Deutsche Bank Building News

[New Jack City]

NY Times

9/11 Contamination Is High at Bank Tower, Study Says

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Lower Manhattan Development Corporation officials leading a tour in the damaged building.

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: September 15, 2004

A new environmental study of the former Deutsche Bank building opposite ground zero, independent of the bank and its insurers, has confirmed the presence of high levels of asbestos, dioxin, lead and other contaminants throughout the unused 40-story tower.

The study was conducted by the Louis Berger Group for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which took over the building on Aug. 31 and plans to begin razing it by the end of the year. Though it has long been known that the tower was contaminated, the findings released yesterday will almost certainly add to the expense and complication - both structurally and politically - of dismantling the building.

The study is also intended to address health and safety concerns, the corporation said, by giving the public a fuller picture of conditions inside the damaged building and to help in planning engineering controls, work practices and disposal procedures.

Berger, an engineering and environmental consulting firm in East Orange, N.J., found high levels of quartz, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chromium and manganese in the building. Now that the corporation owns the building, samples will also be gathered from behind walls and in other hollow spaces.

The study was presented last night to a meeting of Community Board 1. Neighbors asked how contaminated debris would be trucked from the site, what regulations would govern the project and how open the process would be to the public.

Susan Fox, who lives close by, wanted to know whether there would be an evacuation plan. "We are going to put an emergency action plan in place," said Amy Peterson, the corporation's vice president for memorial, cultural and civic development.

Kimberly Flynn, an environmental advocate, asked how unusual it was to tear down such a large building with so many contaminants. Tom Lewis of Berger answered, "If you break it into bite-sized pieces, the contaminant aspect will be addressed."

Originally 1 Bankers Trust Plaza, the building was acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999 and was badly damaged in the 2001 terrorist attack. The collapse of 2 World Trade Center across Liberty Street opened a 15-story gash in its facade. About 1,700 windows were broken. The building filled with trade center dust, ash, soot, debris and smoke. It has never been reoccupied and is now partly shrouded in black netting.

The area around the gash was repaired to keep the building structurally sound. Open to the elements and stripped to steel and concrete, it is separated by plastic barriers from the contaminated parts of each floor. There are areas more than 60 feet wide and 50 feet deep where metal decking has replaced concrete floors, conveying the extent of damage. Almost no trace remains of any office, except for a tiny swatch of ochre-colored carpet on the 12th floor.

Deutsche Bank called the building a total loss. Its insurers, Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company and AXA Corporate Solutions Insurance Company, said it could be cleaned and reoccupied. Under a settlement this year, the development corporation acquired the property for $90 million. It is to pay up to $45 million for cleanup and dismantling, with the insurers meeting costs above that. The Gilbane Building Company will oversee the project.

It now seems likely that the price tag for demolition will exceed $45 million. But Ms. Peterson said: "Cost is not a consideration. The extra cost will go to the insurers. What's a consideration for us is doing it safely."

"There's dust everywhere in the building, and we'd like to go in and get it out," she said. "It's been there for three years. It's not helping anyone to have it sit there. We are confident that we can come up with a plan that satisfies the regulatory agencies."

A public information session is to be held Sept. 23. The comment period runs until Oct. 13. The study and other information is on the corporation's Web site, renewnyc.com.

For a yardstick, Berger used two federal criteria for concentrations of contaminants in residential buildings: one for estimated existing levels in Manhattan and the other for target cleanup levels around the trade center site. Though "not directly applicable to a commercial deconstruction project," Berger said, they "put the results of this study into relative context."

Using these criteria, Berger found excessive asbestos in 24 of the 31 floors it tested, or 77 percent. It also found excessive levels of dioxin (in 99 percent of the samples), lead (97 percent), quartz (94 percent), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (80 percent), chromium (30 percent) and manganese (21 percent).

Berger said levels of nickel, beryllium and polychlorinated biphenyls did not exceed the levels specified by the criteria in any samples tested. Other contaminants - cristobalite, barium, cadmium, copper, zinc and mercury - exceeded the levels in fewer than 5 percent of the samples tested. Berger also said it found no detectable levels of mercury vapor.

Yesterday, workers clad in protective suits could be seen entering the building. Their role, Ms. Peterson said, is to double-check the windows and plywood boards on the exterior and to inspect the plastic barriers around the contaminated areas.

[New Jack City]

Downtown Express

Public process to dismantle Deutsche building begins

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By Ronda Kaysen

Following the release of a new environmental study confirming high levels of contaminants in the badly damaged former Deutsche Bank building opposite the World Trade Center, the Lower Manhattan Development Center announced plans to begin the building’s deconstruction sometime in November, although the specifics of how the building will come down — and how residents and workers will be protected — remain to be seen.

In what the L.M.D.C. called a transparent process, consultants hired by the L.M.D.C. presented the study findings at a Sept. 14 Community Board 1 meeting. Cautiously optimistic, local residents expressed an array of concerns regarding their health and safety.

True to expectations, the Louis Berger Group, an engineering and environmental consulting firm in East Orange, N.J., found high levels of contaminants throughout the building. In addition to excessive asbestos contamination in 24 of the 31 floors sampled, Louis Berger found presence of dioxin, lead, quartz, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chromium and manganese in the dust samples. Mold was found on five floors. “The inspection didn’t look in every nook and cranny because the L.M.D.C. didn’t own the building,” said Berger’s Tom Lewis. Now that L.M.D.C. owns the building, more invasive tests can begin.

L.M.D.C. purchased the property on Aug. 31 following a court battle between Deutsche Bank and its insurers, Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company and AXA Corporate Solutions Insurance Company. The dispute was not resolved until Governor George Pataki tapped former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to settle the matter. In the agreement, L.M.D.C. acquired the property for $90 million and will pay up to $45 million for cleanup and dismantling; the insurers will pay any exceeding costs, which are likely. The sale allows for the expansion of the World Trade Center site to allow for more park space and less office density.

L.M.D.C. plans to deconstruct the building in a two-phase process with the help of six different consulting firms. The Gilbane Building Company will steer the deconstruction process. The building will first be cleaned and decontaminated and then dismantled piecemeal. How the process will take place — whether the building will be completely cleaned before it is dismantled, or cleaned as it comes down — has yet to be decided. “We are very interested in moving forward with this project,” said Amy Peterson, the corporation’s vice president for memorial, cultural and civic development. “We have a real interest in removing this building.”

At this point, many local residents are taking the L.M.D.C. at its word that it will keep them abreast of future developments. “I have to trust that what they say is true,” Pat Moore, a 28-year resident of 125 Cedar St., said after the meeting. Her building sits 100 feet from the former Deutsche Bank building. “They say they’re going to do additional testing, so I hope they will be forthcoming with their results.”

Moore, a C.B. 1 member, is worried about evacuation procedures. “I’m really concerned about having some emergency plan in place if something falls off the building, if a crane falls down. I really want to know that they have some system to warn us and evacuate us,” she said. “I’ve literally had anxiety attacks about that black mesh falling on me and suffocating me. And now I’m terrified about having something falling off that building.”

Peterson said at Tuesday night’s meeting that although a plan has yet to be laid out, the L.M.D.C. intends to reach out to the city’s Office of Emergency Management to establish one. Kate Millea, the project manager at L.M.D.C., provided a 24-hour hotline number, 917-715-6790, for concerned residents.

When board member Catherine Hughes said she heard the plan was to start the project on Nov. 1, Peterson did not object. With deconstruction plans scheduled for public release sometime after Oct. 13, the work schedule appears overly ambitious to some. “I have never heard of six agencies working together in a year to complete a deconstruction,” said Pearl Scher, a C.B. 1 member.

Peterson was quick to reply. “We’re confident that we can go to the regulators and get this done quickly,” she said.

Joanna Rose, a spokesperson for the L.M.D.C., said afterwards that the deconstruction would most likely not begin until mid to late November.

Many residents voiced concern saying it was unprecedented to take down such a large contaminated building in a city. “A demolition of such a contaminated building in such a densely populated area has never been done before,” Catherine Hughes told Downtown Express.

Steve Kass, L.M.D.C.’s environmental counsel from Carter Ledyard and Milburn, argued that government oversight would assure a safe process. “It is our expectation and intention to comply with all legal requirements. We need approval from the E.P.A. and other agencies have been looking over our shoulders very carefully,” he said. “…What is unique about this project is not either the decontamination or deconstruction, but the extraordinary level of public scrutiny, reporting and transparency at every phase.”

Lewis of Berger sited an example of a successful dismantling project of a nuclear reactor located alongside a hospital and of other buildings in New York City being dismantled. “If you break [a project] into bite-sized pieces, it becomes much more manageable,” he said. He did not, however, note an example of a highly contaminated building ever being dismantled in a densely populated area.

The L.M.D.C.’s selection of experts satisfies Steven Abramson, a 114 Liberty St. resident. “The most reassuring [component of the L.M.D.C.’s plan] is the fact that Ambient is going to do it,” he said. The Ambient Group, an environmental and water treatment consulting company, was hired by L.M.D.C. to monitor air quality. The residents of 114 Liberty St., which was badly contaminated on 9/11, hired Ambient as a consultant. Abramson and his family moved back into their apartment two weeks ago, one of the last families to return to their homes. “Ambient will not tolerate a faulty job. If there’s a problem, they’re going to say it,” he added.

There will be a public information session on Sept. 23 at 5:00 p.m. at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., followed by an open public comment period, which will run until Oct. 13. The development corporation will unveil the deconstruction details sometime after the end of the public comment period and begin work in November. The building will be completely dismantled sometime in 2005, according to the L.M.D.C.

For now, residents are hoping that fear — if nothing else — will keep the L.M.D.C. transparent. “If the L.M.D.C. doesn’t do this properly and they re-contaminate Downtown, that would be a major catastrophe and they would never be able to cover it up,” said Abramson. “[The project] is too visible at this point. They’ll have the press all over them and they know it.”

[New Jack City]

Newsday

LMDC releases plan for deconstruction of damaged bank tower

December 14, 2004, 3:42 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) _ In order to dismantle the steel frame of the badly damaged Deutsche Bank tower, still sitting adjacent to ground zero, workers must empty 40 floors of materials like fiberglass insulation, fireproofing and other items that contain hazardous materials like asbestos and World Trade Center dust.

On Monday, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the tower, and the Gilbane Building Company released a plan for the building's deconstruction. The plan was distributed for comments to government officials and Community Board 1.

The process will take place in two phases, the first being abatement of interior asbestos materials and cleaning of World Trade Center dust. The second phase involves abatement of asbestos materials from the building's exterior and removal of other items like rooftop equipment, and the structural components of the building.

During the Sept. 11 attacks, the building suffered extreme damage when debris from the collapsed World Trade Center towers broke windows and opened a 15-story gash in the building's facade. It has been unoccupied since.

The deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank tower is scheduled to begin next month, officials said. Public hearings will also take place to keep the community abreast of the LMDC's activities.

[7 World Trade]

the horrible attacks on 9/11 claims its last victim...

really, it's sorta hard to believe that this building's really going to get demolished. i mean, it's will the second tallest as well as the largest skyscraper to ever be demolished (singer's the tallest, but have smaller building space). i figured that repairing it would be a lot cheaper than demolishing it and rebuilding another building. but i guess that really doesn't matter anymore...