September 28th - October 4th, 2007

September 11th Memorial Fundraising Tour Expanded

October 4^th: After a month traveling to various American towns and cities, the National September 11^th Memorial & Museum has announced that it plans to add 10 more stops to its fundraising tour, according to a report in the Downtown Express.

The traveling exhibition is part of a national outreach effort designed to raise awareness of and funds for the construction of the memorial and museum at Ground Zero. With each stop the public has been invited to sign steel beams that will be used in the construction of the memorial.

The tour has raised nearly $1 million in donations, which brings the memorial's fundraising total to $325 million, the Express reports. The overall goal for total fundraising efforts is $350 million. For more information, please click here.

Renovations to Exceed Purchase Price for Downtown Tower

October 3^rd: The New York Observer reported this week that costs for renovating 375 Pearl Street will likely exceed the $72 million purchase price paid by Taconic Partners to acquire the building. Previously owned by Verizon, the building's 950,000 square feet represents the single biggest existing block of space downtown, according to the Observer's report.

Agreements reached recently allow Verizon to maintain floors 8 through 10 of the building as well as its basement levels, totaling 100,000 square feet. Planned renovations include 360-degree "window-walls," which the Observer reports will provide an "epic view" of downtown, midtown, Brooklyn, and New Jersey to visitors as well as tenants.

Battery Park City Could Welcome NYCs First Green School

September 28^th: Battery Park City officials spoke this week about plans to clear one of the only remaining undeveloped sites downtown in order make way for a highly anticipated new school, according to a report in the Downtown Express. Community members who have been seeking approval for the school for some time now consider its future "a reality," CB1 Chairwoman Julie Menin told the Express.

If plans are finalized without further delay, construction on the project could begin as early as next summer in the southern end of Battery Park City and be complete by 2010. But for the school to truly open by then, everything would have to go "absolutely perfectly," Battery Park City Authority spokeswoman Leticia Remauro told the Express. The "green" school is the first of its kind planned for New York City.