The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 78

Verizon Wireless comes full circle as it not only resumes operating at its building at 140 West Street, but the building will once again be its world headquarters after leaving for Midtown 33 years ago. The building was badly damaged on 9/11, and the Art Deco building has undergone a thorough renovation.

Verizon, the corporate great-grandchild of the New York Telephone Company, came back yesterday to its ancestral home in Lower Manhattan - an Art Deco landmark that was badly battered on 9/11 - after a 33-year absence.

The company's return of its headquarters to 140 West Street, opposite ground zero, is one step in the assemblage of an extraordinary crossroads, if all the plans materialize. By 2010, the headquarters of American Express, Goldman Sachs and Verizon are each to occupy a corner of West and Vesey Streets, with the Freedom Tower on the fourth.

The gradual transfer of Verizon's headquarters from 1095 Avenue of the Americas, opposite Bryant Park, began in July and will continue until the middle of next year. But if the head of the table is where MacGregor sits, the true switch-over will occur on Dec. 19 when Ivan Seidenberg, the chairman and chief executive, moves his office downtown.

Verizon's board will meet for the first time next month in the restored 29th-floor boardroom at 140 West Street, which was designed by Ralph Walker and completed in 1927 as the telephone company headquarters. In reprising this role, the building will house 1,500 employees.

The building's lobby is a masterpiece of Art Deco design.

Now, if the city and state could get its act together and deal with Fiterman Hall, which is to the northeast of the Verizon Wireless building, we'd see some real progress.

And the hearing yesterday on the use of Liberty Bonds wasn't satisfying either. There was no agreement between Silverstein and the Bloomberg Administration. The Post reports that if the talks drag on, the Liberty Bonds could be allocated to other projects downtown.

In other words, the city is attempting to undermine Silverstein's ability to rebuild on the Ground Zero site. They've already publicly stated that someone other than Silverstein should build on portions of the site previously designated to Silverstein. Considering that there are only a few developers in the city, my guess is that either Tishman or Forest City Ratner would be the beneficiary of the changes. This is a power play. Pure and simple.

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