Friday, May 06, 2005

Trump To Pataki: Build Twins

Donald Trump, television impresario and sometime real estate mogul, has called on Pataki to build twin towers to replace the WTC Freedom Tower concept that was scrapped last week because of 'security concerns'.

Perhaps we should have Trump team up with Silverstein to get the towers built. Trump has the high profile to jawbone various parties, and Silverstein has already shown the determination to get his own building at 7 WTC rebuilt with amazing speed.

Trump also unleashed a harsh assessment of Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind, suggesting the man Pataki has called an international-class genius isn't fit to be, well, an apprentice.

"The design for the Freedom Tower is an egghead design, designed by an egghead, which has no practical application and which, frankly, didn't look very good.

"I've gotten great reviews on my buildings. I'm somebody who believes strongly in great architecture and this [the Freedom Tower] was a design that is just not a good design," Trump added.

A spokesman for Libeskind shot back: "I suppose Trump wants to add an extra floor to make room for his name. That's probably not the kind of iconic symbol anyone had in mind for this site."
Trump has subsumed his huge ego for various projects around the city, including restoring Wollman Rink in Central Park. He knows that the public would not tolerate his plastering of his name all over the WTC site, but that the public would laud him if he was able to get towers built on the WTC site. Libeskind doesn't get the NY real estate market, let alone the political machinations within the market. Trump has managed to build a tremendous number of Class A properties throughout the city, including nearly a dozen buildings on the Upper West Side alongside the Hudson River. He knows how to deal with real estate developers, community activists that may oppose his plans, and politicians in order to get his buildings constructed.

Libeskind is out of his league here.

UPDATE 9:58PM EDT 5/17/2005:
I've been Discarded. Lies that is. Welcome Discarded Lies readers! If you've read my recent updates, you'll see that Trump is definitely up to something, having alligned himself with a group to build a new Twin Towers. I think he's caught the imagination of many people, who are tired of looking at a hole in the ground. His actions may spur the politicians into action. Hopefully for the better.

And, there's another angle at play here. The West Side Stadium project will not go forward until something is done downtown. So, it is conceivable that both projects are doomed because the politicians cannot get their acts together.

5 comments:

jp said...

Trump to annouce plans to rebuild the twins wed morning at 10:45.
more here
http://americansforfreedom.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

YES, YES, I AGREE...IF WE BUILD ANYTHING BUT WHAT WAS THERE, THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON.....LET'S PUT 'EM BACK EXACTLY THE WAY THEY WERE BUT STRONGER...INCORPORATING ALL OF THE PEOPLES' NAMES THAT DIED THERE......AS "TRUMP" SAID ON LARRY KING, LAST NIGHT, "AND MAKE IT ONE STORY TALLER"

Anonymous said...

Trump is absolutly right, the Freedom tower is too fanzy and too German, build the twin towers as they where, when you look at the New York skyline you really miss the twin towers,
John from Denmark

Anonymous said...

I still get all misty eyed when playing sim city 3 and see the WTC as one of the landmarks you can still build. The germanic design is cool, but just not the same, and would look out of place in a city with the empire state bilding, the chrystler building, the woolworth building... etc.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I have been praying that the ill-conceived idea of a memorial be built. It makes us look like we're are steeped in self-pity. We need to be bold and brave. Within a day or two after 9/11 I recall people from Europe saying that we should build again even higher and stronger. Yes, yes, let's do it proudly and with honor.

The Donald Rules on this one!