1) The leading concrete testing company in the New York area, Testwell Laboratories, is under investigation for failing to perform some tests and falsifying others on some major construction projects, including the Freedom Tower and the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees and the Port Authority both say the concrete used for their projects is sound and poses no safety threat, but yikes! Investigators took 200 boxes of documents and computers from a pair of Testwell offices, as well as from a trailer at Yankee Stadium. ['Company Hired to Test Concrete Faces Scrutiny']
2) The condo conversion of the Apthorp is a go, and when the 163 apartments in the Astor-built complex at Broadway and West 79th Street (right) hit the market, they will average about $3,000/sqft, more than the initial offering at 15 Central Park West. The average apartment price will be about $6.5 million, and current Apthorp tenants are not getting any insider deals, though they do have an early crack at any apartment in the building they want. Sales open to the general public in the fall. It's Manhattan's second-most-expensive condo conversion, behind Manhattan House. [Big Deal/Condos at Pedigree Prices]
3) Rumors of Hoboken's demise have been greatly exaggerated: "Average sales prices are still increasing for downtown condominiums in Hoboken, although most asking prices are open to negotiation these days, as several developers acknowledged in interviews. Developers say that their new buildings are still selling out, if somewhat slower than in the past." Take that, supposed down market! ['Hoboken Weathers the Market']
4) If you want to know how the rest of the country lives, look to Staten Island, where income and homeownership figures are similar to those icky other places. And in Staten Island, foreclosures are a "grimly familiar tale." ['Fighting Foreclosure on Staten Island']
In the 18 months since the Port Authority assumed control of the Freedom Tower project from developer Larry Silverstein, some steel has risen and one shaky private tenant signed on to lease some space. Yep, it's been slow going for the 102-story office tower, much like the rest of the World Trade Center, and the Port Authority is now admitting that they are in over their heads. The Post's Steve Cuozzo reports a blockbuster today, accompanied by our new most-favorite recent Photoshop job, that the PA has met with major developers about taking the tower off its hands. In the past, the PA has said they may take on a financial partner in the troubled tower, but a partnership or long-term lease with a developer is a new and somewhat shocking strategy. Developers that have been approached include Brookfield Properties and the Related Companies, but with Brookfield's Manhattan West and Related's Hudson Yards both on the way, could either handle another massive office project? Cuozzo reports that any developer taking over the Freedom Tower would complete the project as it's currently designed, and of everyone's favorite bi-state agency, a source said, "They have their hands full with the rest of Ground Zero, and they want to clear the decks if they take over Moynihan Station." Oh boy, Moynihan Station is so screwed.
· Price of Freedom [NYP]
· World Trade Center coverage [Curbed]
WTC SITE—There's good new and, uh, bad news about one of the "bathtubs" at the World Trade Center site. First the good news: The Port Authority sent out a press release today saying it will complete 90 percent of the excavation and construction of the Tower 2 foundation by the end of June. Now the bad news: It was supposed to be on July 1 but won't be done until August and that means the agency has to pay Larry Silverstein, who recently got an extension on Towers 3 & 4, a penalty of $300,000 a day until the bathtub's done and the site is turned over. The math works out to about $9.3 million, give or take, assuming an August 1 completion or just under $19 million if August means August 31. A Silverstein spokesperson says the developer is "looking forward to expanding over the entire Tower 2 site later this summer." [CurbedWire Inbox]
SOHO—There are no evil restaurants to install and no bones to dig up, so the announcement of renovation work at Petrosino Square at Lafayette and Kenmare Streets is unlikely to draw protests. The $2 million project involves new pavement and curbs, fencing, plantings, benches and a drinking fountain. The square is named for an NYPD detective killed on assignment in Palermo, Sicily in 1909. [CurbedWire Inbox]
"PATH service between 33rd Street and the Journal Square and Hoboken stations will be suspended in both directions through this evening’s rush hour due to power cable damage caused by a track fire between the Christopher and 9th Street stations. There were no injuries." Stranded in the city? Well, it's a good thing it's not hot outside. [Port Authority press release via CurbedWire]
Who doesn't love that wacky Dolan family, with their vanity blues bands, reggaeton-flavored digital cable commercials and ill-timed arena renovation announcements? We'll tell you who: the developers involved in Moynihan Station. So, amidst efforts to try and lure Madison Square Garden's owners back into the Moynihan/Penn Station fold, developers Vornado Realty Trust and the Related Companies may be pursuing a new plan of action, the Observer's Eliot Brown reports:
According to multiple people familiar with discussions, the joint venture of the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust wants the Port Authority to come in and buy the current Madison Square Garden, along with its hotly desired air rights, a task that would cost somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. The developers have told officials that this purchase by the public sector, which would be effectively paid back by the developers should the entire project come together, is necessary to right the troubled large-scale plan.
Delays are nothing new for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, but at least this one is for a good reason. The Port Authority just issued a statement saying the authority has granted developer Larry Silverstein a six-month extension to get Towers 3 and 4 done—moving the completion dates to mid-2012 for Tower 3 and spring 2012 for Tower 4—because Silverstein Properties is in negotiations with Merrill Lynch to move the firm to Tower 3. According to Silverstein, Tower 3 would need to be redesigned (though the extent of that redesign is unclear) to suit Merrill, and the foundation plans for Towers 3 and 4 would have to be amended. Hence, the extension. A deal with Merrill Lynch to fully occupy the building would be a major coup for Silverstein, given the lengthy courtship of the firm by several developers. Work on Towers 3 and 4 is already underway. A look at Sir Richard Rogers' 71-story WTC Tower 3, aka 175 Greenwich Street, is presented above.
· Merrill Lynch Staying Put; Hotel Pennsylvania Safe? [Curbed]
· Work to Begin on Freedom's Friends This Week [Curbed]
· WTC Final Designs: Tower 3 Will Step All Over You [Curbed]
When Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke out against Bloomberg's prioritizing of the Hudson Yards over Moynihan Station earlier this week—and even dared suggest that the Port Authority take over the Moynihan/Farley Post Office project—Mayor Mike's head nearly exploded. Now, Governor Patterson has joined with Schumer in suggesting that the Port Authority handle the new train terminal, and if Bloomberg hasn't turned green and ripped through his business suit already, we assume it's only a matter of time. Moynihan Station is still reeling from Madison Square Garden's sudden pull-out from the plan as well as budget concerns, but Bloomberg shot back that the whole thing has been slowed by turmoil upstate. The Post quotes him: "The chaos in Albany was not good for us. A new administration comes in. They want to study things. Then there's another new administration. They want to study things." OK, so Bloomberg isn't the studying type. Patterson, trying to smooth over some hurt feelings before brass knuckles come out, said: "This isn't a personal feud, or something like that. He just has a viewpoint on what was Schumer's proposal and one that I'll weigh as I make a decision." Whatever that means.
· Gov and Bloomberg on Opposite Tracks [NYP]
· Schumer Not Into Hudson Yards, Bloomberg Not Into Schumer [Curbed]
We'd say the picture at right of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg is of the two in happier times, but they don't really look that happy to be in each other's company back then, either. Yesterday, a verbal slap fight broke out between the two over the development, or lack thereof, of the West Side. Schumer got the feud started at a Crain's breakfast, in which he called Bloomberg's plan for a European-style mid-block boulevard running through the Hudson Yards the "goofiest thing I've ever seen," per the Sun. Schumer thinks the whole idea of the Hudson Yards as a new business district is totally ridic, especially when the focus should be on Moynihan Station. He also wants the Port Authority to take over Moynihan, because the agency supposedly has the money and skills to get it done (coughGroundZerocough). Two hours later Bloomberg responded, and he was especially perturbed about the Port Authority suggestion. His comeback, as reported in the Post: "I appreciate all the senator's views on Moynihan Station. His part of the job is to bring us the money." Burn! He also said, of the Hudson Yards: "We set the city's priorities. They don't come out of Washington, and the city's priorities are the West Side, getting it going and getting the rail line going there." Hopefully SchumBloom Round II is right around the corner, because two old guys fighting is funny.
· West Side War [NYP]
· Schumer on Mayor’s Plan: ‘Goofiest Thing’ He’s Seen [Sun]
By now it's well known that Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava's soaring design for a new World Trade Center PATH terminal is being value-engineered to shit, but according to Port Authority officials, the big bird will still take flight. David Dunlap reports in the Times today that the plan is still to have the train station "completed and functioning" in 2011, and the above-ground aesthetic (the wings!) will not be clipped. But in order to maintain that $2.5 billion budget—and really, it must be hard to build a train stop for Jerseyites for only a couple billion dollars—some design compromises are now coming to light. These changes include a street-level perimeter that will shrink by 10-15 percent, and the use of standard concrete in the ceiling of the mezzanine rather than the stylish and smooth architectural concrete. Of course, more changes are on the way, and a contractor has yet to be found that can deliver this project according to the budget, but said Calatrava: "I believe that we have made the design better in many, many ways, through this exercise." And maybe in many, many years, he'll actually believe that.
· At Rail Hub, Bird Will Still Soar, but With a Bit Less Polish [NYT]
· Calatrava's PATH Station: Now This is Getting Awkward [Curbed]
· Port Authority May Clip Calatrava Again [Curbed]
A Vanishing New York retrospective is the real estate equivalent of being read the last rites, so it was only a matter of time before the Reaper came calling for Show World, or what's left of it. You see, Show World used to be the porn anchor of the Times Square of old—its neon lights serving as a siren call to sketchy guys streaming from the Port Authority who needed to get their circus-themed jollies. Show World survived Giuliani's anti-nudie zoning ordinances, but pieces were slowly stripped away, and now the Laugh Factory and a huge Duane Reade occupy old Show World space, with a sliver surviving a couple doors down. Today, Steve Cuozzo reports that 303 East 42nd Street, which includes a 12-story office/apartment building, some small theaters and Show World, is for sale. Owned by a trust that is controlled by Show World's boss, the property could go a variety of ways, including a ground lease or partnership. But it may just get sold outright, and the clock could be ticking on the old perv. With 11 Times Square on the rise nearby and a potential Port Authority skyscraper on the way, this formerly seedy corner of Eighth Avenue is suddenly a burgeoning office district—which is amazing news to some, and a travesty to others.
· Stripped Of His Crown [NYP]
The World Trade Center PATH station designed by Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava has gone from celebrated symbol of Ground Zero's rebirth to an annoying party crasher that the Port Authority doesn't know how to tell to leave. The bird-like terminal was clipped to look like a stegosaurus, then it was clipped again, then last week it got reconfigured yet again due to mounting budget concerns. It's unclear how much Calatrava will be left in it when the terminal—near the MTA's own screwed-up train station—gets built, but here's the thing: the Port Authority may abandon the PATH station altogether. The Sun's Peter Kiefer reports that the incoming Port Authority director may see this is an opportunity to get out of the project, and divert the $1.9 billion in federal funding to the renovation of Penn Station. There are many political hurdles to navigate if the PATH station (a new temporary PATH entrance recently opened at the WTC) gets cut, but some feel that Governor Patterson is behind the move. Pity poor Santiago—he's not having the best of months.
· Ground Zero Money Is Sought for Penn Station [Sun]
· Port Authority May Clip Calatrava Again [Curbed]
It hasn't been the best of times for World Trade Center-area mass transit projects. The financial troubles of the MTA's Fulton Street Transit Hub have been well documented, and now, architect Santiago Calatrava's PATH station for the Port Authority could be in dire straits. The "soaring bird" (seen above in prouder times) has already been clipped twice, and now comes the shocker: the Port Authority is preparing a "modest alternative" to the Calatrava design just in case the cost estimates of building it exceed $2.5 billion, which they most certainly will. The PA claims that no matter what happens, Calatrava's ribbed above-ground structure will remain (in some sort of fashion), but changes could include making greater use of the existing tracks as well as parts of the new temporary PATH terminal. So, when it's all said and done, which round of Rendering/Reality will be more depressing: the Fulton Street Transit Hub, or Calatrava's PATH station?
· Citing Budget Concerns, Port Authority Plans for More Modest Hub at Trade Center Site [NYT]
· New WTC PATH Entrance Ready for Your Morning Commute [Curbed]
· Calatrava's WTC Hub Clipped Again? [Curbed]
When is the opening of a train station more than just the opening of a train station? When it signals any form of progress in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. And while this is actually just the opening of a new temporary entrance for the PATH train (the third since 9/11), it still has significant meaning. Which is precisely why we sent Curbed shutterbug Will Femia to capture the new PATH action at Vesey Street on the eve of its first big test, a morning rush hour. This entrance is taking the place of the one on Church Street, which will soon close to make way for excavation and construction at the site. In 2011, the PATH entrance will move back to Church Street, housed in whatever remains of the Port Authority's once-glorious Santiago Calatrava-designed soaring bird. Which will be near whatever remains of the MTA's once-glorious Fulton Street Transit Center.
· Construction Watch: What's Up at the World Trade Center? [Curbed]
· Calatrava's WTC Hub Clipped Again [Curbed]
The Post's Steve Cuozzo reads the tea leaves on the commercial and residential real estate markets, and he says that we're in for some troubled times. Not a shocking declaration given the level of panic out there concerning the credit crunch and Wall Street layoffs, but Cuozzo does not concern himself with paltry matters of the present. No, the Cuozz has his eye on 2010 as the winter of our discontent, because "an unusually high percentage of office leases will roll and many glamorous new condo projects will open their doors." In the meantime, Cuozzo writes that the current climate will make it difficult for certain far-fetched ideas to get realized, like the office tower that's supposed to sprout from the Port Authority bus terminal or even Sheldon Solow's East River waterfront plan. But all is not doom and gloom. In comes Curbed Network BFF Jonathan Miller to point out that the credit crunch may actually limit future damages to the market, because fewer apartments and buildings will be built due to a lack of financing.
· A Discouraging Word [NYP]
The Port Authority has tried to sell off the development rights above its Midtown bus terminal before, but the plan fell through. Sure, it may have been 9/11 that soured the deal, but the crushing depression that would sweep through the ranks of any company that moved into a building above the Port Authority might have also had something to do with it. Either way, now that the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue is something of an office mecca—with the new Times HQ and the coming 11 Times Square—the Port Authority is trying again. The deal, to be announced today, calls on a joint venture of Vornado Realty Trust and the Ruben Company to erect a deck over the northern portion of the four-story bus station and build a 1.3-million-square-foot office tower. Over the next year, there will be an architectural design competition to figure out what this monster will look like, and the companies have four years to build it. It's too early to speculate on potential tenants, but as long as it's not us, we're cool.
· Tower Planned Atop Port Authority Bus Terminal in New Wave of Development [NYT]
Comments
1) The leading concrete testing company in the New York area, Testwell Laboratories, is under investigation for failing to perform some tests and falsifying others on some major construction projects, including the Freedom Tower and the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees and the Port Authority both say the concrete used for their projects is sound and poses no safety threat, but yikes! Investigators took 200 boxes of documents and computers from a pair of Testwell offices, as well as from a trailer at Yankee Stadium. ['Company Hired to Test Concrete Faces Scrutiny'] 
In the 18 months since the Port Authority assumed control of the Freedom Tower project from developer Larry Silverstein, some 
Who doesn't love that wacky Dolan family, with their vanity blues bands, reggaeton-flavored digital cable commercials and ill-timed 
When Sen. Chuck Schumer 
We'd say the picture at right of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg is of the two in happier times, but they don't really look that happy to be in each other's company back then, either. Yesterday, a verbal slap fight broke out between the two over the development, or lack thereof, of the West Side. Schumer got the feud started at a Crain's breakfast, in which he called Bloomberg's plan for a European-style mid-block boulevard running through the Hudson Yards the "goofiest thing I've ever seen," per the 
By now it's well known that Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava's soaring design for a new World Trade Center PATH terminal is being 
A 
The Post's Steve Cuozzo reads the tea leaves on the commercial and residential real estate markets, and he says that we're in for some troubled times. Not a shocking declaration given the level of panic out there concerning the credit crunch and Wall Street layoffs, but Cuozzo does not concern himself with paltry matters of the present. No, the Cuozz has his eye on 2010 as the winter of our discontent, because "an unusually high percentage of office leases will roll and many glamorous new condo projects will open their doors." In the meantime, Cuozzo writes that the current climate will make it difficult for certain far-fetched ideas to get realized, like the 
The Port Authority has tried to sell off the development rights above its Midtown bus terminal before, but the plan fell through. Sure, it may have been 9/11 that soured the deal, but the crushing depression that would sweep through the ranks of any company that moved into a building above the Port Authority might have also had something to do with it. Either way, now that the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue is something of an office mecca—with the new Times HQ and the coming 