The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 7

The Deustche Bank building continues to vex Ground Zero rebuilding. The deconstruction has stalled and the LMDC has not been able to restart the demolition work. Delays on the deconstruction can and will have a ripple effect on the construction within the Ground Zero site as the Deutsche Bank building site is meant to be a key access point to the complex.

He told a Crain’s New York Business breakfast forum in October that he hoped work would resume in early November. He refused to detail reasons for missing the start date, saying the situation was “complicated” and “things took a little more time.”

Dismantling was halted in August after two firefighters died fighting a blaze in the building that was severely damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Numerous safety violations at the building, including a broken standpipe that was supposed to bring water to firefighters, allowed the blaze to rage uncontrollably.

Various factors stand in the way of restarting the demolition, sources say, including the failure to fully implement new fire safety strategies, the lack of a contractor to tear down the tower and a criminal investigation into the firefighters’ deaths.

For now, leaving the scarred structure standing is more psychologically damaging than an impediment to rebuilding the area, sources say. It remains an eyesore that’s a reminder of the attacks and the long, convoluted process to finally begin building on the World Trade Center site.

“It is a symbol of the past and that is what makes it so frustrating,” says Liz Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. “It is not a symbol of the current state of Lower Manhattan.”

But if the failure to resume work goes on for an extended period, it could kill the deal for JP Morgan Chase to build its new headquarters at the location and potentially interfere with other construction activity at the World Trade Center site.

The deconstruction of the site has already been delayed for four months, and it may be weeks before the deconstruction resumes at the site.

Meanwhile, I walked around Lower Manhattan on Friday and construction is booming in various places. Fulton Street at Broadway is a mess, as the MTA is working on the Fulton Terminal. It's a maze of construction and street closures as utilities are exposed to enable construction below. Skyscrapers are going up elsewhere, including the Goldman Sachs building just to the Northwest of Ground Zero.

The area was bustling with commuters trying to get home, and J&R Electronics was busy with holiday shoppers. It would be even more so if the construction pace were hastened at Ground Zero and the Fulton Street corridor. Those projects divide Lower Manhattan and are a tangible and visible reminder of how far the area has to go in rebuilding.