TRIBECA—A special Curbed correspondent found that the fence was going up this morning at the triange park below Canal Street at Varick that will become CaVaLa Park, which will come complete with its own faux canal. Get those picnic baskets ready. [CurbedWire Inbox]

WORLD TRADE CENTER—Reaction to the very elongated and unclear time line for the World Trade Center project have been less than enthusiastic today, and then there's developer Larry Silverstein's statement: "As of today, my company's projects – Towers 2, 3 and 4 – are fully designed and on schedule. Construction of Towers 3 and 4 is underway, and all three buildings are slated for completion, as projected, by the end of 2012. As demonstrated by the success of 7 World Trade Center, as well as other recent developments in the area, Downtown is energized like never before. It is vital that we maintain that momentum and finish the rebuilding.” [CurbedWire Inbox]

WILLIAMSBURG—We thought that the Toll Brothers North8 development on Kent Avenue had already gained all of its Temporary Certificates of Occupancy, given that the first was issued at the beginning of the year, but apparently not. A tipster writes: "The rest of the building finally got the TCO. Only half the residents have been able to move in so far. The original move in dates ranged from January 2007-August 2007. I guess a year and half late is not so bad for a 6 story building." [CurbedWire Inbox]

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The World Trade Center-area news is flying fast and furious today. The latest shocker comes via the Daily Intel blog, where Alec Appelbaum reports that new renderings of the JPMorgan Chase building just south of Ground Zero (on the troubled Deutsche Bank site) show that the cantilevered trading floors have been dropped from the design. The bulge has long been criticized by preservationists who claim the belly will plunge St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and Liberty Park into eternal darkness. In response, a "shadow study" was released on the 42-story building's impact, and architect Eugene Kohn famously said that Liberty Park wouldn't be used much anyway. But it looks like this gripping controversy is over. So where are the trading floors going? And was it gastric bypass or master cleanse?
· JPMorgan Chase Tower at WTC Site to Lose the Beer Gut [Daily Intel]
· EXCLUSIVE: Shadow Study for Chase's Tower of Darkness [Curbed]
· Chase's Tower of Darkness May Lighten Up [Curbed]

Downtown may be buzzing with announcement of 99 Church Street, but all is not full of hope and joy in the land below Chambers. The Fulton Street Transit Hub, the MTA's high-end answer to the Port Authority's Santiago Calatrava-designed PATH station near the WTC, is royally fucked. Those darn rising construction costs, which have already derailed the Javits Center expansion, will probably end up canceling the project's splashy topping—the glass and steel dome-like "oculus" that had already been scaled back from the grand initial vision. Now, after all that suggestive destructoporn, the MTA has no clue what will go on top. And ruh-roh, the MTA is also looking for ways to cut about a billion dollars in costs from the Second Avenue Subway, the 7-train extension and the Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central. In the Post, Steve Cuozzo is in rare form, ripping the MTA a new one. He writes: "The best the MTA can now hope for is to slap up some sort of low-rent shed over the block it leveled." Low-rent shed? We know a rabbi who can assemble a nice sukkah if that's what it'll take to get this thing done.
· Higher Costs May Curtail M.T.A. Work [NYT]
· You Read It Here First: A Disaster From the Get-Go [NYP]
· Fulton Street Transit Center Plan Announced [Curbed]

[Renderings: dbox]

The webcast quality was a little garbled, so we won't have a good look at the renderings just found renderings online for Robert A.M. Stern's 99 Church Street condo-hotel—to be built on the ashes of the former 11-story Moody's building. Developer Larry Silverstein unleashed all the wild details at the Downtown Alliance's breakfast meeting this morning, and here are the fun ones:

1) The hotel will be operated by Four Seasons. Yes, Lower Manhattan is getting a five-star Four Seasons. With a view of a giant pit. It's the city's second 4S.
2) Robert A.M. Stern is like Gallagher: find something you do well that catches on, and keep doing it forever. In Bob's case, limestone is his watermelon-smashing.
3) At 80 stories when it tops out in 2010, 99 Church will be Manhattan's tallest residential building. There will be 143 condos, including full-floor penthouses.
4) The hotel lobby will be on Barclay Street, and will have four floors of hotel amenities space. The residents' lobby will be at 30 Park Place. A public plaza on the east side of the building will link Park Place and Barclay Street.
5) LEED certified! Larry, you hippie!
6) When Silvertsein was talking about downtown's residential boom, and he said "William Beaver House," it sounded really dirty for some reason.

We've got all the renderings, courtesy of Silverstein Properties, after the jump.

Architect Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center transit hub, which went from soaring bird to grounded stegosaurus (right) and survived many controversies in between, is still twisting in the wind like its ever-changing completion date. Last week, the Real Estate Weekly wrote that the Port Authority was considering shrinking the station's glass pavilion and eliminating a mechanism that would allow the roof to retract—changes that would further dilute Calatrava's inspired and slightly insane vision. But today, the Post's Steve Cuozzo reports that another PA official says the first PA official "misspoke," and acknowledged that there might be cosmetic changes, but the footprint and "signature elements" are the same. It all sounds suspicious in that very Port Authority way, but after 80 South Street and the gondola thing, we just want the 'Trav to get something built already.
· Realty Check [NYP]
· More Time to Reflect on WTC Reflection [Curbed]

With all the recent concern about when the Port Authority will turn the eastern bathtub over to Larry Silverstein to build his Towers 3 and 4 at the World Trade Center site, we'd almost forgotten about the Freedom Tower. While foundation work trudges along, our attention turns skyward, to the building's 408-foot spire that will bring the Freedom Tower's overall height to 1776 feet. While architect David Childs has toyed with various versions of the antenna design, what we see above right is what we're gonna get, per Steve Cuozzo today:

It was suggested that the final antenna design would be more "sculptural" than the original image, and later sketches and models sported various curlicued motifs. But Childs says those ideas, which exposed the actual antenna to the air, were impractical... The more open designs would cause "rain to turn to ice, which would break and fall," and also make the antenna impossible to maintain at such a height. So it was back to the original notion, which called for a top-to-bottom hood enclosing the actual broadcast spire.

Surging costs be damned, the Port Authority has always stood by the Sept. 11, 2009, opening date for the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum. But Michael Arad's "Reflecting Absence" will have to be absent a bit longer, as a re-evaluation of the project has led to a pushed back completion date. The memorial plaza will not be done until 2010, and the below-ground museum and above-ground visitors center will not be finished until 2011. Dates, as always, subject to change. And speaking of WTC messes, the Times' David Dunlap also reports that the Port Authority is hoping to still turn the Deutsche Bank building over to JPMorgan Chase & Company by September, despite demolition delays. By now, JPMorgan Chase probably wants nothing to do with this cursed location, but too bad, suckers!
· Opening of Memorial for Sept. 11 Is Postponed [NYT]
· WTC Chaos Update: 'Memorial Mess' [Curbed]
· It Happened One Weekend: Deutsche Demo Tragedy [Curbed]

Security is an issue all over town, and nowhere more so than down at Federal Plaza north of City Hall. The International Court of Trade on the west side of Foley Square was built back in the late 60's as a 7-story glass block over an open plaza between Worth and Duane Streets. These days, however, "openness" in NYC is more theory than reality. So, the gang in Washington which oversees Federal projects has ordered up some improvements to the public areas around the Javits Federal Building. Originally, they called the addition now under construction along Lafayette Street a SECURITY PAVILION. Interestingly, the word "SECURITY" has been pasted over in recent weeks. So, we now have a simple "PAVILION," which sounds much less restrictive and so much more inviting and festive. Like someplace for a party, rather than a retina scan.

Merrill Lynch's move from Brookfield Properties' World Financial Center to a new skyscraper built on the ashes of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Midtown seemed like a sure thing. Then Merrill's CEO stepped aside amidst financial turmoil, and then the landmarking campaign for the Hotel Penn gained some momentum, and now, the Observer's Eliot Brown reports that Gov. Spitzer is trying to lure Merrill Lynch into the World Trade Center's Tower 3. For those who need a refresher, Tower 3 is Sir Richard Rogers' flag-waving entry to the WTC hodgepodge (right). Reportedly, Spitzer wants to cut Merrill a huge deal on the cost of the move—like, hundreds of millions of dollars. Let's just say that Brookfield and Hotel Pennsylvania landowner Vornado can't be happy with this Spitzer-Larry Silverstein collusion, which essentially ruins the fair fight to win the bank's money. But they both have that little Hudson Yards thing going on, so maybe Brookfield and Vornado are distracted. Dudes, you guys are totally getting effed over here!
· Spitzer Goes to Bat for Silverstein, Vies to Keep Merrill Downtown [NYO]
· Commence Heavy Tugging: Merrill Move in Jeopardy? [Curbed]
· 'Heavy Tug' Fails: Merrill Headed For Hotel Pennsylvania? [Curbed]
· Merrill Lynch Getting Sexy 'Heavy Tug' to Stay [Curbed]

Yesterday we received an email with the above picture, shot at the intersection of Broadway and John Street in the FiDi, and an accompanying request to figure out just what the heck that crazy wood thing is. We were perplexed. Luckly, David Dunlap fills in the blanks in the Times today. Because the Financial District will be a construction pit for the next decade or twelve, the Alliance for Downtown New York and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council will dress up construction site blights, a project cutely titled Re:Construction. Above is the start of GRO Architects' new-look sidewalk scaffolding, an angled plywood installation named "Best Pedestrian Route." This is what it will look like in the end. Interesting? Yes. Obstructive? Maybe. There's also zebra-striped traffic barriers and tartan-patterned security netting. Also, construction noise will be filtered through large machines that make drilling sound like Beethoven's 5th, and workers' cat-calls sound like delicate whispers from a long-lost love.
· Dressing Up Those Bleak Downtown Construction Sites [NYT]