Governor Cuomo and the St. Nicholas ChurchBehind closed doors, Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing to rebuild the St. Nicholas Church at the former site of the Deutsche Bank Building, sources told the New York Post, even though it could severely delay construction of the World Trade Center site.

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey wanted the church to be rebuilt at 155 Cedar Street, where it stood before being destroyed during the Sept. 11 attacks. Church leaders initially thought the new structure would be built one block away at 130 Liberty Street, but the Port Authority wanted to negotiate a land swap so that it could be built at the Cedar Street site. [more]

A Manhattan jury today acquitted a senior construction supervisor of wrongdoing in the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported. The supervisor, Jeffrey Melofchik, had been on trial for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, among several other charges, and was one of three supervisors charged in connection with the case. An asbestos abatement supervisor at the building was found not guilty of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment by the same jury yesterday. Melofchik had been working as a site safety manager for Bovis Lend Lease at the time of the fire, and was accused of failing to fix a faulty standpipe that would have otherwise allowed the two men who died to get water while fighting the blaze. [more]

The construction of World Trade Center Towers 2 and 3 and the Deutsche Bank building, is one of the few remaining ambiguities from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the Wall Street Journal, now that Osama bin Laden has been captured and killed. While towers 1 and 4 reach 64-stories and 23-stories, respectively, and continue to rise at about a floor per week in advance of their 2013 openings, the other two planned buildings are little more than pits at Ground Zero. Much of the problems come from financing. Silverstein Properties, which is leading the development of the site, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site, have repeatedly pushed back issuing bonds to finance the project as the debt becomes increasingly pricey. [more]

An ex-employee of the construction firm blamed for the deaths of two firefighters in 2007′s Deutsche Bank Building blaze is getting out of prison soon after serving his minimum two-and-a-half-year sentence, according to the Post. The former John Galt Corp. purchasing agent, Robert Chiarappa, wasn’t charged with manslaughter, but instead was revealed to have stolen $1.2 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and Arch Insurance Group during the building’s deconstruction project after authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. [more]

Ground Zero’s planned performing arts center is slated to clear another hurdle today if, as expected, the board of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey approves a funding agreement with the city for the building’s below-ground infrastructure. Under the agreement, the agency would be reimbursed by the city for the cost of construction for the footings and foundations — an estimated $44 million. The money would likely be drawn from a $50 million fund controlled by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The LMDC has been pushing to move the arts center to the site of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street, which it owns and where it believes the project would be cheaper. But the city wants to stick to Frank Gehry’s original site plans, which has the center situated between Fulton, Greenwich, Vesey and Washington streets, and the Port Authority would have to agree to a site change. But despite that tension, Linda Shelton of the Joyce Theater, the arts center’s anchor tenants, said she believes today’s discussion about the funding is a tangible sign that the project is moving forward. [NYT]

[more]

Ground Zero’s planned performing arts center is slated to clear another hurdle today if, as expected, the board of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey approves a funding agreement with the city for the building’s below-ground infrastructure. Under the agreement, the agency would be reimbursed by the city for the cost of construction for the footings and foundations — an estimated $44 million. The money would likely be drawn from a $50 million fund controlled by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The LMDC has been pushing to move the arts center to the site of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street, which it owns and where it believes the project would be cheaper. But the city wants to stick to Frank Gehry’s original site plans, which has the center situated between Fulton, Greenwich, Vesey and Washington streets, and the Port Authority would have to agree to a site change. But despite that tension, Linda Shelton of the Joyce Theater, the arts center’s anchor tenants, said she believes today’s discussion about the funding is a tangible sign that the project is moving forward. [NYT]

[more]

The latest target in New York University’s 20-year, 6 million-square-foot expansion plan is Lower Manhattan — specifically, Tower 5 at the rebuilt World Trade Center, according to the Post. The 1.3 million-square-foot building is planned for the site of the former Deutsche Bank building, which is still in the process of being demolished. The Port Authority hasn’t yet found a developer for the project; it’s seeking someone to build either an office tower or a hotel and housing high-rise. Last week, NYU Vice President Lynne Brown wrote to the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. asking for a meeting to discuss which sites might be available, citing Tower 5 as a space community officials have suggested as a potential university outpost. NYU officials are already targeting Downtown Brooklyn, a First Avenue corridor near the university’s medical center and Governors Island as possible areas for the expansion. [Post]

[more]

The latest target in New York University’s 20-year, 6 million-square-foot expansion plan is Lower Manhattan — specifically, Tower 5 at the rebuilt World Trade Center, according to the Post. The 1.3 million-square-foot building is planned for the site of the former Deutsche Bank building, which is still in the process of being demolished. The Port Authority hasn’t yet found a developer for the project; it’s seeking someone to build either an office tower or a hotel and housing high-rise. Last week, NYU Vice President Lynne Brown wrote to the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. asking for a meeting to discuss which sites might be available, citing Tower 5 as a space community officials have suggested as a potential university outpost. NYU officials are already targeting Downtown Brooklyn, a First Avenue corridor near the university’s medical center and Governors Island as possible areas for the expansion. [Post]

[more]

Bovis Lend Lease is working overtime at 130 Liberty Street, according to the Downtown Express, where the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building has been plagued by delays. The crew has added an extra shift each day to the project, extending the workday by seven hours, as crews work from 7 a.m. to midnight on weekdays. As of late last year, the crew had demolished just two of the remaining floors, raising doubts over whether the job would be completed by the end of 2010, the set deadline for the job. A recent estimate pegged the cost of the demolition at around $300 million.

The crane company charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide this week for a 2008 crane collapse on the Upper East Side is still operating three tower cranes in New York City, according to the Downtown Express. The cranes, located at the World Trade Center site, the former Deutsche Bank building and at Milstein Properties’ Liberty Luxe condo in Battery Park City, are inspected regularly and are a different type than the one that killed two and injured one when it collapsed during the construction of the Azure condominium on East 91st Street in May 2008, the Department of Buildings said. The operator, New York Crane & Equipment, was indicted along with owner James Lomma and former mechanic Tibor Varganyi and pleaded guilty to the charges Monday. [Downtown Express]