From the NY Times:
Loved or hated, the old control tower was undeniably a traveler’s milestone. Spotting it from the cabin of a Lockheed Electra or a Boeing 727 meant you were really back in New York. No other airport had anything quite like this porthole-pocked cynosure; a hometown creation by Wallace K. Harrison, the consummate New York establishment architect of the mid-20th century, who designed the Trylon and Perisphere for the 1939 World’s Fair and went on to play an important role in Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center and the United Nations.
After the construction last year of a $100 million, high-tech, high-security tower at La Guardia, with a control cab 198 feet above the tarmac, Mr. Harrison’s odd creation was doomed. The old tower, sitting athwart Concourse D, was reduced to a four-story stub over the summer. It is still recognizable as a remnant of its old self but is hard to see from any but the closest vantages. In recent weeks, workers have prepared the vestigial structure for use as storage space by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
10 comments:
So the new one cost 100M? Our MTA tolls at work, right!
Yeah, 100M. Have you seen the thing? Its a space station.
The old tower STILL USED PAPER SLIPS to track flights.
100M well spent, IMO.
Does anyone know what is happening with the Grand Central Parkway right in front of the control tower? Widening of the road? Planting of trees in the median? This has been going on for a helluva time.
"Our MTA tolls at work, right!"
First off, MTA tolls have nothing to do with airports.
Secondly, the FAA paid for the new tower.
Ok thanks - FAA paid 100M for ...... what concrete and state of the art electronics?
Break it down - 9M for electronic - 91M for concrete or is it the other way around?
100M folks - it better sling jets to the moon at this cost!
FAA paid 100M for ...... what concrete and state of the art electronics?
Break it down - 9M for electronic - 91M for concrete or is it the other way around?
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Wow, are you ignorant. You have no idea what goes into the construction of such a thing, do you?
Does anyone know what is happening with the Grand Central Parkway right in front of the control tower? Widening of the road? Planting of trees in the median? This has been going on for a helluva time.
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The road is a disaster, like much of the LGA property, since its all built on infill. A lot of what they are doing is to stabilize the roadbed. Plus, there is always the CTB masterplan/rebuild they could be prepping for (first stage is often modification of the roadways).
Ignorant is not the new dumb. 100 Million $$ for this structure is outright robbery of public funds, plain and simple. Let's estimate 100 million as being at least 75 million over what is should have been. So I would estimate 25$ is probably $10 million over a real estimate of what an 8 story structure and lots of expensive electronics actually cost.
They could have retrofitted the old tower with the same equipment for 30 million.
The problem is they couldn't close the airport for weeks. It screw up 1/2 the country, it cost the airlines that use LGA (all based in red states like Texas) to much money
".the CTB [Central Terminal Building?]masterplan/rebuild they could be prepping for..."
"Could"? Nice use of the subjunctive. Does anyone know EXACTLY what is going on there? On the GCP? The Indicative, please.
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