Reflections of the Battle for Ground Zero

Five years removed from the horrible day when the Islamic terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers, killed nearly 3,000 people, and left a gaping wound in the skyline of Manhattan, the media turns its spotlight on the rebuilding efforts at Ground Zero. It's a subject I'm intimately familiar with, having produced a series of 165 postings directly on the subject of rebuilding at Ground Zero.

So, when I see the New York Times write about the inability to build at Ground Zero without taking any of the blame on itself for opining against any reconstruction of office towers there as the Times is silent about its real estate interests along with its partnership with Forest City Ratner, who also happens to be seeking to build a major office complex in Downtown Brooklyn that would compete for tenants against the WTC complex, I get just a wee bit skeptical about what is being written. When I see that the Deutsche Bank building goes unnamed despite direct references to it, I wonder who actually wrote this article.

Where's the mention of Fiterman Hall, another wrecked building that has yet to be deconstructed either and Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg's silence on its disposition casts a pall over the one permanent structure rebuilt among the ruins: 7 WTC.

Seven WTC was rebuilt out of the own personal fortune of Larry Silverstein, who plowed the insurance payments on the old 7 WTC and built a gleaming new office tower and which is more than 50% rented. While the government agencies dither, Silverstein got the job done.

The Times has spent considerable ink on denigrating Silverstein directly or through intermediaries, and yet that isn't fully addressed here either. This, from the 'paper of record.'

Gothamist has more.

Steve Cuozzo goes over the real estate market, and notes that the real estate market in Manhattan has actually recouped the 10 million sf of space destroyed on 9/11, including new skyscrapers in Midtown, 7WTC and planned space will only add to the amount that now exceeds the available space in Manhattan before the attacks. Cuozzo also notes that more might have been accomplished had Pataki put Silverstein in charge of the rebuilding, instead of spending nearly two years trying to determine who should come up with the design.

All the same, much of the real and perceived progress in developing and planning for the new skyscrapers at Ground Zero could be undone by the next Governor, who takes office January 2007.

At the same time, the downtown community is slowly turning into a 24-hour community, a far cry from the banker's hours that used to dominate the area.

The businesses affected by 9/11 have recovered much quicker than the buildings themselves. Many have relocated to new surroundings, have brought on new workers to replace those murdered in the attacks, or expanded operations. And many stuck to their New York City roots; just under 10% moved to New Jersey.

Relics from Ground Zero.

The FDNY has had to rebuild after the losses of 343 of its members in the attacks, including many of the senior positions.

PBS is running a documentary tonite showing the efforts at rebuilding at Ground Zero.

Steve Gilliard is pissed about the lack of progress at the site, and he has a right to be, although for reasons slightly different than the ones he mentioned. The lack of leadership, from Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg is spot on. Bloomberg was absent on early Ground Zero deliberations, but became involved only after his pet project on the West Side was killed by Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, whose district happens to include Ground Zero. Bloomberg tried to get Silver on board his West Side Stadium project, but Silver took the money and ran - and opposed the stadium anyway. After that, Bloomberg became more strident in opposing rebuilding all the office space as per the master plan and wanted a reevaluation to include more residential space along with a reduction in office space.

Pataki is done after this year, and his replacement will surely seek to impose his footprint on the rebuilding process. And NJ Gov. Corzine, who took over after McGreevey left office in disgrace to be replaced by Codey wanted a piece of the Port Authority pie, which McGreevey and Codey had largely remained on the sidelines since the attacks did happen in New York City. Corzine's efforts split the Port Authority, and made any dealings between the Port Authority and Silverstein even more contentious because of the NJ and NY factions arguing among themselves. It appears some of those issues have been worked out, but no final deal on site development is in hand.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.