Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The incredible shrinking World Trade Center

From the Daily News:

The incredible shrinking World Trade Center will be cut back from five iconic skyscrapers to just two signature towers under a new Port Authority plan, the Daily News has learned.

In place of two Silverstein behemoths, each designed by a British lord and soaring 79 stories, the PA would erect a pair of short, squat buildings no taller than four or five floors - coined "stumps" - that could be used for retail shops, according to the proposal.

The vastly scaled-back site plan was disclosed to The News hours before Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Friday branded budget-busting delays and cost overruns at the 16-acre site an "embarrassment to our city, our state and our nation."

Mayor Bloomberg promptly followed up by inviting all warring parties to a summit meeting this week.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much $$$$is bloomterd making on this? ?

Anonymous said...

Or his development buddies?

Anonymous said...

There were only two towers there to begin with. No big deal.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg has nothing to do with this. You really are sad to go after him constantly when you don't know what you are talking about.

Scaling this back makes sense. The original plan was bad to begin with. There is no need or purpose for 4 huge towers. Building that high is not practical and we don't need to glut the market with that much office space concentrated in one area. Build two symbolic buildings and use the rest of the space for other uses. And they should scale back that dumb Calatrava transit terminal. They don't need such a big expensive terminal in that location.

Erik Baard said...

The "stumps" make little sense. If they're going to back out of building iconic towers, they should allow for green space that would increase the real estate values of the entire district and improve the quality of life.

I think Bill Pedersen had the best idea at the very start: build the world's tallest tower to serve as a television broadcast antenna. That would pay for itself (direct income to broadcast radius relationship) while returning a soaring skyline to us. The tower would also have graceful lines and be free of the counter-terrorism bulk design needed for fully occupied buildings.

ew-3 said...

Am starting to become sad I'm both and American and an ex-NYCer

Anonymous said...

Build the twin towers exactly as they were, only taller! This is what the majority of people have wanted all along. It would cost less to build two anyway. Had they done this years ago, it would also have been cheaper. Use them as broadcast antennas and they will pay for themselves. The fact that nothing has been built there is just a disgrace!