By Stephen Jacob Smith 5/14 7:20pm

PATH to Ruin

path

PATH/Fail: The Story of the World’s Most Expensive Train Station

The Port Authority used to set records in good ways. The George Washington Bridge was a marvel of engineering in its day, the world’s longest bridge when it was built, and still the busiest. The Port Authority Bus Terminal, opened in 1950, is to this day the largest on earth by passenger volume.

But today, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn’t brag about the records it sets. One World Trade Center, born the Freedom Tower and taken over by the Port in 2006, will be the most expensive office building in the world. The “Vehicle Security Center,” an underground tour bus garage and road network serving the World Trade Center complex, may very well be the most expensive parking garage in history.

And then there’s the PATH station to New Jersey, the most troubled project at one of the world’s most troubled construction sites. At $3.74 billion, plus another $200 million in contingencies, the “Transportation Hub” at the World Trade Center—not even the busiest station in the Financial District—will be far and away the most expensive train station built in modern history. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/08 10:15am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

At $3.7 billion, Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center PATH terminal will be the world's most expensive subway station when completed.

Municipal Art Society Thinks Calatrava Deserves a Second Chance

Santiago Calatrava does not have the best reputation when it comes to designing practical public works. The Valencian architect has achieved great success in winning design commissions across the globe—especially for public works projects like bridges, train stations and cultural centers—but has also attracted criticism for his budget-busting designs.

Mr. Calatrava is practically a persona non grata in Valencia (he is now based in Zurich), where the leftist Esquerra Unida political party has started a website called Calatrava te la clava—loosely translated as “Calatrava bleeds you dry”—on which it accuses the architect of making 100 million euros off the Valencian City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural complex that is widely seen as a symbol of excess, built during Spain’s boom years but now a drain on the government’s finances as it undergoes a period of fiscal austerity. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/05/12 4:29pm

The Neverending Story

Weathergin the storm. (Reeve Jolliffe/Flickr)

Ground Zero Again: Construction Resumes at World Trade Center

After the Hudson flooded into the World Trade Center during Hurricane Sandy, it was remarkable that the site had been pumped out and work had resumed within days rather than weeks. Now, construction has recommenced in earnest, as some 750 construction workers returned to the site to finish the work of building 1 World Trade Center, the Vehicle Screening Center, the PATH station and other pieces of the 16-acre site.

Governor Cuomo announced the return of workers earlier today, as well as the fact that 95 percent of the World Trade Center site was now dry. Damage to the site, and the storms impact to the construction time table, is still being assessed. The resumption of work means cranes are in operation yet again on the site. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/01/12 11:36pm

The Neverending Story

6 Photos

WTC Brightens the Skyline

Following Massive Flooding, Work Resumes on World Trade Center After Days Rather Than Weeks

So many parts of the city’s crucial infrastructure remain under water, most notably those Con Edison generators downtown, but the city is drying out remarkably fast following the worst storm in living memory. Even some of the subway tubes have come back, if only there was power to run trains through them.

At his press briefing this evening, Gov. Cuomo made a surprise announcement, actually in the middle of talking about what dismal shape the PATH train is in—there appear to be some five miles worth of flooding, the length the line under the Hudson from New York to New Jersey, so that is one thing that will probably be submerged for some time to come. But a place that will not be is the World Trade Center, which, after flooding a good 15 to 20 feet across the site only three days ago, is now dry and in working order.

“Work will recommence at the Ground Zero site tonight,” Gov. Cuomo declared. I was just congratulating some of the workers; there was tremendous flooding at the Ground Zero site. We went from seeing the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel turned into a flume, we walked up the World Trade Center site, where water was cascading into the site from every imaginable angle, at such a decibel level it was disorienting. The entire site was flooded.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 10/31/12 1:23pm

de-watering

Flooded. (Photo: Getty)

Army Corps to Begin Pumping Water Out of Lower Manhattan Tomorrow

According to Senator Chuck Schumer, the federal government will soon begin the arduous task of returning floodwaters back to the Atlantic Ocean after Hurricane Sandy’s surge flooded key transportation arteries earlier this week.

“In the past hour, I have received an update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the federal de-watering efforts happening in New York City,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement this afternoon.   Read More

By Matt Chaban 10/18/12 4:07pm

The Neverending Story

Watch your back, Centrury 21! (Port Authority)

Check Out Cortlandt Way, the New Shopping Street Taking Shape at the WTC

Until the towers fell, no one particularly loved the World Trade Center. It served as a useful landmark but was otherwise too big, too empty, too cold. Well, except for the underground shopping center, which was one the busiest in the country. Numerous brands had their top-grossing stores at the World Trade Center.

Today, retail may be the least obvious part of the redevelopment of Ground Zero, as the memorial bustles with people, the museum awaits completion and two of the four new towers have already taken their place on the skyline. But shopping will still be an important part of the new World Trade Center, just as it was with the old one. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/13/12 2:26pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

9 Photos

Russell Simmons' Downtown Shrine

Hey Look! There’s a Giant Buddha Chilling on the Roof of Russell Simmons’s Downtown Penthouse

While waiting to take a tour of 4 World Trade Center recently, someone whispered in The Observer’s ear that if we looked closely, we would get a look at Russell Simmons’s Buddha. His what?

Turns out this was not some sick joke. As is well-known (from the various signs he has hung in his windows over the years), Mr. Simmons, the rap mogul, lives across the street at 114 Liberty Street. Or rather used to—the Def Jammer is trying to sell the place for $11 million as he moves out to the West Coast for good. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/11/12 10:44am

The Neverending Story

The museum (at right) is coming back to life. (Getty)

9/11 Museum Will Be Finished as Cuomo and Bloomberg Reach Deal on Eve of Anniversary

It is one of those September 11 bright clear mornings today. Perhaps the sun is shining a little bit brighter because after nearly a year of delays, construction is set to resume at the 9/11 Museum at ground zero.

The museum was supposed to have opened today, a year after the memorial plaza on which it sits finally opened to the public, but a dispute over who owed whom millions of dollars in unpaid construction costs halted construction last fall, and the site has sat dormant ever since. For a time it looked like nothing would happen as pressure mounted going into the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but an agreement was reached this weekend between Governor Andrew Cuomo, who shares control of the Port Authority, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who oversees the 9/11 Memorial Foundation. Read More