|
7
World Trade Center is the first WTC building rebuilt; scheduled to
be opened Wed, May 24, 2006 |
But
as the morning progressed, I was exchanging emails with my web
pard Lou V. who was watching these same hearings on TV, I guess
channel NY 1. Realizing that the hearings were going to go through
lunch, I happily and correctly figured that I could scoot over
there and at least get a look inside the brand new,
soon-to-be-opened 7 WTC. So on
this marvelous sunny spring day, off I went.
On
arrival at the 7 WTC lobby, I presented myself as a public-hearing
attendee, and was prepared to hand over my driver’s license, a
normal identity requirement when entering buildings Post 9/11. But
the guard didn’t take it and instead punched in the numbers
“25” on a panel near his desk. He then told me to board a
specific elevator. I thought it was odd that I didn’t have to
give him i.d. (maybe there was heavy traffic for the hearing, but
it was pretty quiet when I arrived). I went to and boarded
the elevator he specified. I have to guess that elevator was only
going to go to 25 and would not stop elsewhere. It had a light on
the side of the door displaying “25.” As I’m on my way up, I
notice there’s no floor buttons inside the elevator. More about
that below. |
On
arrival on the 25th floor, I walked down a short corridor to
the hearing room, which was set up with chairs facing a sort of dais on
which Sheldon Silver and a few others were holding court. Plenty of
political and media types around, a lot of well-dressed people,
executive/lawyer types. Money interests. There were about a hundred people
all told, I had supposed it might be better attended but then again, this
was a sort of Shelly Silver kangaroo court; most of the battling had
occurred last month with the Pataki/Bloomberg axis and Larry finally
hammering out a deal that enabled at least the start of Freedom Tower construction. Nothing major was going to be decided today (see NOTE
below), this was Shelly asking questions and unnecessarily torturing my
man Larry and wasting time Larry could surely have been using better even
if he was sitting home knitting. I saw these hearings as a splendid
opportunity to gain admittance into 7 WTC, a building I’ve come to love
for it’s provocative reality of post 9/11 renewal. (These kinds of
events are why I am thrilled to be back in Manhattan, you can go see
Broads
in Plastic Tutus see elsewhere on this site one day, and watch pols
tormenting important business officials the next.)
The
hearing was being held in an unfinished open floor of the tower, on the
building’s north side, wrapping around the east and west sides. The view
north is directly over Tribeca toward the distant but inspiring
conglomeration of midtown towers, anchored by the Empire
State
Building,
shining magnificently in the sun. The view east is at the New
York City
Municipal
Building
and
Woolworth
Building
– just spectacular. West, you’re looking at the towers of the
World
Financial
Center,
the Hudson,
and New
Jersey beyond – marvelous. Larry is asking the highest rents ever for a
Downtown building and I hope he comes close to getting them. Even
unfinished, with exposed beams and bare flooring, the views and
practically floor-to-ceiling windows made the space gorgeous.
As
I got my bearings near the back, where it looked like a lot of the print
media were congregating, I discovered that the guy in the hot seat at the
front table facing the dais of pompous pols was none other than Larry
Silverstein. Larry is the leaseholder of the World Trade Center, who was
awarded that now-dubious prize a few weeks before it was destroyed. The
runner-up for that lease was Boston Properties, owned by none other than
Mort Zuckerman, who owned the printing company which ceremoniously canned
me in March, 2006. Larry was also the builder of the just-finished 7 World
Trade Center we were all present in, and the named builder of the Freedom
Tower directly next door. Like nothing new, a politician (in this case
Silver and not the usual Pataki/Bloomberg axis) was giving Larry a hard
time, generally peppering the guy with showboating I’m-smart questions
which Larry was patiently answering.
Some
words about Larry. I obviously don’t know the guy but I like him. I
don’t know the gritty details about the nuts-and-bolts of the contract
over which the state, city, Port Authority, and Larry are fighting. He’s
been tarred as being greedy for wanting to protect his interests – which
includes retail space which is unwanted by some who favor more
memorial/museum/cultural space. He doesn’t come across too well in the
media, but you can tell in his presence the guy is smart and a no bs guy
who must pander to and tolerate the idiot politicians trying to make hay
off him. In his non-media friendly way Larry was explaining things about
“retail space, insurance proceeds, negotiations, the PA, etc.” From my
perspective, it was meaningless blather to service the grandstanding pols.
Larry built the building we were all sitting in, his bulldozers were
prepping the Freedom Tower site directly below, and no one shoulda been
able to say word one to this accomplished man about real estate
development.
Bringing the
Hittable Broads In-House
Only
a few minutes after I arrived, the panel adjourned for lunch, and I sure
wasn’t going to let an opportunity slip. I spotted my man Larry making
his way toward the corridor. I was right over there, and as he walked by,
stated, “Don’t let them discourage you Larry – keep building!” He
acknowledged me by chuckling. He looked good, too, well-suited and
vigorous for a man of his years. Especially after having to put up with
the likes of a true greedhound like Shelly Silver. I chatted with a few
people and I determined among the attractive women present a few were
affiliated with the Speaker’s office. They were very good looking and
did not look at all like the smart, sharky-looking private money people
milling around. These Shelly broads looked like window-dressing for the
all-powerful Assembly Speaker. I suspect these broads could not type, file
anything besides their nails, or even dial a phone.
(Gee
I wonder what the hell is going on with these dames and Shelly? These
broads have to be mattress pals pure and simple. If not for Shelly, then
for some of his additional male staff. Shelly had a problem a few years
back with one of his top staffers being accused of date-raping some poor
girl. Shelly may have learned his lesson and now works around this problem
by bringing the hittable broads in-house, right onto his staff, where
everybody keeps their mouths shut and stays happy. Must cost a fortune but
when you’re Shelly Silver, it’s worth it. It’s not like he’s
paying these broads with anyone else’s money but the taxpayers’.)
|
The
lunch break afforded me an opportunity to wander the entire 25th
floor, including the south portion where there were several
models/drawings on display. Larry and a guy who looked like a publicist or
attorney stood alongside a model of the entire proposed rebuilt Trade
Center development. This included models of Freedom Tower and the three
towers which will arise on the east portion of the site along Church
Street. The south side of 7WTC also allows a view looking directly down
onto my beloved Freedom Tower site, where, doubtless in coincidence with
the hearings, lots of activity was underway.
From
directly above, and I mean directly above from 7 WTC, one can see the
delineation of the Freedom Tower footprint, where the concrete flooring of
the “bathtub” has been stripped away and is now being leveled. Unlike
at the proposed Memorial site, which is still being fought over and has
unseemly standing water after it rains, the Freedom Tower crews have set
up a pumping hose that keeps the site neat and dry. You like to see pride
in the workplace, a spiffy site. |
Models
of the Freedom Tower and the other new towers to be built along
side. |
Footprint
of north tower of World Trade Center, as seen from above on the 25th floor
of the new 7 World Trade Center.
Also
on the south side of 7 WTC, you could wander right into the offices of the
architects who are designing the three behemoth towers which will arise
along Church Street on the east side of the site. If Freedom Tower is
unofficially “Tower One,” then the Church Street Towers, (two of which
will be nearly as tall as the Empire State Building), are presently
designated Towers 2, 3, and 4. The tower which will be built where the
condemned Deutsche Bank building presently stands is, for now, Tower 5.
Towers 2, 3, and 4 are being designed by three different architectural
teams that are working side-by-side to bring some harmony to the
buildings. Realistically, the Church Street towers depicted in the display
model will not look as they are depicted.
Larry's
Nephew
Throughout
the break, people were milling around and except for the suits who were
hearing participants the atmosphere was informal. Best of all, there was
one hellacious of a buffet set up in an unguarded conference room right on
the corner of the building that adjoins the Freedom Tower site. In the
face of that bounty, way too few people were tying on the feedbag; and the
presence of the food was enough of an invitation itself. As usual in this
kind of setting, there was no one “in charge.” If you acted like you
belonged, you belonged. As I entered the conference room and thoughtfully
considered my dining options, I was prepared to answer, “I’m Larry’s
nephew” if anyone asked. Nobody did, so I helped myself to some yummy
roast beef sandwiches, a few cans of Coke, and several dessert brownies.
Lunch on Larry! Did I mention, I love the guy!
As
I wrote earlier, the 7 WTC elevators don’t have floor buttons in the
cabs. Instead, in the elevator lobby, there’s a little LCD display. It
reads, “Enter your floor.” So instead of just pushing an up or down
button to summon the elevator, there’s a number pad on which you enter
the floor you’re going to. This is kinda neat. It likely makes the
computerized elevators much more efficient by telling them in advance
where you’re going. Then, when the elevator shows up, to make sure
you’re getting on the right one, the display indicates with an arrow and
letter designation which elevator is going to take you where your going.
The side of the elevator door itself displays the floor number where
it’s headed. It is disconcerting, though, when you are in the elevator
and there’s only a few buttons, to open and close the door, and an
emergency button. Wave of the present, I guess.
And
like many high-rise buildings residential and commercial, 7WTC fibs on the
floor numbers. From looking at 7WTC from my own offices, and using the
Barclay-Vesey building alongside 7 as a measuring guide from when I was in
7WTC, I surmise that although 7WTC numbering says I was on the 25th
floor, I was really on the 16th level. Taking into account that
there is about a 7-8 story base for 7WTC which contains the Con Ed
substation, above that, it looks like you count about 16 floors which puts
you on maybe floor 23-24, but they say 25. A lot of buildings “add”
floors by giving floors a higher number, which translates into higher
prestige and higher rents. It’s not a big deal, a little marketing
smoke-and-mirrors. The views are still superlative.
Lou
Reed and the Great Builder
7
World Trade Center opens officially on May 23 with an outdoor concert
which will feature Lou Reed (a well-known Tribeca/Downtown
musician/denizen), the one-legged Irish Tenor Ronan Tynan (I’m mad at
him because he never answered emails I sent him), and something fetchingly
and invitingly called the “Brazil Girls.” Larry has built a little
park/plaza out in front of 7WTC – “Vesey Park.” The park’s
centerpiece is a circular plaza surrounded by benches. I’m not sure if
this small plaza will contain a fountain, but the observant will notice
this arrangement mimics the much grander, circular fountain which graced
the center of the Austin Tobin Plaza at the heart of the original World
Trade Center complex. Today, there was a blue tarp covering the
centerpiece sculpture of Vesey Park. One will have to wait until the
unveiling, but this might also recall the “Sphere” sculpture at the
center of the Tobin Plaza.
|
The “Sphere” has been relocated to Battery
Park. I plan on going to the grand 7 WTC opening with a sign that either
reads, “THANKS, LARRY!” or “I (heart) LARRY!” I will settle for
nothing less than getting my picture with this Great Builder.
|
|
I
think 7 World Trade Center is a beautiful, lovely building in its own
right, but I generally prefer more stately, classic architecture. So I
can’t say that 7 World Trade Center will ever be my “favorite.” From
certain angles, it has an appealing way of reflecting the blue sky, and
sometimes you can view one side of the building from a straight-on angle
and it looks like a façade with nothing behind it. This is a very
dramatic and pleasing effect. I reserve as favorites several pre-war (WW2)
towers, generally stone-clad structures like the Empire State Building,
One Wall Street, the Woolworth, and the old RCA (current GE) Building at
Rock Center. However, for the rebirth that 7 WTC represents, for Larry’s
defiance in the face of bickering delaying pols, and for its soaring
presence at the heart of previous despair, I will cherish this building
among those which enliven my heart. 7 World Trade Center is human
engineering which inspires beyond words.
NOTE:
Press reports today (5/19/06) indicate that the main revelations of the
5/18/06 Silver v. Silverstein hearings at 7WTC was that there may be an
issue with insurance proceeds. It seems that the deal which was cut
between Larry, state agencies, and the Port Authority to divvy up building
ownerships and rights, etc. may affect the desire of insurance companies
to pay out the proceeds needed to continue building the WTC site. This is
abhorrent news to come out so late in this process, although some reports
suggest that when the WTC was insured, the Port Authority was named as a
“co-insuree,” along with Larry. If insurance proceeds stop, building
will stop, they said as much yesterday at the hearings. Please let it not
be so, but this bears close watching beyond the efforts of your humble
paperbacknovel.com correspondent, who will monitor and report as possible.
|
Tell Us What You Think: If
you'd like to respond to this article,
click here.
|
|
|
