Results tagged “thefreedomtower”

Ever since late last week, constructions workers have been busily working on the beginnings of Freedom Tower. Steel reinforcing rods that will, as the NY Times explains, "define what will be the southeast corner of the four-foot-thick concrete wall at the tower’s core" were placed last Wednesday and on Saturday, 520 cubic yards of concrete were poured into the footing.

An article in the NY Sun highlights the NYC Audobon Society's efforts to prevent birds from flying into building windows. The NYACS "will attempt to determine what combination of conditions, such as types of glass and levels of nearby vegetation, lead to the most bird collisions." Many tall buildings have turned off their lights at night during winter migration, and now, it seems that some new buildings are trying to prevent untimely bird deaths: The Freedom Tower consulted an industrial ornithologist for its design (the World Trade Center had a history of bird deaths) - no word on whether he'll be called upon again for the other World Trade Center towers.

Or at least that's what World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein promised yesterday, now that he and the Port Authority have agreed on terms that divvy up control of Ground Zero's various components. "I have instructed our construction team to mobilize into the site tomorrow so that we can begin construction of the Freedom Tower immediately," he told the media. The Port Authority says that the eastern section of the WTC site will be excavated by next year, in order for Silverstein to start building his towers (Towers 2, 3, and 4 in the plan). At this point, (Gothamist can barely remember what's supposed to be at Ground Zero, so we've been going back to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website about the WTC site - but we're not sure if all the changes have been updated on it.)

There's plenty of back-door action in negotiations over Ground Zero. The New York Times reports that Governor Pataki and Larry Silverstein are close to an agreement on the Freedom Tower. The deal would be much better financially for Silverstein if it's approved by the Port Authority. According to The Times, Silverstein would not have to both build and lease the Freedom Tower, giving the PANYNJ control of the proposed 1,776' signature building. Silverstein would retain the rights for developing three other sites at ground zero.

Naturally, the NRDC is excited about the prospect of a wind farm atop the tower. But considering the sticky relationship between master planner Libeskind and tower architect Childs, all bets are off as to what will actually be the final design. Dunlap also points out that Libeskind's skinny, assymetrical design is still on WTC developer Larry Silverstein's website.