A performing arts center at Ground Zero got some support yesterday when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved an agreement in which New York City will reimburse it for up to $44 million for building foundations and infrastructure for the center.
The authority and the city support the plan for the center, but the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has been campaigning for the center to be located on the site of the former Deutsch Bank Building at 130 Liberty Street on the south side of Ground Zero. Demolition of the bank building, which was damaged in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been delayed for several years.
Under the master plan for the rebuilding of Ground Zero, the performing arts center, a model of which by Gehry Partners is show at the right, would be located on the north side of ground Zero.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation controls $50 million in federal funds that have been earmarked for the performing arts center.
"An outside consultant retained by the city has estimated that the cost of building the arts center at more than $540 million, according to one downtown officials," an article by Robin Pogrebin in today's edition of The New York Times said, adding that "The architect Frank Gehry has completed a design for the performing arts center, which is to be occupied by the Joyce Theater" that is now located in Chelsea.
The authority's vote, the article continued, "ensures the construction of columns and other elements necessary to build something at the site - an area bounded by Fulton, Greenwich, Vesey and Washington Streets. If an arts center became unfeasible, for any reason, an office building could also be built using the foundation, officials said."
The article quoted a spokesman for the authority, Steve Coleman, as stating that "It's our full intention that a performing arts center will be built on that location."
An article by Erica Orden in yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal quoted Kate D. Levin, the city's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, as stating that "this is what we've been talking about with some urgency for a while now," adding that "this will hopefully trigger some seriously increased momentum in terms of trying to create timetables to execute other parts of this plan."
"Work on the footings and foundation is especially time-sensitive because it must be completed while the Port Authority is performing track work on the PATH lines that run across the site," the article noted.
"From a technical point of view this is absolutely critical, because it's always been our contention that if the PATH system is built without the foundations for the PAC [performing-arts center, you'd never be able to go back and build it," said Andrew Winters, director of the Mayor's Office of Capital Project Development. "We would have forever lost the opportunity to build the PAC."
"In June 2004," the article continued, "the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and its city and state partners offered space on the site to the Joyce along with three other cultural institutions - the International Freedom Center (IFC), the Signature Theatre, and the Drawing Center. In August 2005, the LMDC announced that the Drawing Center would explore other downtown locations as alternatives to the WTC site in response to controversy surrounding the cultural complex. A month later, then-Governor George Pataki announced that the IFC would not have a place at the cultural center planned for the WTC site, saying that the events of 9/11 should be the sole focus of whatever cultural institution finds a home there. In March 2007, the city announced that the Signature Theatre, an Off-Broadway theater on West 42nd Street, would not move into the WTC center due to logistical issues."
The authority and the city support the plan for the center, but the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has been campaigning for the center to be located on the site of the former Deutsch Bank Building at 130 Liberty Street on the south side of Ground Zero. Demolition of the bank building, which was damaged in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been delayed for several years.
Under the master plan for the rebuilding of Ground Zero, the performing arts center, a model of which by Gehry Partners is show at the right, would be located on the north side of ground Zero.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation controls $50 million in federal funds that have been earmarked for the performing arts center.
"An outside consultant retained by the city has estimated that the cost of building the arts center at more than $540 million, according to one downtown officials," an article by Robin Pogrebin in today's edition of The New York Times said, adding that "The architect Frank Gehry has completed a design for the performing arts center, which is to be occupied by the Joyce Theater" that is now located in Chelsea.
The authority's vote, the article continued, "ensures the construction of columns and other elements necessary to build something at the site - an area bounded by Fulton, Greenwich, Vesey and Washington Streets. If an arts center became unfeasible, for any reason, an office building could also be built using the foundation, officials said."
The article quoted a spokesman for the authority, Steve Coleman, as stating that "It's our full intention that a performing arts center will be built on that location."
An article by Erica Orden in yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal quoted Kate D. Levin, the city's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, as stating that "this is what we've been talking about with some urgency for a while now," adding that "this will hopefully trigger some seriously increased momentum in terms of trying to create timetables to execute other parts of this plan."
"Work on the footings and foundation is especially time-sensitive because it must be completed while the Port Authority is performing track work on the PATH lines that run across the site," the article noted.
"From a technical point of view this is absolutely critical, because it's always been our contention that if the PATH system is built without the foundations for the PAC [performing-arts center, you'd never be able to go back and build it," said Andrew Winters, director of the Mayor's Office of Capital Project Development. "We would have forever lost the opportunity to build the PAC."
"In June 2004," the article continued, "the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and its city and state partners offered space on the site to the Joyce along with three other cultural institutions - the International Freedom Center (IFC), the Signature Theatre, and the Drawing Center. In August 2005, the LMDC announced that the Drawing Center would explore other downtown locations as alternatives to the WTC site in response to controversy surrounding the cultural complex. A month later, then-Governor George Pataki announced that the IFC would not have a place at the cultural center planned for the WTC site, saying that the events of 9/11 should be the sole focus of whatever cultural institution finds a home there. In March 2007, the city announced that the Signature Theatre, an Off-Broadway theater on West 42nd Street, would not move into the WTC center due to logistical issues."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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