July 6th - July 10th, 2009

Large Concrete Pour Shapes One WTC

July 6 – The base of the large fountain at One WTC is beginning to take shape, after a large concrete pour. More than 250,000 gallons of concrete were laid down over 14 hours last Tuesday; the concrete was brought in by 125 trucks.  The Port Authority videotaped the milestone; you can see the two minute video on their website- www.panynj.gov.

Demolition Schedule to Begin Soon

July 6- Demolition of the damaged Fiterman Hall building is scheduled to start this month. Officials told The Tribeca Trib the building will be demolished by November; at that point, construction will begin on the new building and take about two and half years to complete.

Leasing Activity Declines

July 6 – The Lower Manhattan office market appears to be faring better than Midtown in the second quarter according to the latest report by Jones Lang LaSalle. It puts the vacancy rate at 10.8 percent compared with 15 percent in Midtown. Leasing activity however, is down sharply in Lower Manhattan with only three leases signed so far this year. Rental rates in Lower Manhattan for Class A buildings are about $46.21, down about 4.2 percent from the first quarter.

PA and Silverstein Near Arbitration

July 7- Developer Larry Silverstein blamed the Port Authority for the delays at the WTC site and said the authority’s failures are the reason he can’t get financing for the three office towers at the site. Silverstein said the PA has reneged on its 2006 Master Development Agreement. The accusations come after more than two months of high level meetings- an attempt by Mayor Bloomberg to break an impasse between the two sides. The Mayor issued a statement saying, “not everyone worked as hard as necessary to find a solution. A solution exists and we will not stop working until we get there.” The Port Authority put the blame back on Silverstein saying he walked away from the table because the public is unwilling to sacrifice critical transportation projects to subsidize speculative office space.” Silverstein is demanding that within the next two weeks, the PA detail how it will fix the problems at Ground Zero; he also wants the dispute to go to arbitration.

BMI Signs Downtown Lease

July 7 – BMI, Broadcast Music Inc., is leasing 58,000 square feet at 7 WTC according to The New York Post. BMI is moving its employees downtown from their current location on West 57^th Street. How much BMI is paying wasn’t released, but one report said Silverstein is asking more than $70 a square foot for space in the building.

FDIC Signs Midtown Lease

July 7 – The FDIC signed a 10 year lease at the Empire State Building, uprooting itself and 250 employees from its office at 20 Exchange Place. Elected officials in Lower Manhattan told The New York Observer the move will affect the financial district and the financial industry.