Fiterman Hall deconstruction plan nears completion

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 6, 2006 by Daniel Geiger

Fiterman Hall's days as a downtown eyesore appear to be winding down.

Five years after it sustained significant damage during 9/11, the building is finally getting closer to receiving the government approvals necessary for its decontamination and deconstruction.

The Dormitory Authority for the State of New York, which along with the City University of New York is overseeing the building's remediation and demolition, chose a contractor in recent weeks to carry out the work and help complete a final draft of the building's deconstruction plan that will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval by as early as October.

The Dormitory Authority's selection of Queens based P.A.L. Environmental Safety Corporation for the $16.3 million contract to clean contaminants such as WTC dust and mold from the building's interior and then take it apart in such a way as not to release potentially toxic materials is the strongest indication yet that the long-delayed work on the building is finally nearing a start.

Originally an office property before it was donated to the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1993 and converted to an extension of its downtown campus, Fiterman Hall had large portions of its facade torn open by debris from 7 World Trade Center when it collapsed as a result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Toxic dust as well as mold contaminated the building and it has sat decrepit for five long years partially draped in black netting to cover the exposed sections of its interior and surrounded by a sidewalk shed that in places blocks and inconveniences pedestrian flow.

As controversy erupted from the stagnancy and infighting at the World Trade Center site in recent years, the building became an increasingly irritating symbol of government inefficacy. Indeed, during the months earlier in the year when Larry Silverstein was still feuding with both the city and state over the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, the developer had a clever habit of conducting his press conferences almost exclusively at 7 WTC, which highlighted the stark contrast between his progress at the site versus that of his antagonists at the time. It was an effective comparison for Silverstein, pitting the empty WTC bathtub--and less directly, the decrepit looking Fiterman Hall--against his sparkling, pristine 7 WTC. It wasn't only government inertia that held up Fiterman's dismantlement however.

The Dormitory Authority had to battle with the building's insurers for payouts that would help fund the site's estimated $185 million redevelopment.

According to a Dormitory Authority spokeswoman, Claudia Hutton, the Dormitory Authority agreed to an $85 million settlement with the insurers, far less than the $160 million it was originally seeking.

Hutton said that roughly $20 million of the insurance payments have been used to pay for temporary facilities the college has had to arrange to replace the space lost at Fiterman Hall, including leased space and trailers to house classrooms and school offices.

A combination of city, state and also some federal funding will pay for the rest of the project, which includes not only the removal of the existing Fiterman Hall, but construction of a new building on the site that is being designed by the architecture firm, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.