Construction on two towers at the World Trade Center, designed by Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki, will begin this week—or by the end of the month, depending on whom you believe, and whether or not you consider test blasts to represent the start of foundation work. A March 13 article in the New York Post says “this week,” whereas The New York Sun wrote that it would be “later this month” when workers begin “foundation work” following this week’s test blasts. Both papers were reporting on remarks made by developer Larry Silverstein during a speech at the New York Building Congress, where he said of the project, “We have finally reached the day when we are able to hand the ball to you in the design and construction industry.” The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave Silverstein control of the sites for World Trade Center Towers 3 and 4 in February. As RECORD reported, Silverstein unveiled designs for these buildings, which are due to rise 1,174 feet and 975 feet, respectively, in September. At that time he also unveiled Norman Foster’s design for Tower 2, a 1,270-foot-tall building that Silverstein said yesterday would top out in 2011, a year after the other two towers. Work will finish on all three towers by December 2012. Speaking on Thursday, the Post reported, Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Shorris said that “in the coming months, there will be as many as 10,000 construction workers at the site, calling the project ‘an incredible construction machine.’” Doubtless that Silverstein is also hoping his real estate brokers will be working equally as hard to find tenants. The Sun wrote that Silverstein expects to “leapfrog” over a market slowdown: “At the moment we are going through a much more difficult time, and presumably by the time these buildings are done those circumstances will be well be behind us.”

Listen to a podcast of these headlines and more.
Click the play button to begin | Click here to download