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City, state officials joined Goldman Sachs in breaking ground for new headquarters
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Ceremonial shovels dug into the plot at West and Vesey Streets on November 29, heralding the start of construction on a glimmering new 43-story tower that will serve as Goldman Sachs's world headquarters come 2009. The groundbreaking drew regional VIPs who praised the banking and trading firm for reinvesting in Lower Manhattan -- its home neighborhood since it was founded in 1869.
"With this new building, Goldman Sachs is making the kind of commitment that ensures that Lower Manhattan will remain a center of global commerce in the 21st century," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The mayor was joined by Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Battery Park City Authority Chair James Gill, and Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson Jr., as well as leaders from the Port Authority, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Silverstein Properties, Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, and other local and regional agencies.
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| The tower will rise at West Street between Vesey and Murray Streets, northwest of the WTC |
Also at the ceremony were Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose attendance helped mark the significance of Goldman Sachs's commitment to the area's recovery.
"Let it be a metaphor for businesses and workers who want to return to Lower Manhattan -- if Goldman wants to be downtown, so should many other companies," Schumer said. "Today's groundbreaking is a heartening step forward."
Goldman Sachs estimates that 9,000 employees, or about 75 percent of its workforce, will work in the new tower when it opens in four years. The company projects that 4,000 more jobs will be added by 2019, with more possible through the term of its 23-year lease in Battery Park City.
"We vowed [on September 11th] that Lower Manhattan was going to remain…the financial capital of the world," Pataki said. "Since that time, we've made enormous strides toward turning that concept into a reality. Over the course of the next two to three months, you will see literally $9.9 billion of construction activity underway, right here in Lower Manhattan…And we are today affirming the fact that Lower Manhattan is the financial capital of the world and will be for a long, long time."
As incentive for the tower's construction, the state and city offered Goldman Sachs a $115 million incentive package that includes $25 million in Job Creation and Retention Program funds and sales-tax exemption on construction costs and equipment purchases. The company also was given more than $1.6 billion in Liberty Bonds -- part of the federal government's $20 billion aid package to New York following 9/11.
"[These] incentives actually make sound economic sense, because they cost just a tiny fraction of the tax revenues New Yorkers will realize from this investment," Bloomberg said. "In fact, Goldman Sachs will generate nearly $8 billion in direct and indirect tax revenues for the state and the city over the life of this deal. And the project will begin to have a strong economic benefit for our city right away in the form of thousands of construction jobs."
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| The 43-story tower will open in 2009 |
Led by architect Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, the new building's design will fill its glass and stainless-steel exterior with 2.1 million gross square feet. Six high-tech trading floors and three floors of meeting and amenity spaces will comprise its base, followed by 30 floors of office space.
Cobb also is designing the tower to earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification, meaning it will be built using the latest green-building technologies. Upon completion, it will be one of the country's largest commercial structures to feature such high-performance environmental sustainability.
"By planning a building that will be awarded the gold standard of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, you too are making a very tangible commitment to the kind of future that we need to have in New York and around the world," Clinton said, addressing Goldman Sachs's executives.
At street level around the new tower, Goldman Sachs will create a pedestrian area lined with retail space and reconnect walkways to surrounding buildings, shopping areas, and Hudson River Park.
Other company contributions to the neighborhood include $3.5 million for a New York Public Library branch and $1 million for a community center within a residential tower.
Work on the 740-foot-tall tower officially began today, with backhoes and other major machinery in full swing to start excavation.
The tower's construction marks the final commercial development in Battery Park City.
Visit the Project Update page of LowerManhattan.info/constructionin the coming weeks to learn more about the building's construction progress.
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