Demolition of Deutsche Building Could Be Delayed
The demolition of one of the last remaining ruins of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, the former Deutsche Bank building, may face more delays after state officials canceled a meeting last week in which some expected a revised deconstruction plan to be presented, sources told the New York Sun.
Two months ago, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Avi Schick, said he hoped the stalled effort to demolish the building would resume in November. That didn't happen, and now the scarred and toxic structure may have won a reprieve at least until the end of the year.
An update posted Thursday on the Web site of a subsidiary agency charged with overseeing the demise of the building at 130 Liberty Street, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, said: "Decontamintation [sic] work will resume likely by late 2007, once a subcontractor for the work has been secured. A revised deconstruction plan will likely be announced by the end of the year."
But some sources involved in downtown development have said they worry the cancellation of a regularly scheduled LMDC board meeting could signal further delays. No official reason was given for the cancellation, sources said.
The board must approve a revised plan before demolition can resume.
LMDC board meetings were held every month starting in 2002. But this year there have only been five board meetings, with the last one on November 8.
Representatives of the LMDC did not respond to requests for comment.
The demolition of the building has been plagued with delays caused by legal battles, construction accidents, and finally a fire in August that took the lives of two firefighters.
After the fire, the fire department became heavily involved in advising the agencies charged with the demolition. As late as last week, the fire commissioner said he had concerns about the deconstruction that the agency was addressing, according to a report in the New York Post.
The investment bank JP Morgan Chase has a deal with the Port Authority to build on the site once the former Deutsche Bank building is torn down.
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