The building, which was severely damaged by the collapsing Twin Towers and 7WTC is now officially demolished. Work will soon begin on a dazzling new building for the Borough of Manhattan Community College designed by IM Pei's architectural firm.
The building, which had just undergone a $65 million renovation, was contaminated beyond repair by toxic dust and mold.UPDATE:
But plans to demolish and rebuild it ran into years of multiagency delays and arguments over environmental rules and funding. Until this month, it had been an eyesore surrounded by construction scaffolding and safety netting.
A funding breakthrough announced last November by Mayor Bloomberg and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver paved the way for a piecemeal removal of Fiterman, which began in May and is now all but complete.
The end of Fiterman Hall will be formally announced tonight at a City University of New York board meeting.
CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein said Fiterman's long-awaited and hard-fought removal will send a powerful signal that lower Manhattan and the city are moving forward from the devastation of 9/11.
The new building will offer much-needed relief for the school's crowding, according to Manhattan Community College President Antonio Perez.
The new Fiterman Hall, to be completed in spring 2012, will be used by the school's 20,000 full- and part-time students.
This traffic camera happens to provide pretty good coverage over the Southern and Eastern portion of Ground Zero, including the former Deutsche Bank building.
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