The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 59

One of the criticisms over Ground Zero rebuilding and Larry Silverstein in particular is the slow pace of the rental of 7WTC. Well, the first major tenant is about to sign a deal for 40,000 sq. ft.

The New York Academy of Sciences is negotiating a lease for 40,000 square feet of space in the ultra-modern tower that sits on the north side of Vesey Street, overlooking the pit at Ground Zero.

Sources said the scientific academy has a "term sheet" for a 10-year lease for the full 40th floor in the new building, set to open next year.

An academy spokesperson said the group has not seen a lease but is talking with Silverstein about it.

The academy was founded downtown in 1817 and would "like to bring down thousands of young scientists to our conferences."

The academy would be only the second major tenant lined up for the glass-walled skyscraper, with 1.7 million square feet of space.

A lease for 20,000 square feet with an American Express spin-off, Ameriprise Financial, is expected to be signed soon.

One of the reasons that the building is proving difficult to fill is that the security and construction costs were much higher than buildings elsewhere in the city and those costs had to be passed on to tenants. Even with the price breaks and other incentives, it's a tough sell despite the fact that tenants would be getting the most modern building in the City. It remains possible that Silverstein will drop prices to attract further tenants.

The landmark 90 West Street has finally reopened its doors after four years of renovations and a conversion to residential apartments. The building was badly damaged by the collapse of the South Tower. The decision was made to convert the office building into residential apartments.

The building, designed by the architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the better-known Woolworth Building, was restored with $100 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds. A new copper roof was put on the building and thousands of terra cotta tiles and gargoyles were restored to the facade.

``Our restoration goal for 90 West Street was to be 1907 on the outside and 2005 on the inside,'' said Peter Levenson, one of the owners.

More than 300 tenants have moved in to the apartment complex; the first tenants began to move in June.

Meanwhile, NY Post readers have voiced their opinion, and most have come down against Bloomberg's suggestions.

Also, lawyers are summing up the case in the 1993 WTC bombing civil case.

lawyer for victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing said in closing arguments Tuesday that stupidity and greed on the part of the owners of the building made it possible for terrorists to detonate an explosives-laden rental van in a parking garage that day.

An attorney for the Port Authority, the agency that owned and operated the trade center, said that nothing would have deterred resourceful, determined terrorists _ obsessed with bombing the trade center _ from finding a way to unleash an attack.

Sadly, it is quite possible that both sides are correct. The terrorists are determined enemies of the US who would stop at nothing to create mayhem and mass casualties, but businesses, public authorities, and government hasn't taken the appropriate and prudent steps to make locations like the WTC complex safer from many forms of terrorism.

UPDATE:
Gotham Gazette's Wonkster compares and contrasts two NYC columnists who have taken sides in the WTC rebuilding. One sides with Pataki; the other with Bloomberg. I'd say both are part of the problem.

UPDATE:
Downtown Lad seems to think that the 9/11 families are to blame for the delays and problems with the rebuilding. I couldn't disagree more. The problems with the rebuilding began the moment that Gov. Pataki began interfering in the rebuilding process by pushing Libeskind's plan over the other plans. Once that master plan became entrenched, everything else fell into place - the need for a cultural center despite the fact that the WTC didn't need one, the problems with the IFC, which were again exascerbated by Pataki's reluctance to realize the folly of putting a bunch of anti-American academics in charge of a group like the IFC and The Drawing Center at Ground Zero. Too many cooks and too many priorities for too small a piece of land.

While the NYT would like to focus on Silverstein's problems filling 7WTC, they aren't nearly as forthcoming about how well their headquarters building is coming along. Not too good in the tenant department. Besides, Silverstein and the PANY/NJ isn't building for today, they're building for the future.

And one further thing; it wasn't the 9/11 families who were alone in that belief that the IFC/Drawing Center were wrong for the site. The Firefighters and Police Unions were opposed to their presence. As were tens of thousands of other people.

Waiting another decade for something to be rebuilt downtown is a mistake. London didn't wait a decade to rebuild after the Blitz. They started rebuilding immediately, even as the bombs were still falling. Nor should we.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center.