The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced today that it had reached an agreement with the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church to allow the 92-year-old church to be rebuilt near its former location at the World Trade Center site.
The agreement also resolves a key issue - one of the 15 fundamental issues identified in last month's Port Authority World Trade Center Assessment -- that will allow construction to proceed on the Vehicle Security Center, a key component of the redevelopment plans for Ground Zero.
The agreement moves the site of the church from 155 Cedar Street, where it had been destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to 130 Liberty Church. The agreement has the church convey the Cedar Street property to the Lower Manhattan Development Corppration that will then transfer that property, 140 Liberty Street and a portion of 130 Liberty Street to the authority for construction of "South Bathtub" that will house the Vehicle Security Center.
The church will receive up to $20 million, half from the authority and the remainder, according to its press release, from from "a third party as part of a future development agreement for the Tower 5 site and the authority will also provide an additional $20 million, up to a maximum of $40 million, to build the infrastructure need to support the church on top of the Vehicle Security Center."
As a result of this agreement, the Board approved an $88.6 million contract with the joint venture of E.E. Cruz & Co. and Nicholson, LLC for construction of the walls of the South Bathtub south of the existing World Trade Center site, which will be used ultimately to house the vehicle screening facility and parking for approximately 28 tour buses. The new South Bathtub will be bounded by Liberty, Greenwich, Cedar and West streets.
Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, "This agreement with the Greek Church brings to a successful close months of negotiations on an issue that, left unresolved, would have affected the successful construction progress we've made in the past two years and the future work we need to do at the World Trade Center site. It represents the Port Authority's firm resolve to do what is necessary to advance the rebuilding process as quickly as possible."
Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said, "Resolving this lynchpin issue in a matter of weeks is a concrete example of the new way of doing business at the World Trade Center site. Much more remains to be done, but this agreement represents an important step forward."
A spokesman for the authority said that Mr. Ward indicated in remarks following the meeting of its board that the Tower 5 site will not be built with a large, 7-story-high bulge for trading floors over the church as previously planned by Kohn Pedersen Fox for JPMorgan Chase before it acquired Bear Stearns recently and its existing skyscraper at 383 Madison Avenue.
The future development of the Tower 5 site where the former Deutsche Bank Building is still being demolished is not presently clear.
The agreement also resolves a key issue - one of the 15 fundamental issues identified in last month's Port Authority World Trade Center Assessment -- that will allow construction to proceed on the Vehicle Security Center, a key component of the redevelopment plans for Ground Zero.
The agreement moves the site of the church from 155 Cedar Street, where it had been destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to 130 Liberty Church. The agreement has the church convey the Cedar Street property to the Lower Manhattan Development Corppration that will then transfer that property, 140 Liberty Street and a portion of 130 Liberty Street to the authority for construction of "South Bathtub" that will house the Vehicle Security Center.
The church will receive up to $20 million, half from the authority and the remainder, according to its press release, from from "a third party as part of a future development agreement for the Tower 5 site and the authority will also provide an additional $20 million, up to a maximum of $40 million, to build the infrastructure need to support the church on top of the Vehicle Security Center."
As a result of this agreement, the Board approved an $88.6 million contract with the joint venture of E.E. Cruz & Co. and Nicholson, LLC for construction of the walls of the South Bathtub south of the existing World Trade Center site, which will be used ultimately to house the vehicle screening facility and parking for approximately 28 tour buses. The new South Bathtub will be bounded by Liberty, Greenwich, Cedar and West streets.
Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, "This agreement with the Greek Church brings to a successful close months of negotiations on an issue that, left unresolved, would have affected the successful construction progress we've made in the past two years and the future work we need to do at the World Trade Center site. It represents the Port Authority's firm resolve to do what is necessary to advance the rebuilding process as quickly as possible."
Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said, "Resolving this lynchpin issue in a matter of weeks is a concrete example of the new way of doing business at the World Trade Center site. Much more remains to be done, but this agreement represents an important step forward."
A spokesman for the authority said that Mr. Ward indicated in remarks following the meeting of its board that the Tower 5 site will not be built with a large, 7-story-high bulge for trading floors over the church as previously planned by Kohn Pedersen Fox for JPMorgan Chase before it acquired Bear Stearns recently and its existing skyscraper at 383 Madison Avenue.
The future development of the Tower 5 site where the former Deutsche Bank Building is still being demolished is not presently clear.
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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