The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 77

The Deutsche Bank building demolition is once again being delayed. What a shocker.

Now, its demolition seems likely to take longer than was expected just months ago.

In June, officials said they expected the black building down by next spring, some eight-and-a-half years after it was damaged. But last month, deconstruction contractor Bovis Lend Lease filed a plan with the city that is considerably lengthier than it initially expected, and one person briefed on the filing said the plan would likely add an additional six months to the deconstruction schedule.

While the plan has not yet been approved—a Bovis spokeswoman said “discussions continue” over the deconstruction filing—an even longer deconstruction would come as a major symbolic and functional blow for Lower Manhattan. At almost every turn, the healing of this gigantic wound from 9/11 (which faces the southern edge of the World Trade Center site) has been prolonged. Since the fatal fire in August 2007, the project has been tripped up by an extraordinary level of regulation, and schedules seem to be pushed every few months.

After an accord in 2004 over the deconstruction, it was initially expected to be down by 2005, costing about $45 million. But since, the costs have risen constantly as the job proved more difficult than expected and regulation piled on after the fire. The total could come closer to $300 million (including the building purchase and other related costs), paid for by the federal government, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (which said in July it would need another $30 to $35 million in additional money to finish the job), and various contractors and insurers. All sides expect more lawsuits, to recover costs, once the building is down.

The delays have a domino effect on construction in Ground Zero, and on the neighboring buildings, which continue to have this hulking wreck sit as a stark reminder of the failure of the various city and state agencies to finish the deconstruction work for years.