By Matt Chaban 6/26/12 5:51pm

The Neverending Story

12 Photos

Topping Off Downtown

Speeches, Spirits and BBQ as 4 World Trade Center Tops Out

The thunderstorm had just cleared over Manhattan on Monday morning as the topping out of 4 World Trade Center was about to get underway. Turning down Maiden Lane from Broadway, the 977-foot tower, looming over the space of the small street, glistened even more than usual, freshly polished by the rain.Even against a backdrop of dark clouds, the building, designed by Japanese Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki, blends in with the sky in a soothing way that almost makes the 72-story structure disappear. It is much lighter—and, in the estimation of The Observer, quite a bit nicer—than its big brother, also rising, across the 16-acre site.

“Welcome to the first tower that will open for business here at the World Trade Center site,” Janno Lieber, right-hand man to Larry Silverstein at ground zero, boomed into a microphone from the podium. It was the only note of competition throughout the festivities, even though everyone knew the smaller tower, while started three years later, had beaten its sibling to the top by at least a few days. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/21/12 6:23pm

The Neverending Story

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More than Zero: 4 World Trade Center Will Top Out on Monday, a Day or So Ahead of 1 World Trade

Last week, President Obama visited 1 World Trade Center for an update on the project’s progress. He gave a speech and signed the beam that would top the country’s maybe-tallest tower. It would still be some time until the beam was hoisted into place.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the site, 4 World Trade Center was quietly rising. Today, Silverstein Properties announced that the tower will have its topping out ceremony this Monday, when the building reaches its final height of 974 feet.

What about 1 World Trade Center? The Port Authority did not respond to requests for comment as to when its topping out ceremony might be, but a World Trade Center source said it could come as early as Tuesday. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/01/12 4:36pm

The Neverending Story

Welcome back. (Getty)

President Obama to Celebrate Flag Day at 1 World Trade Center

Air Force One was headed to Minnesota today, where the president was unveiling a new jobs program for veterans, but en route, the press office revealed that when President Obama visits New York in two weeks, the World Trade Center will be among his stops.

During a press gaggle on the flight, deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the visit was scheduled to coincide with Flag Day. (Not mentioned: It would also coincide with a fundraiser that night at Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s West Village townhouse.) Read More

By Matt Chaban 5/16/12 12:30pm

The Neverending Story

Antenna or architecture?

Get to the Point: If Anyone Can Save 1 WTC’s Symbolic Spire, It Is the Dursts—They Snuck Onto the Skyline Before

The fate of the World Trade Center, having been debated and arbitrated by every constituency in town, now rests with a panel of architects and engineers in Chicago. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is the international arbiter of skyscrapers the world over. All skyscrapers are not created equal, and it is up to the Council to decide exactly how tall they all are.

The problem at 1 World Trade Center, as has been raging across front pages all week, is that the Durst Organization, the august real estate family and minority partner in the city’s newly christened tallest structure, has convinced the Port Authority to forgo a radome, a white fiberglass sheath that was to have encased the 408-foot mast atop the 1,368-foot tower. The mast takes the tower from the symbolic height of the original towers to the perhaps too symbolic height of 1,776 feet, first envisioned by Daniel Libeskind a decade ago.

The problem is that the council does not recognize antennae, flagpoles, signage or other superfluous structures as contributing to the height of the building. That is why the Willis Tower, 1,451 feet, ranks eighth tallest in the world, even though two broadcasting arrays bring its total height to 1,729 feet, the second tallest in the world behind the Burj Khalifa.

This seems absolutely backwards—why encourage “spires,” useless poles with a glimmer of design intent, while forgoing actual, functional structures like antenna and signage. Whatever happened to form follows function? Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/30/12 7:02pm

The Neverending Story

The Empire State Building (ESB)

As 1 WTC Reaches Historic Height, An Effacing Empire State Building ‘Salutes’

As of today, as you probably already know, 1 World Trade Center reached the historic height of 1,271 feet, eclipsing the Empire State Building and reclaiming its place as the tallest building in the city. In honor of that achievement, the tower will be lit up red, white and blue tonight. The Observer asked Tony Malkin, owner of the iconic tower, what he thought of being No. 2 again. Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/26/12 1:30pm

The Neverending Story

New Estimates Make One World Trade Center World's Most Expensive Office Bldg

As the World Trade Center Approaches Tallest-Building-In-New-York Status, Watch It Rise in 80 Seconds

Everyone has been eagerly awaiting the topping out of 1 World Trade Center. While that milestone is still a few weeks or months away, as early as next week, the SOM-designed, Port Authority-built tower will surpass the Empire State Building as the tallest in the city.

In honor of that occasion, Earthcam, which has been monitoring the site with great fervor, put together a timelapse of the tower’s rise. It is an amazing site to behold, if also a troubling one—how did it take eight years for a tower, even one of this magnitude, to rise? (Well, we sort of know why. Still, it took half as long for the twice-as-tall Burj Khalifa, though that is also another story of immigrant labor and infinite money.)

Cynicism aside, it is is an impressive feat, especially considering we were only halfway here a year-and-a-half ago. Read More

2/27/12 10:18am

Leasing Woes

Mr. Minskoff not pictured.

A Whole Lotta Space Up for the Takin’ in 2013, WSJ Sez

While leasing activity for much of New York City in the past few months has been more lackluster than blockbuster, a sizable chunk of available space –sizable in the, say, 6 million square foot range– is on the cusp of hitting the market, The Wall Street Journal reports.

New developments like 1 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, and Edward Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place, are all slated to hit the market in 2013. The last time NYC had this much new space becoming available was in 1989, said Cassidy Turley’s Robert Sammons. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 2/07/12 9:30am

Lease of the Week

77 Water Street.

When it Rains it Pours at 77 Water St.

It would have been easy for Lou D’Avanzo and his Cushman & Wakefield leasing team to rest on their laurels.

While Condé Nast’s million-square-foot lease at 1 World Trade Center last year has become a dominant emblem of downtown’s resurgence as a popular destination for office tenants, the C&W group’s lease-up of 77 Water Street has also etched its way into recent lore in the neighborhood. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/30/12 7:06pm

The Neverending Story

Worth it? (Getty)

What Is Going on at Ground Zero?

This morning, upon further reflection, The Observer was prepared to retract last week’s story about the negativity hanging over the World Trade Center site yet again. A reader had contacted us to say that it was a silly notion, considering that what had changed was something far more significant—rationality had come to the the project, replacing the emotions that had too long dominated the scene. Read More