Annual Report 2011

Page 2

Nearly 10 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the World Trade Center redevelopment is now progressing at a breathtaking pace. Each day, thousands of construction workers report to duty and are hard at work on virtually every aspect of the master plan. The site’s signature projects are taking shape, providing New Yorkers and the world with glimpses of Lower Manhattan’s spectacular future.

Finishing touches are being applied to the centerpiece and emotional heart of the redevelopment-the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which will open on the 10th anniversary. One World Trade Center, an iconic, 1776 foot-tall skyscraper, is well past the midway point in its ascent up to 105 floors. Across the way, 4 World Trade Center has also pierced downtown's burgeoning new skyline. In 2013, these modern towers will join 7 World Trade Center and the new Goldman Sachs building as the central components of what is quickly becoming the world's greenest and most technologically advanced commercial district.

Looking back to 2001 amid the chaos, rubble, and unprecedented destruction, there were those who said that Lower Manhattan was finished, that residents and businesses would flee the neighborhood in droves, never to return.

They doubted New York's resolve and claimed that its public and private sector leaders no longer possessed the capacity to "think big" or carry out massive, city-shaping projects.

The men and women of the design, construction, and real estate industry never wavered in their belief that the area could be reborn even stronger than before. Consistently optimistic, patriotic, and determined, New York's building community joined top public officials and downtown leaders in pledging their unfailing support and cooperation in creating a new and even more dynamic Lower Manhattan, anchored by a fully revitalized World Trade Center.

Walking through Lower Manhattan today, one is greeted at every turn by working professionals, young families, and students, as well as some of the six million tourists who visit each year. The downtown population has doubled over the past decade, with residents attracted to converted lofts and new buildings. Retailers large and small, as well as restaurants, are opening on a seemingly daily basis.

Major financial firms have recommitted to the world's historic center of commerce, and they are being joined by a diverse range of cutting-edge companies.

No analysis of downtown's remarkable recovery and ongoing transformation would be complete without recognizing the enormous impact of the building community. For every milestone attained and every challenge overcome, there is a cross-section of the design, construction, and real estate industry that helped make it happen.

To follow is an all-too-brief summary of the building community's response to the World Trade Center attack and its enormous contributions to the rebuilding.

Rescue, Recovery, and Clean-Up

Within minutes of the terrorist attacks, unionized construction sites shut down all over the City, as steel workers, carpenters, engineers, and others from the industry rushed to Ground Zero out of a compelling sense of duty. In the initial stages, more than 10,000 union members volunteered their skills in the rescue and recovery.

In the ensuing weeks and months, more than 2,000 union workers per day were employed in an around-the-clock effort to remove more than two million tons of debris.

The contracting community also stepped up to take charge of the clean-up. The City's largest contractors eagerly volunteered for duty when the City called upon them and worked for months based on a handshake. They remained at Ground Zero even when it became apparent that insurance protection was not immediately forthcoming. In short, they risked their quality of life and their livelihoods in order to help the victims, their City, and their nation. In doing so, they met awesome challenges and unending obstacles at the site with astonishing efficiency.

In addition to union labor and the four major contractors tapped to lead the effort, the professionalism and spirit of cooperation exhibited by the many subcontractors brought in at various stages of the job contributed to the work being completed safely, ahead of schedule, and under budget.

New York City's engineering community also played a pivotal role throughout the rescue, recovery, and clean-up. At great personal risk, a wave of engineers immediately volunteered to monitor the stability of distressed buildings, which enabled the fire department and contractors to safely begin conducting searches. They also helped determine the order of debris removal and created a safe environment for workers and emergency personnel.

"The building industry's efforts after 9/11 epitomized New York City's resolve, its selflessness, and its respect for human dignity," said New York Building Congress Chairman Peter A. Marchetto. "Despite the treacherous nature of the job, the industry accomplished its task without incident and in the most honorable manner imaginable."

Governor Pataki, speaking at a New York Building Congress luncheon to salute Ground Zero workers in 2002, remarked, "It was absolutely extraordinary how the construction industry came together after September 11. There is not another place in the world where we could have seen such a response."

The Road to Revitalization

While all eyes were focused on Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, a group of leading New York architects and urban planners were quietly assembling to tackle the challenge of what must come after. Task forces quickly emerged to examine all aspects of the rebuilding, starting with such immediate priorities as the full restoration of Lower Manhattan's mass transit, power, and telecommunications systems. This work, initiated well before the creation of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., allowed that organization to hit the ground running.

From those initial task forces arose a pro-bono coalition, dubbed New York New Visions, whose mission was to create a roadmap for the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. This coalition, which eventually grew to include 400 design and planning professionals from two dozen New York City-based organizations, issued a comprehensive set of principles and priorities within four months of the terrorist attacks.

They believed that New York City must strive to create the world's most dynamic, 24/7 live-work community and that the new World Trade Center should be reconnected and seamlessly integrated into the surrounding streetscape.

The coalition's recommendations, which helped inform the official master planning effort, included the initiation of an open process; a dedicated, permanent memorial as the centerpiece of the rebuilt site; the creation of a more interconnected and iconic transit network; cultivation of new open spaces; and integration of waterfront resources.

"The design and planning community came together in a remarkable display of civic pride, collaboration, and shared purpose," said former Building Congress Chairman Marilyn Jordan Taylor. "Even more uplifting, however, was the incredible response of ordinary New Yorkers who saw the process as an opportunity to think about and express their hopes for New York's future. That civic engagement in the planning process is one of the greatest legacies of our collective response to the attacks."

Remembrance and Support

In the days and months after the World Trade Center attack, the New York Building Foundation raised more than $350,000 from member employees, firms, and other industry colleagues for its World Trade Center Memorial Fund. A large majority of the money raised was then distributed directly to surviving family members of building industry workers and uniformed personnel who perished on September 11, 2001. The Building Foundation also donated $100,000 directly to the foundation charged with building and operating the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum. This contribution, made on behalf of the entire industry, is on top of the tens of millions of dollars in donations from individual members and firms from the design, construction, and real estate industry.

In addition, the New York Building Foundation hosted a tribute in November 2002 to the 166 men and women from the building trades, engineering, architecture, and other building disciplines who were lost in the tragic attacks. The largest losses were sustained by 17 unions, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and Washington Group International.

The Building Foundation designed and produced a separate crystal memorial plaque for each of the companies, agencies, and unions involved. Each memorial was inscribed with the names of the employees/members who perished from that organization. The memorials, displayed prior to the event, were officially presented to each organization during the program.

Convening

In addition to its ongoing support for industry heroes and victims of the WTC attacks, the New York Building Congress has contributed to the revitalization of the World Trade Center through its role as a meeting place for industry leaders.

Just two weeks after the attacks, the Building Congress hosted a luncheon meeting where more than 250 guests were updated by a wide range of industry leaders on efforts to assess the damage and clean-up around the site.

The industry executives in attendance also were urged to volunteer their vast experience and expertise in helping New York City become even stronger than it was before the attacks.

Future Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who had recently served as HUD Secretary, was a guest speaker and helped rally the industry, saying, "We need to build New York City back better than it ever was. No industry has performed better or more admirably than yours over the past two weeks, and judging from the energy in this room, we can do it."

In the intervening years, virtually every major rebuilding official, public and private, has addressed the Building Congress at its industry forums or participated in private meetings with Building Congress leaders to discuss the status of the rebuilding and seek advice on ways to address the site's most pertinent logistical challenges.

The Building Congress has also used its awards luncheons and dinners to salute those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping to create a new and more dynamic Lower Manhattan.

An Underground City

While the public's imagination was understandably focused on future soaring skyscrapers and the wings of Santiago Calatrava's transit hub, a virtual underground city has been designed, engineered, and constructed over the past few years, essentially out of view.

Accommodating the necessary infrastructure to build and service five massive skyscrapers, as well as a Memorial, museum, transit hub, performing arts center and shopping concourses-all in a tightly confined space-posed daunting challenges for the developers, public authorities, architects, and engineers involved. As if this weren't enough, rebuilding officials also had to grapple with a site that required construction of a huge bathtub to keep the Hudson River at bay while also functioning around active train tracks.

"The World Trade Center project is a giant game of pick-up sticks," said Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward. "Every single project touches another, so if you touch one you have to have a game plan for what that will mean for the rest of the site. And keep in mind that all of this is happening within the confines of a transportation corridor that moves 150,000 commuters a day through the site via the #1 subway line, which literally cuts through the center of the site, and the PATH trains, which run beneath the site."

Creating a New Paradigm

The men and women of New York's design, construction, and real estate industry are doing more than merely creating a new urban office district that will contain as much office space as all of downtown Atlanta. They are creating a new community that will set higher standards for environmental sustainability, life-safety, mass transit linkages, and open space planning.

The first building to rise, 7 World Trade Center, is a perfect example of what is to come. It has the distinction of being the first certified green New York City skyscraper by the U.S. Green Building Council. Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority have pledged to ensure that each of the following towers will meet and exceed these environmental achievements.

The building community also incorporated what was learned on 9/11 in creating a set of life safety standards at 7 World Trade Center that far exceed building codes and have become an international model.

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein testified to the can-do spirit of the industry during a 2004 Building Congress forum, "As New Yorkers debate what exactly should be built, no one has questioned-not even for a second-whether the construction industry can transform our ideas into brick and mortar. Everyone takes for granted that you can do it, and that's a testament to your professionalism, skill, and determination."

Looking at the World Trade Center today, the wisdom of those words and the confidence in what New Yorkers can accomplish is more than justified. What was long known as "Ground Zero" is being transformed into a potent symbol of New York's rebirth.

"What is perhaps most heartening about the ongoing transformation of Lower Manhattan," said Building Congress President Richard T. Anderson, "is that the world, which shared in our unspeakable tragedy in 2001, will join us in witnessing the opening of an inspirational memorial on the 10th anniversary. At that time, they also will recognize the incredible progress we have made recreating a vibrant and welcoming neighborhood that will be open to the world. I can't imagine a more powerful demonstration of New York City's resolve and ingenuity."