by James Murdock

Foundation work on 7 World Trade Center, the first structure bearing the Trade Center name to be rebuilt, finished in July. Tishman Realty & Construction Co., the general contractor, expects to complete the concrete vaults for a Con Ed substation by October and will begin steel erection soon after. The electrical plant occupies the first four stories of the 52-story tower.

The building was designed to exceed New York City’s current building and life safety codes. Its core, for example, will be encased in concrete.

Mike Goldberg, Tishman’s senior project manager, anticipates that vertical construction on 7 WTC will advance at the rate of one floor per week. The pace will be determined by how long it takes to pour and set reinforced concrete shear walls. To boost efficiency and alleviate pressure from tight site constraints, PERI Formwork Systems Inc. custom-designed a climbing form system that will lift itself up the building’s sides.

Across the street from 7 WTC, work on the restoration of the 31-story Verizon Building, another Tishman project, is nearing completion. Located at 140 West St., it is Lower Manhattan’s main telephone exchange. The historic landmark opened during the 1920s.

The majority of damage to the Verizon Building occurred as a result of a 60-ft.-tall pile of rubble that pushed against it when 7 WTC collapsed. In addition to shearing off roughly 25 percent of the building’s east facade, lateral pressure from the debris damaged foundation walls and two important structural columns.

To replace the 35-ft.-long columns, which weighed 530 lbs. per lin. ft., Tishman used a hydraulic lift to jack the entire building roughly one-eighth of an inch. After this work was complete in mid-2002, Tishman repaired the foundation walls as well as concrete floor slabs damaged when steel girders pierced the building during the collapse of 1 World Trade Center.

Before 140 West St. reopens in November, remaining jobs include restoring permanent electrical services (temporary generators have been in place since Sept. 2001) and putting the finishing touches on the Art Deco facade and lobby. The historical restoration, which required approval from the city’s landmarks commission, will likely represent a significant portion of Verizon’s anticipated $1.4 billion bill.

Using historic photographs, Petrillo Stone Corp. is recreating intricately carved limestone relief work while Excalibur Bronze Sculpture Foundry Inc. is casting new bronze panels for the facade.

"The entablature has little snakes, serpents and frogs," said John Turco, project manager for William Collins AIA Architects, LLP, which is overseeing the design with Merritt Engineering Consultant, PC. "It’s beautiful, but you can’t see it because it’s pretty high up."

The job as a whole, however, will not go unnoticed. "On Sept. 12, 2001, getting the phone company building back up and running again was of utmost importance," said Fred Corrado, first vice president of Tishman. "For those people that have been there for two years now, seeing it up and running will be a very emotional time."

On the Right PATH

The construction of a temporary World Trade Center station for PATH trains to New Jersey is also nearing completion. It reached a symbolic milestone when two structural supports for the entrance canopy were erected in May. The 60-ft.-tall painted tubular steel columns were the first vertical structures to rise where the Twin Towers once stood.

Eight stories below grade, track work is complete and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began testing trains in June. In addition to making extensive trial runs and tweaking signals before the station opens in November, remaining jobs include readying the station’s public areas for commuters.

Tammy Hileman, president of T+M Architectural Metal + Glass Inc., said the demanding design-build schedule necessitated complete cooperation among subcontractors. Her firm installed stainless steel, aluminum and glass panels around the elevator entrances and in stairwells. It worked closely with Schindler Corp., which simultaneously installed and tested the elevators. Although a painter died at the PATH station project in June – it was the first fatality at Ground Zero during recovery, cleanup and reconstruction combined – Hileman said she was impressed by the Port Authority’s extensive safety precautions to guard against the hazards of different construction teams working in such close quarters.

One block east of the Trade Center site, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has begun the planning and engineering phase for the Fulton Street Transit Center. Construction on the $750 million project is slated to begin by 2005.

The new hub will connect 12 subway lines, relieve platform overcrowding and provide station access for the disabled.

Two stops south on the 1 and 9 lines, the MTA has also begun planning and engineering for a $400 million reconfiguration and expansion of the South Ferry Terminal. Construction will run simultaneously with work on the Fulton Street Transit Center. Both jobs are part of a federally funded $4.5 billion overhaul of Lower Manhattan’s public transit infrastructure and are targeted for completion in 2007.

Several other projects surrounding the Trade Center site are also in various stages of construction.

VJB Construction Corp. is readying work on 90 West St., a 340,000-sq.-ft. building south of where 2 World Trade Center once stood. Badly damaged by falling debris, the 100-year-old former office block will be restored and converted into apartments.

Bovis Lend Lease Inc. completed restorations on the Millenium Hilton at 55 Church St. Work on the $32 million project began immediately after the disaster, when construction crews sealed off the building from weather damage. The project wrapped up in May.

Compared to other buildings that surround the Trade Center site, the 56-story hotel sustained relatively minor damage on Sept. 11, which Paul Taylor, a managing partner of Stonehill & Taylor Architects, the architect of record, attributed to the building’s robust concrete frame.

But while the hotel escaped structural damage, roughly 1,300 windows in its all-glass curtain wall were either blown out during the Twin Towers’ collapse or intentionally smashed afterwards to lessen the hazard of falling shards. The main entrance and plaza were also destroyed, giving Taylor the chance to design a new entry that meets current codes for disabled access.

Inside the 561-room hotel, virtually every surface was blanketed by several inches of dust, which allowed Taylor, as well as architects at Brennan Beer Gorman Monk/Interiors and Arnold Syrop Associates, to update the building’s 12-year-old decor. "The entire interior was stripped, and all the air-conditioning systems were replaced," Taylor said. "We basically used the shell of the building and rebuilt it."

Onward, Eastward

Revitalization is radiating from Ground Zero throughout downtown, and many new projects are helping foster a true 24-hour neighborhood in which people can live, work and play.

Three blocks east of the Trade Center, Kreisler Borg Florman Construction Co. is building a 287-unit apartment building at 10 Liberty St.

Foundation work on the 45-story tower began in July 2002. Given the site’s hydrogeology, construction crews were surprised that soil three stories below grade was not as wet as they expected – perhaps a result of massive dewatering operations at the nearby Trade Center site, said Stephen Griswold, vice president of Kreisler Borg Florman.

Although the soil was dry, contractors lined foundation walls with a waterproof membrane manufactured by Grace Construction Products, a division of W.R Grace & Co. For the supports, it sank 640 steel pipe piles measuring 10 in. in diameter. Work was slowed by the need to construct a steel bracing system to support a tunnel for the 2 and 3 subway lines.

Designed by the Stephen B. Jacobs Group, PC, the building looks like a brick and limestone transplant from Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Tucked behind it on Cedar Street will be an outdoor garden, a "signature" element associated with the apartment manager Glenwood Management Corp. and unique for housing in this part of downtown.

With foundation work complete, steel framing and concrete floor decks were rising at a rate of 1.5 stories each day in July. Like 7 WTC, the tower will have a concrete-encased core.

To speed construction, Kreisler Borg Florman is using a hydraulic crane manufactured by Favelle Favco Cranes USA Inc. that climbs the building, disassembling and reassembling itself as it goes.

The building is due to deliver in first quarter 2004.

Work on another apartment complex, which will occupy both sides of Front Street between Peck Slip and Beekman Street, began this month. Comprising 11 historic structures, many 200 years old, and three all-new buildings, the 148,000-sq.-ft. development will contain 96 apartments, retail space and a maritime cultural center. The developers, a joint venture between Sciame Development Inc., Zuberry Associates and the Durst Organization, purchased the property from the city’s Economic Development Corp.

Development costs are being defrayed by a $48 million Liberty Bond issued by the state’s Housing Finance Agency. The bond program was created after Sept. 11 to help rejuvenate Lower Manhattan, and Front Street represents its first application in a low-density, historic landmark setting.

"I’ve never seen such cooperation on a project as this one," said Frank Sciame, CEO of Sciame Development and Sciame Construction Co., the project’s general contractor. "We had complete support from the city and state. It validated beyond any doubt that the city and state are resolved to make sure that Lower Manhattan is rebuilt and redeveloped as quickly as possible."

From a construction standpoint, the development will pose several challenges. Front Street’s historic buildings, like many in the neighborhood, were constructed on timber cribbing and piles sunk into loose fill in the East River. "Part of the charm of the area is that the buildings lean on each other for support," Sciame said.

To lessen the risk of disturbing adjacent structures, contractors will drill minipiles for the new buildings’ foundations and monitor the work with seismic detectors.

Sciame will also keep the buildings leaning on each other to retain their historic integrity. It will stabilize and preserve the existing brick facades, rather than reconstruct them.

"We’re not trying to restore the masonry to a Disneyland-like look," Sciame said. "We want it to be authentic. We will leave the stains, we want it to have patina."

History is everywhere on the site, added Richard Cook, a partner of Cook + Fox Architects LLP (formerly Richard Cook & Associates). Before Ellis Island, before the infill and development of Lower Manhattan’s west side--where the World Trade Center eventually rose--this site was where all immigration and trade occurred in New York. It is an incredibly important block in that the remaining structures really are this fragment from the boom times in the early 19th century," he said. "The buildings have a beautiful, individual personality and we hope that the final project will reflect that."

While most public attention over the last two years has been on the efforts to rebuild the World Trade Center, that is only part of the story. The reconstruction—and improvement—of downtown is proceeding rapidly and will supply the region’s construction industry with work, and a grand mission, for years to come.