Moving right along from our look at Freedom Tower ... Can it be? Is construction at the World Trade Center actually happening? It appears so. Following the Port Authority's new-and-improved plan, Curbed dispatched its recon team for an on-site progress check . Here's the first in our four-part constructoporn report.
Now here's the rub: The cost of the 800,000 square foot Transportation Hub -- including architect Santiago Calatrava's clipped bird of a PATH station and its various connectors to Battery Park City, the MTA's Fulton Transit Center and beyond -- has skyrocketed higher than the highest star as the "Central Station for Lower Manhattan" faces the not-so-sweet music of these uncertain economic times. The Port Authority's initial $2.5 billion price tag turns out to have been chump change when levied against the latest guesstimate, which allows for, amongst others, an extra $75 million in costs associated with the "loss of Hub construction productivity and additional construction for the deck directly attributable to delivering the Memorial Plaza on September 11, 2011." See also: $591 million worth of security measures in order to protect the 500,000 square feet premium retail space. So much square footage to fill, so little time! Santiago's 47 steel spine-like arches won't see the light of day for much longer; a steel roof will soon be installed over top the east west connector, effectively burying it forevermore.
· World Trade Center progress report [Port Authority]
· World Trade Center coverage [Curbed]
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