couple weeks of fretting about taxes is almost over, but not quite: With tax day falling on a Sunday, the deadline for filing your federal taxes is actually tomorrow night if you live in New York state (Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and DC are other Tuesday night tax deadlines, because we all celebrate Patriot's Day - hello, Lexington and Concord). Newsday has a couple last minute tips, including the reminder that even if you file an extension (form 48-68), you still need to pay up to Uncle Sam. And if you e-file, you'll get your refund sooner.

Governor Pataki, you can kiss your April "Freedom Tower" groundbreaking goodbye: Talks between World Trade Center leaseholder, the developer Larry Silverstein, and the Port Authority (WTC owner) went nowhere yesterday, as the deadline to . So enter the namecalling: Tthe PA calling Silverstein greedy and Silverstein saying that the PA "elected to suspend talks." The Times reports that talks "nearly blew up" many times during the waning hours of negotiating time (the deadline was 12:00AM), while the Post explains how the talks went:

The PA and Silverstein spent much of the day negotiating - until both sides took a break at 6 p.m. with an outline on the table that called for the developer to assume control of Towers 2, 3 and 4 on Church Street, officials said.

Continue reading "World Trade Center Talks Hit Dead End"

Jakob reports live exclusively for Gothamist from Church Street downtown (1MB video on Vimeo). You could hear a pin drop (almost)!

Oh, yes, it's on. After 3AM this morning, the Transport Workers Union announced they would strike a couple hours after rejecting the MTA's latest offer. Thousands of subway and bus workers walked off the job, leaving millions of New Yorkers to find new ways to go to work (sneakers, meet 60 blocks of walking). Now, New York City is in a state of emergency, in its special "contingency plan," with restrictions on vehicles (only cars with at least four people inside) for most of the morning, people trying to hail cabs, and Fifth and Madison Avenues closed to traffic. Transit workers, though, did finish their routes and close up stations carefully, at the union instructed; one station's sign read, "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!!" The city is trying to convene an emergency court session to stop the strike, but who know, this could go on for days.

Eager to reassure everyone that things were moving along at Ground Zero, Governor Pataki's World Trade Center flunky chief of staff, said that the PATH Transit Hub designed by Santiago Calatrava would offer 200,000 square feet of space for retailers and bidding will start in a few months. All hell, does this mean there will be an Olive Garden down there, to compete with the Applebee's at the Battery Park Regal Cinemas? The NY Times says the retail corridor plans, which would include another 300,000 square feet along Church Street, might face "same criticism that felled the Freedom Center"; plus Cahill's remarks were to a group of business executives, including those from Wal-Mart (of course, the Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia had to tell the Times, "It's premature, to be frank, but if you think we're planning a big Wal-Mart, the answer is no."). At any rate, if there's one thing Gothamist remembers after September 11, it's that if you don't shop, then the terrorists win! Perhaps the LMDC can build a mall to rival the one uptown...and call it "Freedom to Shop Center."

MUSIC: Tonight at Crash Mansion there's a free show and a free open bar...and for a good cause. Morning Theft, The Cloud Room, My Victoria, and The Rats will all perform for a second part of a benefit for Kia Nowotne. As an added bonus we hear our favorite artist, Michelle McShane, will be joining the Cloud Room for a few songs, playing autoharp.

We saw this ad on the Daily Show, during Lewis Black's segment about the commercialization of September 11, but we thought it was a joke: How could there be a coin created from silver ? Besides being unspeakably tacky and horrible, it just didn't compute. Luckily, reader Dan emailed us to with a link to the actual site about the Freedom Tower silver dollar coming from National Collectors Mint, which also traffics in an A-Rod quarter and a Ronald Reagan silver dollar. Dan even posted the MPEG of the Daily Show clip so you can see for yourself that the shilling of September 11 has created new markets not just for the street vendors selling Patriot Day t-shirts on Church Street but also for opportunists across the country. This makes Gothamist sick, angry, and wondering about a NYC secession.

An article about honorary street names in NYC, the Sesame Street song "People In Your Neighborhood" talks about the postman, there's the group Postal Service, and back in the day, the postman would ring twice.

More winds today, which made Gothamist think of some of the city's windiest places: Anywhere near the water, any of the big north-south or east-west streets (like up Church Street or across 86th Street), so pretty much a lot of the city. Gothamist gets ready for those windy areas by wearing two coats and a ski mask, so we look like a bank robbing Michelin Man. If anyone has more information about wind tunnel/funnel effects that are caused by skyscrapers, please let Gothamist know in comments.

New York magazine loved 66.

The re-opening of the Path Train at the World Trade Center will be marked by NY Governor Pataki and NJ Governor McGreevey at 2PM tomorrow, with free rides until midnight. The governors will ride in a train that was the last to leave the WTC Path station on September 11. This station will accept Metrocards at turnstiles, except weekly and unlimited cards. Additionally, since this is station at Church Street is a temporary one, there is no heat or air conditioning, no concessions, and or advertising. A permanent station will open in 2006.