February 2nd - February 8th, 2013

Fresh Push to Sell 1 WTC to Global Tenants

January 23 - The Durst Organization and Cushman and Wakefield have published a new 48-page brochure to underscore to perspective tenants that 1 World Trade Center is the world's signature address for business, reported Real Estate Weekly. In addition, Cushman and Wakefield will further its global marketing campaign of 1 WTC office space with a feature video that will debut in 60 countries. This video will be shown in the 253 Cushman and Wakefield office reception areas around the world. Already 55-percent leased with a year to go before first occupancy, the tower will serve as headquarters for Conde Nast, the global publisher, which has leased more than 1.2 million square feet at the building covering 25 floors. It will also house the Vantone China Center and the U.S. General Services Administration. The three-million-square-foot, state-of-the-art office tower was designed by the world-class architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

LMDC Authorizes First Funds for West Thames Bridge and WTC PAC

February 4 - The board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation voted on January 31 to allocate funds for two projects that downtown residents have long anticipated: the West Thames Street pedestrian bridge and the World Trade Center Performing Center. The Broadsheet reported that LMDC president David Emil said the LMDC has set aside $20 million for the bridge, $2 million to be transferred to the Battery Park City Authority for environmental review and design work. Environmental clearance is anticipated for June of this year. City EDC officials said in December that they hope to break ground on this project by the end of 2013, and open the new bridge in mid-2015. Also at the meeting, the LMDC board authorized $1 million to enable to the Performing Arts Center planned for the World Trade Center complex to begin hiring staff and working on additional design work. These funds (out of a promised LMDC allocation of $100 million, against an overall project budget of more than $450 million) are intended to help the project meet the goal of breaking ground by 2017, and a hope-for completion date of 2019.

Michael Kors Adds WTC Accessories Store to New York Lineup

February 4 - Michael Kors may haveannouncedthe brands largest store to date last week-- a 17,000-square-foot flagship in the heart of Soho -- but the megabrand was not done signing leases. Another new shop is in the works for Brookfield Place, formerly known as the World Financial Center. At 1,700 square feet, the shop will be a jewel box dedicated to accessories. WWD reportsthat Brookfield Place will have a Fifth Avenue-like shopping corridor several blocks long, facing the 9/11 Memorial. Overall, Michael Kors is a strong brand to sign on to the project, and sets a very promising tone for Brookfield. A decade ago, stores at the World Trade Center were doing $1,000 a square foot, said Edward Hogan, the national director of retail leasing for Brookfield Place. Our stores will average $1,900 a square foot.

Pier A Project Delayed by Sandy; No Completion Date in Sight

February 6 - At the Community Board 1 Battery Park City Committee this week, Matthew Monahan, a BPCA spokesman summarized recent developments in the ongoing restoration of Pier A, the 1886 dock on the border between Battery Park City and Battery Park, which the BPCA has been refurbishing as a restaurant destination since 2008. The Broadsheet reported that the project, already troubled by cost overruns related to worse-than-expected damage to its underwater supports (discovered in 2011), suffered a more recent setback from the impact of Hurricane Sandy in October. "We were only about 60 days before the completion of the restoration of the core and shell," BPCA spokesman Matthew Monahan said. "We're now progressing on the second and third stories, while having to catch up to where we were before the storm with electrical and mechanical units on the first level." Monahan was unable to estimate how much time this work would take beyond the original, January 1 deadline for turning the structure over the Poulakakis Organization.

A Plan Aims to Reconnect Residents With the East River Waterfront

February 6 - As New Yorkers have watched the waterfront around Manhattan open up in recent years, one stretch has lagged: the East River waterfront, especially from the Brooklyn Bridge north to 38th Street, where the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive impedes access, bike lanes are squeezed by development and, now in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, storm surges threaten parkland. According to the New York Times, a new blueprint for that section, called the East River Blueway Plan, will be announced on Thursday by the Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, in his annual state of the borough speech. The plan, which involved public meetings with dozens of community groups and consultations with seven city and state agencies, lays out various ways to reconnect residents with the riverfront. While there is no pot of money set aside to pay for all of the proposals, Stringer has pledged $3.5 million in capital funding toward new marshlands detailed in the plan. Both Stringer, who is running for City Comptroller office, and Brian Kavanagh, the New York state assemblyman who collaborated on the report, expect that other elements could be financed gradually while the storm protections could receive a boost from the billions in federal money that was recently allocated in response to Hurricane Sandy.

Tozzoli, Who Led World Trade Center Team, Dies

February 7 - Guy Tozzoli, an official with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who supervised the development of the original NYC World Trade Center and then witnessed its destruction, has died at age 90, reported the Associated Press. Tozzoli died Saturday in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His death was announced by the World Trade Centers Association, an organization dedicated to furthering global trade that he founded in 1970 and led for four decades. As director of WTC Development for the Port Authority in the 1960s, Tozzoli oversaw the design and construction of the 110-story towers that were the world's tallest buildings from their dedication in 1973 until the terrorist attack that felled them. Tozzoli was credited with bringing Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki to the project. He also fought for the famous Windows on the World restaurant to be included in the north tower, and it was his idea to use the dirt excavated for the trade center as landfill to build Battery Park City. Tozzoli joined the Port Authority in 1946 and was given the task of planning and building the WTC in 1962. He coordinated construction of the massive project and then focused on leasing it. Tozzoli retired from the Port Authority in 1986 but maintained an office at the trade center, where the agency was headquartered. He spent three hours trapped in a staircase when terrorists set off a truck bomb in 1993. Tozzoli was about to enter the Holland Tunnel heading into Manhattan from New Jersey when hijacked planes struck the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. He saw the smoking north tower and then watched in horror as the second plane hit the south tower, destroying the project that had been his lifes work.