The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 58

With the recession looming large over the New York metro area, construction at Ground Zero continues, although building of towers 2 and 3 might take longer and end up looking quite different than previously imagined.

The Freedom Tower continues racing skyward, and now has steel extending 7-10 stories above West Street. The 9/11 memorial will be open by 9/11/2011. That's the good news.

The bad news? Tower 2 and 3 might never be built, but instead low rise buildings or even construction to grade with the provision that the towers be built at some point in the future.

The long-planned skyscrapers at Ground Zero will have to wait, but two low-slung buildings that could one day serve as their bases may go up soon, officials disclosed Thursday.

The buildings would face each other along Church St., rising two to six stories and serving as stand-ins until towers can be built.

They could even house world-class retail shops if recessionary ravages force new construction delays.

"The last thing the Port Authority will do is to leave holes and pits in the ground downtown," said Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward after a state Assembly hearing on the status of lower Manhattan redevelopment.

"To avoid that, we will either build pedestals, which will allow some form of retail options and permit long-term subsequent construction, or build to grade."

Each would be engineered to support the immense towers that World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein intends to build on the 16-acre site.

They would be constructed later, when the real estate market recovers.

Tower 4, which would be built on the Southeast corner of the site, would not be affected. That building's foundations are further along and financing is in place.

Now, here's a question for the pro-stimulus folks. Would it not make sense to build the buildings now, to not only keep construction workers on the job, but to take advantage of the recovering local economy? Instead, the latest changes to the construction schedules in and around Ground Zero means that construction will go on for decades.

Meanwhile, the MTA says that they expect to use nearly $500 million of the stimulus pork to complete the Fulton Street Transit Hub. Currently, it's a big hole in the ground and there's no schedule for completion. It's woefully overbudget and the resulting damage to the local businesses throws into question just what was gained by the project as the primary goal of linking together multiple subway lines is not even accomplished to date. At the same time, the South Street Ferry terminal, which was supposed to open in January may not open until April because someone at the MTA or the construction firm didn't bother to check their math and notice that the train platforms are now too far away from the trains. That's after a test train found that the platforms were too close six months ago. That means that the station can't be certified to open.