Thursday, April 24, 2008

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 29

Public construction projects around the City are in shambles as the cash crunch hits home and the costs for construction materials continues to rise as demand for materials remains high worldwide.

There has been some grumbling at the Port Authority that the 9/11 Memorial project may get pushed back to 2011 or beyond. PA Chief Anthony Coscia has slammed those in charge of the WTC construction timetables for even suggesting that the project be delayed past the deadline in 2010.
"It has been brought to my attention, for instance, that staff is contemplating a further adjustment of the construction deadline for the memorial," Coscia continued in a letter that was also sent to PA board members. Insisting the construction go forward in as safe and secure a manner as possible, Coscia ruled out any extensions of the current deadline of 2010 for completing the Memorial Plaza.

"The board of commissioners committed to these deadlines because we recognized the critical need to accelerate redevelopment of the WTC site," Coscia wrote.
Here's the thing. One of the reasons why costs are skyrocketing for all the projects at Ground Zero is that all the delays are catching up with the costs - each delay means that material costs continue to rise and there's no hedge in place against the rises.

Some are still calling for the Calatrava PATH station to be junked, even though the above ground portion of the facility is actually at costs - it's the underground facilities that are driving up the cost for the facility that handles 50,000 commuters daily. The MTA has completely screwed up its capital plan, and commuters around the City really don't have any faith in MTA numbers or projections, to say nothing of when those projects underway will actually be completed.

Elsewhere, while Hudson Street got a boost from Saatchi and Saatchi remaining at 375 Hudson Street in a long term deal, Thomson Reuters is going to be moving Thomson staff from 395 Hudson to 195 Broadway - within sneezing distance of Ground Zero by the end of the year.

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