March 17th - March 23rd, 2006

270 Greenwich Construction Underway

Sunday, March 19th: Construction has begun on 270 Greenwich, a self-contained community comprised of condos, rental apartments, a grocery store, bank, gym, book store, and a "forest" with 101 Austrian pines, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill - the firm that designed the Time Warner Center, the New York Times reported. The condos will come replete with deep, 18-foot-high terraces and range in price from $1.2 to $13 million. For more on this story, click here.

Cold War Cache Found in the Brooklyn Bridge

Tuesday, March 21st: Yet another historical discovery was recently made in Lower Manhattan, this time at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge where a cache of Cold War era supplies was discovered during a routine structural inspection, the New York Times reported. The vault, near the East River shoreline of Lower Manhattan, housed medical supplies, paper blankets, water drums that could be reused as commodes, medicine, and approximately 352,000 calorie-packed crackers sealed in watertight metal canisters, the paper continued.

For now, the New York City Department of Transportation has secured the site and will determine what to do with the supplies, with the exception of the drugs, which will be handled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Times reported. Three city officials toured the room, which a number of historians are calling an exceptional find, the paper continued. Columbia University historian TK told the Times; "What surprises me is that we have all these little nooks -- that in this huge city with people crawling everywhere, we can find rooms still filled with stuff, 50 years after the fact."

Stubs of Steel Beams Preserved for WTC Memorial

Wednesday, March 22nd: The thick steel columns that once held the twin towers aloft and were then cut down as quickly as possible to allow rescue workers access in their search for survivors are now being preserved and will be visible and accessible from the WTC Memorial, the New York Times reported. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) is creating temporary egg-crate-style enclosures made from wood, gravel, and rubber to protect what remains of these columns, the paper added.

According to the Times, workers are covering the column remnants with a rubber membrane, on top of which is laid a wood frame which is filled with gravel and covered with another rubber membrane, after which a final layer of plywood is placed on top of the enclosure. William H. Goldstein, executive vice president for construction of the WTC Memorial Foundation, told the paper, "We are taking care. This is more than traffic cones." Some relatives of 9/11 victims do not think the preservation taking place is enough and are suing in the State Supreme Court to halt construction until other designs are considered, the Times added.

WTC Site Talks Resume Between Silverstein and Port Authority

Thursday, March 23rd: Amidst reports of a stalemate, ground zero developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have resumed negotiations over the planned development of the World Trade Center site, Newsday, the Daily News, and the New York Sun reported. Little progress was reported in the past week of negotiations, with all three papers announcing no progress had been made at the bargaining table. But on Wednesday, Governor George Pataki asked both parties to act in "good faith," and his plea appears to have had some effect. Formal face-to-face discussions have resumed, the Sun reported, and at this point, the two parties have essentially agreed that Silverstein will retain three office towers and the Port Authority will take over the construction of the Freedom Tower and a second tower, the Daily News added.

According to Newsday, the Port Authority presented Silverstein with a proposal on Wednesday and Port Authority spokesman John McCarthy announced, "Our interest is to expedite the rebuilding, and create a definite timeline that also ensures long-term financial viability at the site." Silverstein announced, "It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. I believe that failure is not an option, and I hope everyone at the Port Authority agrees," Newsday reported. Questioned on the issue, Mayor Michael Bloomberg added, "In the end these guys will all come to an agreement. There's a lot of money involved. There's a lot of political and public pressure involved, and I think they all want to do what's right," the paper reported.