All Posts Tagged With: "Beer Belly Building"

gbNYC selects green news items of note that were reported across the New York City area during the week of August 3, 2008, including the installation of a living wall above Pure Yoga on East 86th Street, more delays for Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards development, a review of Cook + Fox’ LEED hopeful Lucida condo project on the Upper East Side, and plans for another speculative office tower along 8th Avenue from Boston Properties and Related, in between 11 Times Square and 250 West 55th Street.

Episode 5 of the gbNYC Audiocast reviews the ongoing redevelopment efforts at the former World Trade Center site in light of recent remarks from Larry Silverstein about construction progress at the site, as well as uncertainty over the future of KPF’s Beer Belly Building in the aftermath of JPMorgan Chase’s pending acquisition of the failing Bear Stearns. As you’ll recall, in addition to the Freedom Tower, a number of high-profile towers that will pursue LEED certification are currently under construction at the site, including 200, 175, and 150 Greenwich Street, designed by Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Fumihiko Maki, respectively. Episode 5 discusses each of these towers in detail, as well as the Robert A.M. Stern-designed Four Seasons Hotel which will rise at 99 Church Street.

Late yesterday, Crain’s reported that JPMorgan Chase will move its investment banking operations into the former offices of Bear Stearns on Madison Avenue at 47th Street in Midtown, which JPMorgan purchased on Monday in the aftermath of Bear’s meltdown last week. The decision places the proposed LEED Platinum Beer Belly Building project at 5 World Trade Center in jeopardy- if not completely shelving it- though according to a spokesman the bank is still considering its options in connection with the site. Crain’s also reports that JPMorgan will continue negotiating with the Port Authority about building at 5 WTC, but the same spokesman “couldn’t say what might be built . . . or when a decision would be reached.”

After completing excavation at 4 World Trade Center a month ago, the Port Authority on Wednesday finished excavation and foundation work at 3 World Trade Center. Respectively, the sites will be home to Fumihiko Maki’s 64-story, 975-foot minimalist 150 Greenwich Street and Richard Rogers’ 71-story, 1,147-foot 175 Greenwich Street. The Port Authority performed the work pursuant to the agreement that it entered into with Larry Silverstein back in 2006 (whereby Mr. Silverstein turned over the development of the Freedom Tower and Tower 5- the LEED Platinum Beer Belly Building- to the Port Authority in exchange for the right to build a trio of Greenwich Street towers). The Port Authority has now turned the sites back over to Mr. Silverstein after collectively excavating 400,000 tons of concrete, soil, and rock, as well as constructing an 80-foot deep foundation with 240 streel tiebacks.

As we wrote about back in September, Silverstein Properties’ three LEED Gold towers planned for the former World Trade Center site are on the verge of climbing out of Greenwich Street. Today, GlobeSt.com reported that the year-long excavation work for the foundations of Towers 3 and 4 are currently within a few weeks of being [...]