Port Authority OKs $492M for Freedom Tower projects

[Doondoo]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today approved more than $492 million worth of early-stage construction projects for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, financially advancing a project officially endorsed this week by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The projects include ventilation, electrical, plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and concrete for the structure's 200-foot-high, security-reinforced base, agency officials said.

The Port Authority pegged the overall cost of the site's 1,776-foot, signature skyscraper at $2.88 billion, with completion anticipated in 2012. The Port Authority took control of the project last year from developer Larry Silverstein, who will now develop three other smaller skyscrapers instead at the former World Trade Center site.

Spitzer, who once called the Freedom Tower a "white elephant," reversed course on Tuesday, saying a review showed "the best and wisest" course now is to proceed with the current design. Improvements in recent months within the city's commercial real-estate market played a large role in the decision, Spitzer said.

Seven columns for the tower's southern facade have been sunk and much of the concrete foundation already has been poured.


http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/02/port_authority_oks_492m_for_fr.html

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Fuck this

Why is Spitzer flip flopping on the "Freedom Tower"? While I support building something tall and iconic, it should be renamed and redesigned. "Freedom Tower" sounds like hubris.

[razors edge]

2. But you will be able to get

Freedom Fries there. :sarcasm:

[sakabatou]

3. Why not some "Victory Gin" with those fries.

[razors edge]

4. Great news

brother. The chocolate rations are up from 5oz to 3oz.

[davepc]

5. fuck that hole in the ground that has been sitting there for 5+ years under REPUBLICAN

incompetence to get something built.

[razors edge]

6. All port authorities

seam to be some unaccountable coop of industry and government.

I don't remember being allowed to vote for their membership here in Toledo.

I doubt * gives a shit what they do in NY as long as they invite him and his ilk for the grand opening.

[davepc]

7. those bureaucracy's work better when pushed by real leadership like Spitzer

instead of bungling Republican incompetents like Pataki and Bloomberg.

It's no surprise to me Governor Spitzer is kicking some asses to move the project along while his predecessor failed at every level to manage the ground zero rebuilding.

[Javaman]

8. So how much will it really cost us?

What will be the cost overrun of this colossal monument to stupidity?

The people involved will be filling their pockets with cash and using the memory of people that were killed on 9/11 as their modus operandi.

another pet project brought to you by the inventors of HLS - who's motto is: "bilking the public one dollar at a time".

I get so tired of living in an alternative universe.