Goldman Sachs To Build New HQ Near WTC Site [Archive]

New Jack City

December 13th, 2003, 02:47 AM

NY TIMES.

Goldman Asks for Grants for Downtown

By CHARLES V. BAGLI
December 12, 2003

Three years ago, Goldman Sachs decided to build the tallest and most expensive skyscraper in Jersey City — a development that left New York officials fuming over the snub.

That 42-story, $1.3 billion tower is now nearing completion, but the investment bank is having trouble finding anyone to move into it. Faced with an unpopular new building across the Hudson, Goldman Sachs emerged suddenly last week with a new plan: to build a 1.5-million-square-foot tower in Lower Manhattan, directly across from ground zero.

And as it did in New Jersey, Goldman Sachs is seeking subsidies to build in New York, where its headquarters have long been located.

The investment bank has spurned suggestions that it move into 7 World Trade Center, the tower Larry Silverstein is building, or the so-called Freedom Tower, the 70-story building that is to be the centerpiece at ground zero. Neither of the buildings, which will have a total of 4.3 million square feet of office space, has a tenant.

Instead Henry M. Paulson, the firm's chairman, has told the governor and the mayor that Goldman wants its own tower, on what is known as Site 26 at Battery Park City, and wants some of the same cash grants, tax breaks and tax-free financing that are available downtown right now, according to state and city officials who are working with the bank.

"It's heartening that Goldman has decided to build in Lower Manhattan," said Harvey Robins, a mayoral aide to Edward I. Koch and David N. Dinkins. "But in terms of their planning, Jersey has turned into one big folly. Goldman squeezed Jersey for tax breaks and now they're not missing a beat in looking for subsidies on this side of the river."

Goldman itself declined to discuss its plans in New York.

"We're exploring a number of options," said Bruce Corwin, a spokesman for the bank, "but we're committed to remaining in downtown Manhattan."

State and city officials and downtown executives have embraced Goldman's proposal, although negotiations are expected to go on for some time. "I'm thrilled Goldman is committed to building a new headquarters downtown," said Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. "It's not only directly important in terms of Goldman's prestige and number of employees, but it's also a signal to others to consider building on the World Trade Center site and elsewhere in Lower Manhattan."

But even those who welcomed Goldman's initiative also marveled at the bank's "hubris."

Goldman bought the land in 1999 for the tower in Jersey City — one of three development parcels it acquired at the site of the old Colgate toothpaste factory — at a time when Wall Street was booming and the bank had doubled the size of its work force and its real estate holdings in Lower Manhattan. There was talk of building a trading floor and creating a training center.

Good building sites were unavailable downtown, Goldman executives said at the time in explaining their decision to jump across the Hudson River. What was also available in New Jersey was more than $160 million in tax breaks over 10 years.

Early in 2002, the company told employees that it would move equity sales and trading operations, as well as researchers and data departments, to its 875-foot tower under construction in Jersey City. That set off an insurrection by traders who did not want to be cast off to New Jersey, according to banking and real estate executives.

At the same time, a downturn in the economy prompted Goldman to scrap plans for a second building in Jersey City and to cut 13 percent of its work force. The bank currently leases a total of about four million square feet in nine buildings in Lower Manhattan, although not all of it is occupied.

It recently negotiated a deal to pay the landlord at 10 Hanover Square near Wall Street $40 million to cancel its lease next September, according to real estate executives who were briefed on the talks. And last summer, with the cost of its new tower mounting, Goldman tried to lease it to Mellon Financial Services. Instead, real estate brokers say, Mellon appears close to leasing a different office tower in Jersey City that UBS is no longer moving into.

Mr. Corwin of Goldman Sachs said the bank now planned to move "a few thousand" employees into the Jersey tower, a building that could accommodate more than 6,000 workers, beginning in April. Brokers say that at least for now, the bank will occupy only about a quarter of the tower, although one Goldman banker said that half the building would be in use by next fall.

"Goldman's intention is to occupy about 350,000 square feet and mothball the rest," said a top real estate executive in New York who deals with the investment bank. But that has not stopped Goldman from thinking about consolidating its operations in Lower Manhattan, where it is spread across nine buildings. Given the tax incentives available for rebuilding downtown and the tax-free Liberty Bonds available for new construction, the bank focused on a new headquarters at Site 26, at the north end of the World Financial Center.

The parcel offers an unobstructed view of its Jersey City tower one mile to the west, which the company hopes will convince employees consigned to New Jersey that they are still in the mix as Goldman consolidates its operations into a tower on each side of the river over the next five years.

"They're having difficulty getting people to go to Jersey City," said one developer who has talked to Goldman. "If they get Site 26, they could run their own private ferry between the buildings."

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RafflesCity

December 13th, 2003, 05:03 AM

They sure have a lot of money to throw around! At least its used for building scrapers:angel1:

New Jack City

February 19th, 2004, 07:35 PM

NY Post

GOLDMAN, BROOKFIELD BUTT HEADS ON HOT LOT

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

February 19, 2004 -- A heavyweight showdown is brewing over an empty lot next to Ground Zero that two downtown powerhouses covet as a site for a new skyscraper, The Post has learned.

Goldman Sachs has been in talks with the Battery Park City Authority to build a 1.8 million-square-foot office tower on the lot, known as Site 26, at the northwest corner of West and Vesey Streets.

But Brookfield Properties, downtown's biggest landlord and the owner of the World Financial Center, has long claimed development rights to the site, and could stand in the way of Goldman's plans.

Battery Park City took Brookfield to court in March 2001, challenging the powerful real estate firm's claims to the property, but the legal action was dropped without being resolved after the 9/11 attacks.

Both Goldman and Brookfield declined to discuss the talks.

AtlanticaC5

February 19th, 2004, 07:54 PM

Who will take it, Goldman or Brookfields? Hmm....hopefully the one with the tallest building :D

New Jack City

March 26th, 2004, 05:36 AM

Good news, the tower's height is planned for 800 feet/243 meters!

Battery Park City Broadsheet

Goldman Sachs and BPCA Talk Big

While Downtowners Question a 360-Foot Building, Plans Progress for an 800-Foot Tower Two Blocks Away

Environmental Impact Statement for Site 26 Close to Completion

Goldman Sachs and the Battery Park City Authority are making progress in negotiations to build on site 26, the large lot next to Embassy Suites bounded by West, Vesey and Murray Streets. According to a BPCA spokesperson, a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on the 800-foot tall building is expected to be completed by the end of this month, and will come before Community Board 1 in early April.

Paid for by Goldman Sachs, the statement is being prepared by Allee, King, Rosen & Fleming, environmental consultants for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on the EIS for the World Trade Center site, and, several years ago for the BPCA on development plans for northern Battery Park City. Said one BPCA executive in reference to the Goldman Sachs EIS for site 26, “we’re on an extremely tight schedule. If the project goes forward, we expect to be done by the end of this month.”

The future building will offer 1.5 million square feet, and is envisioned to be the new world headquarters for Goldman Sachs. Even though published reports say its recently completed Jersey City skyscraper stands partly empty, the company is negotiating for tax breaks and subsidies to build in Battery Park City.

AtlanticaC5

March 26th, 2004, 08:42 PM

Whoa, 243 m!! Build!! :D

7 World Trade

April 3rd, 2004, 02:31 AM

that's really tall, 243 meters. hopefully it won't be some boring glass curtain wall. it'd be cool if the new tower can complement the wfc really well...

about time they do something with that lot. it's such a prospective site, and i wonder why they didn't bother to build something tall there earlier. once they build it the wtc complex will be completely surrounded by skyscrapers!

Agglomeration

April 3rd, 2004, 07:08 AM

Well at least Goldman Sachs will not move into the proposed Freedumb Tower, which means less profit for Silverstein and the LMDC. :nocrook:

New Jack City

April 17th, 2004, 04:22 PM

NY Times

Despite Its Jersey City Tower, Goldman Sachs Commits to One in Lower Manhattan

GBy CHARLES V. BAGLI

Published: April 17, 2004

Goldman Sachs is forging ahead with plans to build a billion-dollar, 40-story world headquarters at Battery Park City just as it completes construction of New Jersey's tallest building a mile away in Jersey City.

The tower represents a major commitment to Lower Manhattan by one of the financial district's largest employers at a time when the downtown area is undergoing a huge rebuilding process. But Goldman has rejected repeated suggestions from state and city officials that it consolidate its operations in the so-called Freedom Tower, the first building planned for the World Trade Center site.

Instead, the bank picked a spot northwest of ground zero, on West Street, between Vesey and Murray Streets. It is the last vacant commercial parcel at Battery Park City, and Goldman's skyscraper would be the fifth and last tower at the World Financial Center.

One of the most profitable investment banks on Wall Street, Goldman has also sought more than $1 billion in tax-free financing called Liberty Bonds and $30 million in cash grants, as well as low-cost electric power and tax breaks. The investment bank plans to consolidate the trading and sales operations now spread between 85 Broad Street, its current headquarters, and 1 New York Plaza. The leases in those two buildings expire in 2008 and 2009; Goldman wants a new home by 2008, the bank has told state and city officials.

"I'm hopeful that we'll come to an agreement to retain Goldman in Lower Manattan," said Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation. "It's important for the continuing strength of the financial community and it'll send a strong message that downtown is the place to be."

Mr. Gargano declined to comment on negotiations with the bank.

But two executives familiar with the talks said that the state had resisted what they said were Goldman's oversize demands and continued to urge the bank to move to the trade center. They said that Henry M. Paulson, Goldman's chairman, had called Mr. Gargano several times complaining about the sluggish pace of the bargaining. The pace picked up two weeks ago, and yesterday, state and city officials delivered a proposal to the bank that included about $1 billion in Liberty Bonds, one of the executives said.

The Battery Park City Authority is expected to approve the project's environmental impact statement on Wednesday and the project is expected to begin the city's land use review process on April 26.

The bank has also been negotiating with Brookfield Financial Properties, which owns the World Financial Center and has certain rights connected to the parcel sought by Goldman, known as Site 26. Brookfield had wanted to develop the site, a suggestion rebuffed by the bank. The two sides have been trying to work out an accommodation, which, according to one person who had been briefed on the discussions, would involve some sort of payments to Brookfield.

Designed by Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners, Goldman's proposed tower would mark a break with the four bulky, boxy office buildings at World Financial Center, which were built in the 1980's. The proposed building, which the company has said would meet or exceed the special environmental or green standards at Battery Park City, is a rectangular tower with a slender face to the north and the south, while the west wall offers a broad curving, or pie-shaped, facade to the Hudson River.

The building site is nearly two acres and sits just north of the American
Express Tower and adjacent to a hotel and movie theater. The size of the site allows Goldman to stack six large trading floors at the base of the building, as well as floors with a gym, cafeteria and conference rooms, topped by a tower.

Goldman, which has about 10,000 employees in Manhattan, has moved with remarkable speed since December, when Mr. Paulson called Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to say that the bank wanted to build its own tower at the World Financial Center. The two embraced the project, although state and some city officials had been upset with Goldman ever since 1999, when it bought land near the Jersey City waterfront for a new set of buildings.

"They moved jobs out of New York," said one real estate executive. adding that "Nobody's ecstatic" about having to bend over backward to help Goldman, "but what could they do?"

Plans to transfer traders to the 40-story, $1.3 billion tower in Jersey City had to be scuttled after the proposal touched off an insurrection inside the bank. Two weeks ago, Goldman began moving the first of what it expects will be 2,500 employees into the building. It can accommodate more than 6,000 people.

"As one of the largest and most prestigious businesses in the city," said Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, "Goldman Sachs's decision to build and own property immediately adjacent to the trade center site will be an invitation to other firms to move to the site itself."

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New Jack City

April 17th, 2004, 04:27 PM

NY POST

GOLDMAN PUSHES FOR 'GREEN' TOWER

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

April 17, 2004 -- Goldman Sachs is pushing ahead with plans for a 2-million-square-foot downtown office tower that would have a rounded glass façade overlooking the Hudson River and environmentally friendly features that could make it one of the first of a new wave of "green" commercial buildings.

Although it has yet to work out a deal to lease the plot of land where the tower would go - catercorner from Ground Zero at Vesey and West Streets - Goldman has gone so far as to pay for architectural plans and a $350,000 environmental impact statement being prepared by the site's owner, Battery Park City Authority.

The firm has also submitted a zoning proposal for the site to the city's Planning Dept., which is scheduled to vote on the project next Monday.

Goldman entered into negotiations with the BPCA for the site late last year, but the deal was complicated by a long-running feud between Battery Park officials and Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center.

Brookfield claims that it controls development rights to the parcel - the last commercial site in Battery Park City.

That set the stage for a battle of the titans between Goldman and Brookfield, but while the two began discussions with dramatically divergent positions sources said progress has been made toward a deal under which Brookfield would receive a substantial fee to relinquish its claim.

BPCA head Tim Carey said that his planners are working closely with Goldman and that even if that deal falls through, the proposed rezoning of the site would pave the way for a bidding process that could draw another developer.

Sources familiar with the project said the Goldman tower is being designed by architect Harry Cobb, who created the John Hancock Tower in Boston. Cobb's EDF Tower in Paris has curved lines that are said to evoke his design for the Goldman building.

The tower, described as a minimalist glass structure with a rounded riverfront façade, will be 700- to 800-feet tall, with 40 stories and 2 million square feet of office space. It will house Goldman's headquarters and its trading floors, which are currently spread over three different locations in lower Manhattan.

It is being designed to meet Battery Park City's cutting edge green building requirements, which call for ecologically friendly materials and advanced energy and water conservation.

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EDF Tower in Paris...

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Wu-Gambino

April 17th, 2004, 04:37 PM

It sounds like good news, I hope it will be as good or better than the one in Jersey City.

AtlanticaC5

April 17th, 2004, 05:44 PM

I hope it will be at least as good as EDF Tower :okay:

New Jack City

May 2nd, 2004, 05:43 AM

Downtown Express

B.P.C.A. studying 800-foot tower on its last commercial site

April 30 - May 6, 2004

By Josh Rogers

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The Battery Park City Authority is studying the environmental effects of building an 800-foot office tower to keep Goldman Sachs in New York City at the World Financial Center.

The 2.3-million-square-foot tower would be on the parking lot on West, Murray and Vesey Sts. The authority’s board on April 21 approved a draft environmental impact statement for the lot, known as Site 26. It is the last commercial development site in Battery Park City and over the years it has been used as a potential lure to keep various important institutions Downtown, such as the New York Stock Exchange.

Letitia Remauro, a spokesperson for the authority, said the building would not be bigger than the World Financial Center’s American Express building across the street.

The lengthy E.I.S. document specifically mentions Goldman Sachs as a potential tenant. Under the Goldman scenario, a large trading floor would be built with the offices at an estimated total cost of $1.28 billion. Under the all-office scenario, the building would still be 800 feet, but it could be constructed at a slightly more modest cost of $1.02 billion.

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Although a proposed building of one third the size a few blocks away in Tribeca has triggered strong neighborhood opposition, the initial reaction of some neighborhood leaders was mostly positive.

Jeff Galloway and Tom Goodkind, two members of Community Board 1 who live nearby in Gateway Plaza, both said a tall building near other tall offices would not be a problem, particularly if it brought badly- needed retail to the neighborhood.

“You’ll never see me oppose a tall building in my neighborhood,” Goodkind said. “Contextually it seems to be what Battery Park City is all about.”

He said the main thing is building large sidewalks around the building to keep an open feeling in the neighborhood and having more retail on the street.

Galloway said he wanted to take a close look at the document’s shadow studies to see how the new building would affect places like the Battery Park City ballfields and the P.S../I.S. 89 schoolyard.

The proposed building would cause shadows on the fields particularly in the spring at the beginning of baseball season and in the fall during soccer season. The fields are closed from Thanksgiving to April, a period of time when there would be significant shadows. The E.I.S. also states that there are times, particularly in the summer, when shadows are welcome.

Galloway, who had just returned home from Little League practice, agreed that shadows are sometimes welcome because the sun can be an obstacle. “During certain times of the day the sun is in exactly the wrong place to play baseball,” said Galloway.

He and his fellow C.B. 1 members are expected to discuss the plan at a meeting ….

“Having Goldman Sachs in the World Financial Center is a good thing,” he said. “Having more workers to support better retail is a good thing.”

The investment bank is based at 85 Broad St., but has other offices in other Lower Manhattan and is reportedly looking to consolidate its operations. The bank is also building an office tower in Jersey City.

The Site 26 building would be completed in 2009, according to the environmental statement. It would have an underground employee parking lot. The draft E.I.S. does not include a study of an underground tour bus garage, which would require a slurry wall. The environmental study for the World Trade Center includes Site 26 as a possible bus garage location, although Galloway said he had heard that location seemed less and less likely.

Remauro said the authority didn’t include a bus garage in its study since the idea was already being studied by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Tim Carey, authority president and C.E.O., Kevin Rampe, Lower Manhattan Development Corp. president, and many neighborhood residents have said they would oppose a bus garage at Site 26 if it would mean buses lining up in Battery Park City to enter.

Josh@DowntownExpress.com

RafflesCity

May 2nd, 2004, 05:45 AM

243m is no small thing, yet just another scraper in NY! :eek: :D

New Jack City

May 2nd, 2004, 11:37 PM

I sent this e-mail to the firm working on the project, let's see if they'll respond.

Hello to the staff at the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
firm.

I'd like to request some information on the latest status
of the new proposed 800 foot Goldman Sachs Tower in
Lower Manhattan your firm is working on which would be
located on Site 26 across from the World Financial
Center.

Have any preliminary models, renderings or visuals
been released? Is it possible for the staff at the
firm to send me some visual image of the tower and it how
will look?

I'm a New Yorker very interested in NYC skyscrapers
and developments and this project is especially
exciting with regards to helping Lower
Manhattan rebuild after the 9/11 attacks.

Thanks for your response and help.

-Jack

RafflesCity

May 4th, 2004, 03:35 PM

cool..they usually come up with good designs.

New Jack City

May 8th, 2004, 12:01 AM

Drawing is out!

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_52/tower1.jpg
Drawing by T. Kelly Wilson for Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects L.L.P
West St. side of proposed Goldman Sachs tower.

Downtown Expresss

Goldman Sachs unveils B.P.C. tower design

By Josh Rogers

Goldman Sachs’ plan to build an 800-foot headquarter building in Battery Park City is not a done deal yet, but the investment bank has hired a high-powered architect who has done drawings and animated renderings of the proposed tower.

The firm showed up to a Community Board 1 committee meeting Tuesday with about a dozen executives, architects, attorneys and other consultants to present preliminary drawings of the plan for Site 26, the parking lot that is immediately east of the Embassy Suites/Regal Cinemas hotel and movie theater and bounded by West, Murray and Vesey Sts. Architect Harry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners said because the tallest part of the building is much more slender than would be permitted under the site’s proposed zoning, it will not cast as many shadows on the ballfields across the street as was suggested in recently released shadow studies for the site.

After Goldman approached the Battery Park City Authority several months ago, the authority began work on an environmental impact statement for two possible 800-foot buildings for the lot – one, a trading floor and office tower for Goldman, and the other just an office building. The authority’s shadow study assumes the building would be as large as possible under the proposed zoning change, which must be approved by the City Council, the City Planning Commission and the mayor.

Cobb and one his partners, George Miller, said there would be more sun on the west end of the fields in the spring and fall with the more slender building. Most of the fields, which opened last summer, would be covered in shadows by the afternoon on March 21 and Sept. 21 once the building is built. There will be less shadows on the fields during the summer, and in the winter when the fields are closed, there will be little sun on the fields.

Tim Carey, authority president and C.E.O., said the pesticide-free grass will have more than enough sun to grow. “We designed the ballfields so this building wouldn’t have an impact,” Carey told Downtown Express a day after the meeting.

He said the authority continues to negotiate with Goldman over the site. In Gov. George Pataki’s May 5 speech on Lower Manhattan, he cited the firm’s decision as one of the latest examples of progress after 9/11. “We called on businesses to keep their faith in Lower Manhattan and now Goldman Sachs, Cadwalader, Oppenheimer Funds, Fitch and HIP all have recommitted to Downtown,” Pataki said.

Later in the speech, he added that an agreement with the B.P.C.A., the city and Goldman needed to be completed. The city is likely to offer financial incentives if Goldman stays Downtown.

In the authority’s pending application to alter the zoning for the site, it would allow for a 300-car garage. Timur Galen, a managing director for Goldman, said if the firm built at Site 26 it would only build enough space for a very small number of cars. Carey said the authority is pursuing zoning for 300 cars in case the Goldman deal falls through. “We don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket,” he said.

Anthony Notaro, chairperson of C.B. 1’s Battery Park City committee, said he was impressed with Cobb’s design, and was pleased that Goldmam is not planning a big garage since he thought it would only draw more traffic to a congested area.

As for the building, Cobb said it will have a 140-foot streetwall on all four sides, as is required by the proposed zoning. It will be mostly transparent glass and be built with a light-colored material, most likely stone or stainless steel, Cobb said.

I.M. Pei is also a partner in the Lower Manhattan architectural firm, which has also designed the Javits Convention Center and is working on an International Monetary Fund building in Washington D.C. Because of Goldman’s security concerns, the building will have similar exterior protections as the I.M.F., such as planters and benches surrounding the building, Cobb said.

He said because of the shape of the West St. highway, the building would be visible for miles to the north, all the way up to W. 23rd St., but from the south, it would not come into view until pedestrians reached the World Trade Center site.

Madelyn Wils, chairperson of C.B. 1, did not attend the meeting, but in a telephone interview, said she thought there should be a setback on the northern facade. She said because of an agreement with two firms headquartered just to the south, Merrill Lynch and American Express, the top part of the building is being pushed to the north.

“The building is very attractive on the west and south sides and not very attractive on the north and east,” Wils said.

The top of the western side of the building would be curved to fit in with its view of the Hudson River. While showing a view of his building from the North Cove marina, Cobb said, “here it is acknowledging its face to the water…. In a sense, it acknowledges the universe. It acknowledges infinite space.”

Galen told C.B. 1 members that a building on an undeveloped lot had a lot of appeal to Goldman because of a “control our fate kind of thing.”

Members expressed general support for the project, although there was concern about the building’s closed-off nature.

Jeff Galloway pointed out that the World Financial Center across the street has high-profile financial firms, yet the lobbies are open. “The financial center is open to the public,” said Galloway. “Merrill Lynch sits on top of it. American Express sits on top of it.”

Barry Skolnick, also a C.B. 1 member, said the proposed community conference center was not a big enough space, particularly compared with other B.P.C. buildings. “It’s the largest building, yet we don’t have anywhere near the community amenities that we have had in any of the other buildings,” he said.

The authority has placed a greater emphasis on public space in recent years and has set aside space for museums, a library and an indoor recreational center on its lots.

Galen said the conference room would be between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet and be open for community meetings in the evening. The walkway between the movie theater and Site 26 would have about 9,000 square feet of retail space and would not have entrances to the office’s interior.

The walkway would be about 30 feet wide at it narrowest point, roughly the same size as the main walking area is now, and would stretch to 50 feet at the south end leading to the W.F.C. On the west side of the building, Goldman would plant a double row of trees, build a staging area for 15 black cars, and leave enough room for the existing bikeway-jogging path.

Goldman would have seven traffic coordinators and dispatchers outside the building during peak car pick-up times. Delivery trucks would enter the building on the Murray St. side. “We don’t expect there will ever be queuing of trucks on the street,” Galen said.

He said about 7,000 to 8,000 workers would work in the building, expected to open by 2008 0r 2009 when Goldman’s largest Downtown leases at 85 Broad St. and One New York Plaza expire. About half would work on the first six trading floors. Under the authority’s draft environmental statement, the trading floor building would employ 11,000 workers, be about 2.3 million square feet, and cost $1.28 billion, but those numbers don’t take into account the changes Goldman has made.

Galen said the firm would also fully occupy its new 1.5-million-square-foot building in New Jersey.

Brookfield Properties Corp., owner of the W.F.C., maintains certain claims to the site, but Melissa Coley, a Brookfield spokesperson, said negotiations with the Battery Park City Authority were progressing well and Brookfield is not looking to block the project.

Community Board’s 1’s committee endorsed the zoning change for Site 26 and expressed support for the Goldman project, although it asked the firm to provide more public space in the plan.

[i]Josh@DowntownExpress.com

entropy

May 8th, 2004, 05:52 AM

So is this 243m tower going to be taller than the one in Jersey City?

It better be, because to give more prominence to a building you've built in an inferior satellite city to Manhattan is like a son calling himself older than his dad.

Anyways, simple but nice rendering! It could've been less boxy though and probably won't have the architectural distinction that the Jersey City one has according to the pic.

New Jack City

May 17th, 2004, 08:00 PM

Tribeca Trib

CB 1 Gets a First Look at New Goldman Sachs Tower

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Goldman Sachs is hitting mostly green lights on the way to erecting an 800-foot tall tower at the corner of West and Vesey Streets.

The Battery Park City committee of Community Board 1 got a first look at renderings of the building in a presentation by lead architect Henry Cobb, of the high-profile Downtown firm Pei Cobb Freed and Partners.

The design, Cobb told the committee, will follow the contours of the street grid formed by Broadway, West Street, Vesey and Murray Streets. The west side of the building will curve to mirror the waterfront.

“It is shaped to express the quite radical difference in these two sides of the setting, in the city side on the east and the water side on the west,” Cobb explained.

The lower floors will occupy the full lot and house the firm’s trading floors. One hundred and forty feet up, the building will be set back 70 feet to a more slender tower. That design, Cobb, said would throw fewer shadows on the nearby ball fields than the generic building assessed in the required environmental impact statement.

On the West Street side, there will be a wide walkway lined with planters and a double row of trees, as well as the current bike path. On the west side, across from the movie theater, the plan is for a narrower sidewalk, sheltered by a glass canopy, and ground level retail stores.

The company encountered little opposition from the committee, which passed a resolution, by a vote of 3 to 1, with 1 abstention, to approve zoning rules that would make it possible to put the building on that site. The full board is to vote on the resolution on May 18.

The lot, known as Site 26, which is currently a parking lot, will likely have the last non-residential development in Battery Park City.

“I really am impressed by your design,” said committee chairman Anthony Notaro.

But committee members did have some concerns, especially the lack of a substantial community space, a common tradeoff for large-scale commercial development abutting a residential community. Galen said a large ground floor conference room would be available for community use by arrangement during non-business hours, but because of security it is not possible to have more public access.

“I would offer an alternative, which is cash,” said Jeff Galloway, community board member. Notaro said they will be asking Goldman Sachs to work with the community board and the Battery Park City Authority to explore what contribution the company can make to a community amenity.

The prospect of lines of parked limousines and increased traffic also sparked some questions from committee members. The changes in zoning rules will allow for a 300 car underground parking garage, which committee members said will add to already serious traffic congestion. Timur Galen, a Goldman Sachs managing director, told them that the company does not plan to have more than about 15 parking spaces and expects that most of the expected roughly 8,000 employees will use mass transit. The parking changes were necessary, Battery Park City Authority officials said, to make the site attractive to another developer in the event the deal falls through with Goldman.

Galen assured the committee that special curbside parking, or “layby,” carved into the West Street side of the site will provide sufficient space for black cars to line up and that they will be carefully controlled by Goldman

Sachs to avoid spillover onto Vesey and Murray Street.

Site 26 had been considered the probable location for an underground bus parking lot for tourists coming to the future World Trade Center memorial and the rebuilt World Trade Center site. That parking will now likely be underground on Liberty Street where the soon to be demolished Deutsche Bank building now stands.

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http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/may04/goldman-architect.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/may04/goldman-arch-cap.gif

detroitboy04

June 16th, 2004, 03:58 AM

Does Goldman Sachs have a lot of extra money or something because they just finished their Jersey City tower and now their building this!! Nice looking tower, but what happens to the JC tower??

detroitboy04

June 17th, 2004, 09:43 PM

First major NON New World Trade Center building in the Financial District!!! GOOD News!! I know the Ritz Carlton Battery Park was built but its under 500 feet.
800 ft is tall, but only 976 foot shorter than Freedom Tower!!

New Jack City

June 18th, 2004, 05:14 AM

Does Goldman Sachs have a lot of extra money or something because they just finished their Jersey City tower and now their building this!! Nice looking tower, but what happens to the JC tower??

They're going to relocate some workers there, but last I heard was that they were having a hard time filling it up and there were actually plans to build condos in the JC one.

But, here's a sentence about what will happen to the JC tower from one of the articles posted above...

Galen said the firm would also fully occupy its new 1.5-million-square-foot building in New Jersey.

RafflesCity

June 18th, 2004, 05:17 AM

Whats on the site now?

New Jack City

June 18th, 2004, 05:26 AM

Whats on the site now?

It's a parking lot at the moment, this picture might give an idea:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/48-biz05.jpg

RafflesCity

June 18th, 2004, 05:29 AM

ooh..so construction should start faster if needed.

New Jack City

June 18th, 2004, 05:35 AM

ooh..so construction should start faster if needed.

Well, it depends.

If they decide to put the underground tour bus parking garage at the site then it could take longer since a slurry wall would then be required. This site (26C), has been proposed as a possible location for underground tour bus parking for the buses that would visit/bring people to the World Trade Center site everyday.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Site 26 building would be completed in 2009, according to the environmental statement. It would have an underground employee parking lot. The draft E.I.S. does not include a study of an underground tour bus garage, which would require a slurry wall. The environmental study for the World Trade Center includes Site 26 as a possible bus garage location, although Galloway said he had heard that location seemed less and less likely.

However the latest article says that the parking garage is unlikely to go on this site 26C but would most probably go on the Deustche Bank building site after the demolition is completed...

Site 26 had been considered the probable location for an underground bus parking lot for tourists coming to the future World Trade Center memorial and the rebuilt World Trade Center site. That parking will now likely be underground on Liberty Street where the soon to be demolished Deutsche Bank building now stands.

PHLguy

June 19th, 2004, 06:05 AM

800 ft is tall, but only 976 foot shorter than Freedom Tower!!

"Only" 976 feet shorter?

That doesn't even reach the mid-drift

detroitboy04

June 19th, 2004, 07:03 AM

"Only" 976 feet shorter?

That doesn't even reach the mid-drift

LOL That's true

New Jack City

August 20th, 2004, 06:21 AM

Bloomberg News

Goldman Sachs Gets $1 Bln in Liberty Bonds for Manhattan Office

Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the third- biggest securities firm by capital, will use $1 billion in tax- exempt Liberty bonds to help finance a new $1.8 billion 40-story headquarters in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan.

The board of the New York State Liberty Development Corporation, gave preliminary approval today to sell the bonds as early as November, said Deborah Wetzel, a corporation spokeswoman.

Construction of the 1.9 million-square-foot building, near the World Financial Center, is expected to be completed by 2009 and will be the first new headquarters building downtown in 16 years.

``Today's commitment by Goldman Sachs to invest nearly $2 billion and create thousands of jobs at Battery Park City marks another major step forward in our efforts to revitalize and bring jobs back to Lower Manhattan,'' Governor George Pataki said in a statement.

Goldman, which will also house its investment banking and trading operations at the new building, committed to keeping its city employment equal to its current total of 9,178 when it occupies the building. The firm projects it will create 4,000 jobs by 2019.

Goldman plans to sell the 30-year bonds to one or more private institutional investors, Wetzel said. The bonds, guaranteed by Goldman, are expected to pay interest of 5.28 percent, Wetzel said.

Incentive

Liberty Bonds were part of a U.S. economic package to help the city recover from the World Trade Center attack by providing developers access to cheaper financing. Developers don't have to pay as high an interest rate to attract investors because the bonds generate income free of taxes.

The federal program allows $8 billion of tax-exempt bonds to be sold for rebuilding and development projects in New York City, primarily in a so-called Liberty Zone south of Canal Street, East Broadway and Grand Street in Manhattan.

So far, the New York State and New York City have allocated $1.3 billion of the $1.6 billion Liberty bonds available for housing.

Commercial developers have been slower to use the tax-exempt financing. Of $6.4 billion in Liberty Bonds allocated to commercial construction, the state and city have approved $1.5 billion for 10 projects.

Ellatur

August 20th, 2004, 08:00 PM

that site must have been EXTREMELY expensive to acquire

New Jack City

August 20th, 2004, 08:44 PM

Finally, another rendering, this one was scanned by NYguy

NY POST

GOLDMAN GETTING $1B IN LIBERTY BONDS FOR NEW HQ

By STEVE CUOZZO
August 20, 2004

Goldman Sachs will build a $1.8 billion, 40-story headquarters tower in Battery Park City with the help of $1 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bond financing, the Wall Street firm and Gov. Pataki announced yesterday.

Construction of the 1.9 million square foot skyscraper, to be completed in 2009, is to "coincide" with the rise of the Freedom Tower a short stroll away at Ground Zero.

Goldman Sachs will house about 7,400 employees, including its investment banking and trading operations, in the new tower. The building is being designed by architect Harry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed.

The news did not come as a surprise but nonetheless has enormous implications for downtown.

Downtown Alliance President Carl Weisbrod said, "For one of the most prestigious and important companies in the world to be making a literally permanent commitment to Lower Manhattan is a strong signal in the marketplace that revitalization is well under way."

Goldman Sachs has long kept real estate brokers guessing as to its ultimate intentions downtown, where it now occupies millions of square feet at several different addresses.

Some brokers grumble that Goldman's new tower, although a vote of confidence in downtown, will add to the vacancy rate by pulling staffers out of the firm's existing locations.

A few years ago, Goldman built an enormous tower in Jersey City that has remained mostly empty since the firm's traders mutinied over a plan to move them there from Manhattan after 9/11.

Empire State Development Corp. Chairman Charles Gargano, who is also chairman of the state Liberty Development Corp. board, told The Post, "by and large," the new tower "is ready to go."

http://www.pbase.com/image/32792360/large.jpg

AtlanticaC5

August 20th, 2004, 10:23 PM

I really like that building, glass-buildings rock! :cool:

Vlad the Great

August 21st, 2004, 02:14 AM

Almost 2 billion for 40 stories? Anyways, the building is very stylish IMO and will look real good around the WFC. :)

7 World Trade

August 21st, 2004, 05:39 PM

wow, thanks for the clearer rendering!

still, they should create two different types of facade for this building: a glass-dominated one and a masonry-dominated one, and make them contrast each other by putting them in different places on the building, just like what they did with reuters. this building reminds me of reuters so much...

1.9 million sqft dood, this building almost qualifies for jumbo status.

STR

September 11th, 2004, 05:57 AM

New Jack City

September 11th, 2004, 05:15 PM

I hope we don't see a big land dispute that will hold up this tower...

Reuters

Goldman, Brookfield in talks over Manhattan tower

Fri Sep 10, 2004 03:35 PM ET
By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in talks with Brookfield Properties Corp., which claims rights over the Manhattan site where the investment bank plans to build a $1.8 billion headquarters.

"We think (Goldman's plan) is a great thing for downtown. We're very supportive of it and we're talking to Goldman about it," said Brookfield spokeswoman Melissa Coley.

Goldman spokeswoman Andrea Raphael confirmed the talks but declined to comment further.

Earlier this week Goldman agreed to pay the Battery Park City Authority a one-time rent of $160.9 million by June 30, 2006, among other payments, for development rights on the last Battery Park City commercial site. A spokesman for BPCA declined to comment on Brookfield's claim to the land.

New York state formed the authority in the 1970s to develop 92 acres of new land along the Hudson River, created with dirt excavated during construction of the World Trade Center.

Brookfield says it holds rights on the land in question, referred to as Site 26, where Goldman intends to construct its new global headquarters. The site is next to Brookfield's World Financial Center, a sprawling office and shopping complex.

Brookfield said it inherited these rights when it acquired the real estate portfolio of bankrupt Olympia & York about 15 years ago. Brookfield's co-chairman, John Zuccotti, was president and CEO of Olympia & York Cos. USA and remains a force in New York real estate.

Zuccotti is chairman of the influential Real Estate Board of New York and served in City Hall in the mid 1970s as first deputy mayor under Abraham Beame.

MOVING FORWARD

It is unclear how far along negotiations have progressed or if Brookfield's claim poses a threat to Goldman's plans.

Only last month, New York city and state officials heaped praise on Goldman's plan for a 44-story, 2 million-square-foot tower in Battery Park City. The building would be lower Manhattan's first major headquarters building in 16 years.

Goldman on Thursday said it is moving forward with its plan to complete and occupy the building by 2009, when leases on most of the firm's New York office space are due to expire. Goldman wants to move thousands of employees into the tower.

"We intend to break ground early next year," Goldman's Raphael said.

By moving to Battery Park, Goldman would become neighbors with World Financial Center tenants American Express Co. (AXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Merrill Lynch & Co.(MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . The site is across the street from Ground Zero, the former World Trade Center site.

The firm also stands to receive lot of help from city and state agencies, which are eager to maintain financial jobs in the city. Goldman will have access to $1 billion in tax-free Liberty Bonds, a low-cost source of financing.

In exchange for this and other financial incentives, Goldman promised to maintain and then boost jobs in the city over the next two decades. (With additional reporting by Ilaina Jonas and Tom Johnson)

7 World Trade

September 11th, 2004, 05:24 PM

2009!? it'll take that long?

i mean, look at new 7, it's going up so fast...oh well, guess goldman sachs is just taking its time. i can't wait to see a color rendition of this building...

atlrvr

September 27th, 2004, 07:35 PM

This is the best looking building I think I've ever seen........I can only hope that the new Wachovia tower in Charlotte would emulate this design.......one can dream.

FerrariEnzo

September 28th, 2004, 04:26 AM

Quote: Almost 2 billion for 40 stories?

My thoughts percisely, gold toilets?

New Jack City

October 11th, 2004, 05:10 PM

NY Daily News

West St. re-do
Goldman joins in near its new HQ

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/300-lotmap.jpg

BY LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER

The bulldozers will rumble in soon to parking lots clustered downtown on West Street - and start three massive real estate projects that will change the face of Tribeca South.

On one side of the street - overshadowing PS 234 and Washington Market Park - Jack Resnick & Sons and Edward J. Minskoff Equities will build more than 1,000 apartments in two developments. Across the way, Goldman Sachs will construct a new global headquarters for 11,000 employees.

To keep the skyscrapers from overwhelming the mostly low-rise nabe, Community Board 1 chair Madelyn Wils and City Councilman Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan) negotiated an agreement with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff to lower the height of the apartments and get family-friendly facilities built - with money from Goldman.

"We had to make sure these developments proceed within a framework of livability," Gerson told the Daily News.

The accord ends two decades of opposition to high-rises on either side of Warren Street. The city owns these leftovers from a 1960s urban renewal plan, so it can impose design limits as a condition of their sale to developers.

Groundbreaking is expected soon at Resnick's project, which recently got a go-ahead vote from the City Council.

Scott Resnick - who couldn't be reached for comment - wanted to build a 400-foot tower designed by celebrity architect Sir Norman Foster, who later quit the project. The city cut its height to 300 feet, or 30 stories.

Instead of a recreation center with a basketball half-court, Resnick's required to build an indoor swimming pool with skylight, plus a school for pre-K and kindergarten.

Goldman's donating $1 million for Resnick's rec center, and more than $3 million for a public library at a nearby Battery Park City development. The bank breaks ground next month on its own 740-foot tower.

Minskoff's project heads for public review now that the city has decided it will be a tower of 370 feet - instead of 600 feet - with shorter companion buildings.

The Minskoff firm - which declined comment - must build 150 affordable apartments, and will get funds from a $50 million Lower Manhattan Development Corp. subsidy. The rest of the money will be used for other affordable housing downtown.

Minskoff must make "best efforts" to find a supermarket tenant - and is in talks with Whole Foods. Before the project can get underway, the city must find a downtown site east of Broadway for a grade school, to relieve overcrowding at schools around West Street.

After years of fighting overscale projects, the deal with Doctoroff is a relief to community activists. "This puts the situation to bed," Wils said.

Originally published on October 11, 2004

johnbeton

October 11th, 2004, 05:27 PM

2 billion dollars and 1.9Msqft and it will only be 800ft tall? What's up New York? If a devloper in chicago has $2,000,000,000 and needed 1,900,000sft of office space it's going to be over 1,000ft. I understand why the Freedom Tower is so short, but why this building? Does 9/11 still have so tight of a grip that no one wants to do anything great? I've read about FT and Bryant Park, and all te rest, but I'm not that impressed.

New York was the city that built ESB, WTC, gave us Donald Trump (who in turn gave Chicago its new 1,100ft giant) I know y'all can do far better than this hulking shrimp. So why aren't you?

My thoughts exactly :bash:
A 1,000ft tower on this site would simply be astonishing, so close to the waterfront, it could resemble the WTC in it's early years when it stood real close to the river

BUT: it's a very good looking tower which will hopefully reboost Downtown

Vlad the Great

October 11th, 2004, 08:56 PM

740 feet now? Crap. 800 sounded so much better... :(

TICONLA1

October 31st, 2004, 10:05 AM

That 740' quote has to be a misprint, i can't imagine, with the funds in question any thing below the 800' mark. (hell for that kind of cash, the building should 1'100' and 76 floors.) that would be impressive. a great contrast to freedom tower anyway!

New Jack City

December 7th, 2004, 11:11 PM

Tribeca Trib

BPC Tower Construction to Begin

In Brief - December 2004

Construction is set to begin early next year on the future 45-story headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Battery Park City.

Representatives of Tishman Construction and Goldman Sachs told members of Community Board 1 last month that work would continue through 2008.

The preliminary phase of construction on the lot at West, Vesey and Murray Streets-Battery Park City's last remaining undeveloped commercial site-is expected to last until January 2006, when building of the superstructure of the 750-foot-tall, Henry Cobb-designed tower begins. Work hours will be Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Noise was a concern for CB1's Battery Park City Committee, whose members noted that the two months of pile driving planned in the first phase could coincide with student testing at nearby schools. The board urged the construction company to work around exam schedules.

Tishman will post crossing guards during construction to usher pedestrians and to guide trucks safely into the site. The development team told the committee that security will patrol the site 24 hours a day and that the construction company will have an office on-site to address community concerns.

Until recently, the property, known as Site 26, was used as a parking lot. All but three sites in Battery Park City-Sites 3, 23 and 24-have been developed or have designated developers. Requests for proposals for the unbuilt sites are expected to be released in January.

The lower floors of the two-million-square-foot building will occupy the full lot and house the firm's 75,000-square-foot trading floor. One hundred and forty feet up, the building will be set back 70 feet to a more slender tower.

On the west side, across from the movie theater, the plan is for a narrow sidewalk sheltered by a glass canopy, and ground-level retail stores. On the West Street side there will be a walkway lined with planters and a double row of trees, and a lane for black cars that will run parallel to the existing bike path.

Only 15 parking spaces will be available for building employees. Black cars and public transportation are expected to shuttle the rest of the workers. Goldman Sachs intends to fill the building with 7,500 employees by 2009.

New Jack City

February 24th, 2005, 03:56 AM

Renderings:

In the skyline:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/2404goldmanskyline.jpg

Closer:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/2404goldmanrend.JPG

ugluk7

February 24th, 2005, 05:44 AM

I must say it doesn't seem all that impressive, and it looks even worse next to that half empty FT. I don't think the lattice will end up looking that empty.

lammius

February 24th, 2005, 10:36 AM

The worst thing about that rendering is indeed the freedom tower.

atlrvr

February 24th, 2005, 05:33 PM

The previous rendering looked much much better.

Jay

February 24th, 2005, 07:07 PM

The worst thing about that rendering is indeed the freedom tower.

Do you realize that the freedom tower is 150 feet to short in that rendering? it shows the lattice work at 1350 feet and the building at 1000, so it will be much more impactful than that so calm down.

New Jack City

February 25th, 2005, 12:02 AM

BTW, the tower's height was reducted from 800 feet to 740 feet. I thought this project was very exciting at first, now it seems to be turning into just an ok one.

Ellatur

February 25th, 2005, 12:09 AM

^agreed

7 World Trade

February 25th, 2005, 03:51 AM

Do you realize that the freedom tower is 150 feet to short in that rendering? it shows the lattice work at 1350 feet and the building at 1000, so it will be much more impactful than that so calm down.

even if freedom tower's shown in the correct height, it's still gonna be the worst thing in that rendering as long as the ill-thought out lattice is there to stay imo.

yeah, the building's only going to be as tall as 3 world financial center and new 7 world trade center now. but it's still going to make an interesting impact in the lower manhattan skyline with its curved facade (u don't see that many curved skyscrapers in nyc, the only other curved skyscraper in downtown is 17 state st).

i seriously wish that they can just jump start construction on this building. the site the building's sitting on's just practically screaming for a skyscraper to be built over it.

New Jack City

April 6th, 2005, 11:14 PM

Horrible news, 2 articles. One announcing the withdrawal of the plan, the other talking about damage control being done by the city/state.

NY POST

GOLDMAN PULLS PLAN FOR $2B BATTERY PARK HQ

By STEVE CUOZZO

April 5, 2005 -- Goldman Sachs has pulled the plug on its plan to build a nearly $2 billion headquarters tower in Battery Park City, dealing a severe blow to downtown hopes for a commercial renaissance near the World Trade Center site.

A source said the Wall Street firm's plan for a new tower on the West side of West Street between Vesey and Barclay streets — a vacant block known as Site 26 — remained "an option."

But, "We are in fact pulling back from moving forward there," an insider said, and the firm has begun looking at other possible locations.

Goldman Sachs' decision yesterday stunned representatives of the governor's and mayor's offices, who had expected to finalize a deal soon.

Plans for the 40-story tower were announced last summer and hailed as a morale-booster for downtown.

But Goldman has bickered with the state over plans for a West Street tunnel adjacent to Ground Zero that might place wide entrance portals in front of the new headquarters.

The bank's backing out could be a negotiating ploy to pressure the state to cancel the tunnel or move the portals north.

However, Goldman Sachs sources attributed the pullout to "growing uncertainty over what the whole neighborhood will look like," including concerns over "how the Freedom Tower will be positioned and how streets will be configured."

The insider said the firm will keep its headquarters in Lower Manhattan. But, until "the different constituencies resolve those issues, we are not in a position where we can move forward."

Goldman Sachs has thousands of employees in more than a half-dozen addresses around downtown.

Lower Manhattan Development Corp. president Kevin Rampe said, "We feel confident we'll be able to answer any concerns Goldman Sachs has and that Goldman will eventually see the merits of relocating to Site 26."

----------------------------------------

NY POST

CITY, STATE BIGS WOO GOLDMAN

By DAVID SEIFMAN and STEVE CUOZZO

http://www.nypost.com/photos/biz04062005040.jpg
THE PLAN: A rendering of the proposed headquarters for Goldman Sachs at Battery Park City.

April 6, 2005 -- City and state officials scrambled to do damage control yesterday after Goldman Sachs said it was backing away from a widely publicized plan to build a new headquarters tower in Battery Park City.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Pataki said the state would try to address the Wall Street giant's objections to a proposed West Street tunnel that would place a wide set of entrance ramps on the new building's doorstep.

Lynn Rasic said an analysis of alternatives for West Street would be completed soon, and was confident it "allow Goldman to go ahead with their plans."

A Goldman Sachs spokesman, Peter Rose, said the firm "would welcome a timely resolution of all of these issues and look forward to hearing from the city and state."

On Monday, Goldman startled Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg when it said uncertainties over the tunnel and "what the whole neighborhood will look like" had caused it to start looking at alternatives to the site.

"I don't think that Goldman Sachs threatened anybody," Mayor Bloomberg said. "They're trying to do what's in their interest. They said they have some real concerns. They want to rethink some things. We take their interest in this city phenomenally seriously."

Bloomberg added that Goldman was "very concerned about traffic. They're concerned about making sure they can do their construction, that they get the right zoning changes.

"They're not trying to hold us up. They want to wait until we resolve some issues the city has with traffic flow and the construction of the Freedom Tower. All of these things are tied in together," Bloomberg said.

Elected officials had hailed the firm's commitment for a nearly $2 billion tower across the street from Ground Zero as an affirmation of downtown's commercial vitality, and allocated $1 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bond financing for it.

But Goldman has made no secret of its disgruntlement over a 260-foot wide entrance portal at the foot of its planned new home.

Even with the firm's concerns about the planned downtown site, Bloomberg said the firm was unlikely to leave New York City.

"Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs has a number of buildings that they occupy already downtown. Goldman has clearly said again and again and again they have every intention of staying in the city, their future is in this city," he said. "And you should not think for one second that there's any remote thought of them not being in this city."

http://www.nordenson.com/images/GS/GS00.png

New York Yankee

May 14th, 2005, 08:49 PM

any news or pics how the building are gonna be?

7 World Trade

May 17th, 2005, 04:03 AM

as of now, this building's not gonna get built as long as the disputes between goldman sachs and the nyc government continues...

kudos to goldman sachs for helping to derail the freedom tower!

Skyscrapercitizen

May 17th, 2005, 11:10 PM

The NY Times wrote it was canceled, but well, that is a newspaper so you never know...

BigMac

August 11th, 2005, 06:03 AM

New York Times
August 11, 2005

Goldman Sachs Decides to Stay at Ground Zero

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Goldman Sachs has agreed to build a $2 billion new headquarters across the street from the former World Trade Center site, reversing its decision this spring to abandon its building plans, according to city, state and company officials who have been briefed on the investment firm's plans.

The firm had balked earlier at building there after being dissatisfied with the security and traffic plans proposed by the state. Changing Goldman's mind, however, did not come cheap. Both the city and the state had to offer many new inducements that they did not present the first time.

Under the new agreement, which still requires approval of the firm's board, the city comptroller and some state authorities, Goldman would get at least $150 million in new city and state tax credits, as well as $600 million of new Liberty Bonds to add to the $1 billion in previously issued bonds, the officials said. Liberty Bonds, which reduce private borrowing costs at government expense, are intended primarily for commercial tenants in Lower Manhattan.

In addition, the city has agreed to change the streetscape around Site 26, where the two-million-square-foot office tower would rise on West Street. For example, the bike lane and sidewalk on the street would be narrowed to accommodate bollards to protect the building from truck bombs. The direction of traffic on Murray Street would probably be reversed to reduce the number of vehicles whizzing by.

The city and state were willing to make the concessions, however painful, because Goldman Sachs is not just any tenant. Officials have considered it crucial to revitalizing commercial downtown. The firm's decision is likely to encourage other businesses that have avoided coming into Lower Manhattan since the attack on the trade center, and officials hope its return will secure Lower Manhattan's primacy as a financial powerhouse.

"This is the biggest shot in the arm for downtown in a very long time," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, who has been highly critical of the lack of progress this year in Lower Manhattan. "Hopefully, it is a harbinger of things to come. Businesses have been on hold waiting to see what Goldman would do. The only regret is that it took so long."

Edward Skyler, the communications director for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said the mayor has remained optimistic that Goldman would remain in Lower Manhattan, adding that discussions were continuing. Asked how the firm reached its decision, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, Andrea Raphael, declined to respond. Joanna Rose, a spokeswoman for Gov. George E. Pataki, said, "Talks are continuing, and we are making progress."

Goldman, which has been the only major concern to agree to locate its headquarters at the trade center site, has worked on plans for an elaborate new headquarters for nearly a year. It hired the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to design a tower that would be distinguished from the older, boxy office buildings in the area.

The building would consolidate the 9,000 workers in Goldman's trading and sales operations, now spread over 10 offices in Lower Manhattan. The firm had hoped to start construction by 2008.

Those plans fell apart this spring, when, in numerous meetings with city and state officials, Goldman Sachs executives became deeply concerned that plans at the trade center site were badly stalled.

The firm was particularly rankled by the state's plan to bury West Street in a tunnel that would have ended at its headquarters' front door, creating an abundance of traffic and related security concerns. In April, after failing to persuade the state to abandon the tunnel idea, the investment firm pulled the plug on its plans, and hired a commercial real estate firm to begin scouting the city for a new location, possibly in Midtown.

The Pataki administration, facing criticism over Goldman's retreat as well as other stalled projects downtown, quickly moved to limit the damage. The governor made his chief of staff, John P. Cahill, the point man for all Lower Manhattan matters, including Goldman Sachs. He abandoned the tunnel idea. He pleaded with the firm to reconsider.

For his part, Mayor Bloomberg made several overtures to the firm's chairman, Henry M. Paulson, to come back to the bargaining table. He made weekly phone calls directly to Mr. Paulson, and met with him several times to make the case that Goldman was one of the city's most important corporate citizens and was needed downtown to help the city recover. "I think frankly once people realized that there were going to be political consequences for it not happening, everyone got their act together," Mr. Schumer said.

Goldman, shaken by its own security concerns, asked for additional concessions. It wanted a safer streetscape, said two people involved in the negotiations, as well as financial incentives, since the delay had cost the firm money. Although the firm would have had trouble finding a Midtown site to meet its considerable space needs, city and state officials decided to take no chances and agreed to the requests. The company now plans to occupy its new site in 2009.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Dale

August 11th, 2005, 06:33 AM

^ Woo-Hoo !

New Jack City

August 11th, 2005, 06:48 AM

GREAT news, best skyscraper news we've had in a while. Let's get this thing going.

GVNY

August 11th, 2005, 07:44 AM

Wow, fantastic news! They must have gotten some great gifts from Pataki or some other officials to just change their mind like that.

One more question: Is the tunnel going to dug?

asohn

August 11th, 2005, 10:06 AM

Bad news for Jersey City

Vlad the Great

August 11th, 2005, 07:21 PM

Wow, fantastic news! They must have gotten some great gifts from Pataki or some other officials to just change their mind like that.

One more question: Is the tunnel going to dug?

Yeah i think 150 million in tax credits, that's what it says in the article anyway.

No tunnel. :)

7 World Trade

August 12th, 2005, 01:10 AM

good news INDEED! now that horrible FT design has been thrown out in favor of a better alternative thanks in part to goldman sachs' actions (though there're many aspects that the new design can improve on), im in favor of them returning to that prime site that's just screaming for a tall building to be built on it. and i love their tower's design, although i think they should increase its height to at least 230m so that it's visibly taller than 3 wfc and new 7 wtc.

yep, no tunnel. the fact that the nyc government's gonna build a tunnel at west st in front of the building's entrance is the main cause that goldman sachs threatened to leave the site. now they're just gonna build a 6-lane highway i believe. not much difference from what was there before.

well, goldman sachs jersey city's gonna sit half-empty for a long time now. poor thing.

TalB

August 12th, 2005, 01:16 AM

Bad news for Jersey City
It's not necessairly bad news for Jersey City just b/c of the BPC location. Keep in mind that the one for BPC is smaller, which is probably due to zonning laws. If you think about it, Goldman Sachs believes that having more branches will give it more employees and customers. The Jersey City location will be fine.

BigMac

August 12th, 2005, 02:53 PM

New York Times
August 12, 2005

Officials Defend Actions to Keep Goldman Sachs Downtown

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Just six months ago, Goldman Sachs, the big investment bank, appeared to be in a bind. It had committed to building its headquarters across the street from ground zero, but it did not like the city and state plans for traffic and security around the site.

So Goldman's executives did what they were trained to do: They traded their way out of a bad situation and wound up with a much more favorable one.

City and state officials said on Wednesday that they had agreed to grant the company at least $150 million in tax breaks and to provide a total of $1.6 billion in federally subsidized Liberty Bonds to revive Goldman's plan to build a $2 billion tower in Battery Park City.

Though the deal is not yet sealed, the sweetened package of incentives, served up to a company that made $4.5 billion in profit last year, appeared to defy Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's claim to have "essentially ended corporate welfare." Some critics said they believed Goldman had simply bluffed its way into a much better hand by threatening to relocate to Midtown.

"It's probably the case that Goldman really was playing the city and had no intention of leaving Lower Manhattan," said Jonathan Bowles, research director for the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit group that analyzes economic development programs.

Charles Brecher, research director for the Citizens Budget Commission, a business-financed watchdog group, questioned the fairness of subsidizing a company's choice of one location in the city over another.

"If they moved to Midtown, so what?" Mr. Brecher said. "Our perspective in the past on these things has been that it's about the city's tax base, not about one part versus another, whether it's Brooklyn or downtown."

But city and state officials, who have endured years of criticism that they have allowed downtown to languish in the wake of the 2001 terror attack, said the deal was necessary to eliminate the prospect of Goldman's moving thousands of workers to Midtown, which the firm's executives started threatening to do in the spring. In March, Goldman said it had scrapped plans for the new building in part because it did not like the state's plan for a West Street tunnel ending outside it.

By pulling out, Goldman seized the leverage in its negotiations with city and state officials. Immediately, virtually all talks with companies considering a presence at or near ground zero came to a halt, downtown officials said.

"Every financial-services firm said, 'We want Goldman here at any cost,' " said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the New York City Partnership, a business group. "Not because Goldman's competitors all want Goldman to get a good deal, but because their commitment is going to be a magnet for re-tenanting downtown."

Nonetheless, Sheldon Silver, the State Assembly speaker, whose district includes Lower Manhattan, said he had no doubt that Goldman had been serious about finding a different location.

"It wasn't a play," Mr. Silver said yesterday. "Goldman was very concerned about the tunnel. Even if they weren't leaving downtown, this is a reaffirmation by a major international business that they were committed to downtown."

Mr. Silver said the package of incentives offered to Goldman included about $6 million in commercial rent tax breaks that were made available, by legislation he pushed through in Albany this year, to any company leasing space downtown. It would also include the elimination of city and state sales tax on all computers and furnishings for the new building and credits of about $3,000 for each job Goldman adds downtown, although Goldman is not pledging to bring more jobs to the city.

Wrapping up a deal to bring Goldman downtown would be a political triumph for Mr. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki, said Steven Cohen, a professor of public administration at Columbia University.

"Politically, it's very important to both the governor and the mayor to make it at least appear that the redevelopment at ground zero isn't completely stalled," Mr. Cohen said. "Obviously, it took a lot of money to make this happen."

Mr. Bloomberg's opponents in the mayoral race would be unlikely to criticize either the offering of incentives to Goldman or their cost, Mr. Cohen said.

"I don't see a political force that's going to make an issue out of this," he said. "It's only going to be a political benefit now."

Even Mr. Bowles, who said he had generally praised the mayor for using corporate tax breaks sparingly, said he was pleased that Goldman had been lured back to the site.

"I'm ecstatic that Goldman is going to remain in Lower Manhattan," he said. "Everybody knows how important they are to the future of the World Trade Center area. I just think we've given away too much."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

TalB

August 21st, 2005, 02:00 AM

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_119/goldmandealalmost.html
Volume 18 • Issue 13 | August 19 - 25, 2005

Goldman deal almost sealed without new public benefits

By Ronda Kaysen

City and state officials are close to sealing a deal with Goldman Sachs offering the investment bank more than $1.75 billion in incentives to build their new headquarters across from the World Trade Center. The offer — paid for with public funds — includes no additional amenities for a residential community that will have little access to the 740-foot tower.

Goldman Sachs bowed out of plans to build its $2.4 billion headquarters in Battery Park City last April, citing security concerns related to a proposed West St. tunnel that would have emptied out at the building’s doorstep and to a Freedom Tower design vulnerable to attack.

In the original agreement, the investment bank had agreed to provide $3.5 million for a new library — the first library for the 9,000-resident neighborhood — to be built at Site 16/17, a nearby Battery Park City development. Goldman had also pledged $1 million for a new community center in Tribeca, a plaza, reservation-only access to a conference room and a civic facility fee.

The new agreement comes after months of negotiations and includes $1.65 billion in triple tax-free Liberty Bonds — $650 million more than the offer made last September — and about $150 million in new city and state tax credits. In all, Goldman Sachs will probably save $100 million in interest costs over 30 years from the Liberty Bonds, according to the Independent Budget Office, a nonpartisan group.

The original amenities remain intact in the new agreement and the details of the civic facilities fee — a Battery Park City Authority fee required of B.P.C. leaseholders — have been worked out. Goldman will pay about $900,000 a year at the outset to the authority. The total fee will come to $155 million over the course of its lease, which expires in 2069, and be used for parks and public facilities.

Community amenities were never discussed during the negotiations, despite a near doubling of public financing for the project and community representatives were absent from the discussions, according to several sources close to the negotiations.

“It’s clear that Goldman got an increased incentive package, but they’re not going to increase amenities and they made that very, very clear,” said Julie Menin, chairperson of Community Board 1, which represents the Battery Park City community. “I was certainly disappointed that they were not willing to reconsider that, but they were not.”

City and state officials agree that community benefits were never up for discussion with each side looking to the other for responsibility. At a Wednesday morning ribbon cutting for a new residential development in B.P.C., Governor George Pataki directed questions about amenities to B.P.C.A., which negotiated for the community in the original deal. Pataki appoints all three members to the Battery Park City Authority board.

B.P.C.A., in turn, directed questions back to the city and state. “There was no additional discussion of the public amenities,” James Cavanaugh, chief operating officer of B.P.C.A., told Downtown Express, adding that it was the city and state’s responsibility — not the B.P.C.A., a city and state agency — to negotiate details in the new incentive package. “We had already negotiated the public amenities that the community wanted.”

Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the negotiations.

A lease agreement had not been reached with the authority by press time, although Cavanaugh indicated on Wednesday that the price for the land lease — $161 million — had not changed. An emergency B.P.C.A. board meeting was cancelled on Tuesday and authority officials have declined to elaborate as to why the agreement was delayed and when it might be approved.

Political leaders hail Goldman’s return as a boon to the troubled W.T.C. redevelopment, which has been floundering since last spring. Goldman’s renewed interest is a signal to investors and other businesses that redevelopment is back on track and the Financial District, which recently slipped from its place as the nation’s third largest business district to its fourth, is still a place to invest.

However, the concerns the neighborhood has expressed since last September have never been resolved and remain unresolved in the new agreement. The 2.1-million sq. ft. office tower is completely cut off from public access because of high security, rendering the lobby inaccessible to residents crossing the neighborhood. Residents also worry that black cars crossing the bike and pedestrian pathway to drop off and pick up Goldman clients and employees will make the pathway, which runs along West St., unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians.

The bike path will not be narrowed, said Chris Martin, a spokesperson for the Hudson River Park Trust, which operates the pathway, despite reports by the New York Times, which broke the story.

The negotiation process has been marked by secrecy at every level, with community members wondering how the authority can declare it had met the community’s needs when the community had no voice in the revised negotiations.

“I have no idea what transpired. It was never made clear, ever,” said Tom Goodkind, a B.P.C. resident and C.B. 1 member. “The communication was very poor on this negotiation, very poor. I don’t know who was at the table. I don’t know what was offered, what was exchanged. These are our most valuable assets and I don’t know who did it and what transpired.”

No documents have been released regarding the details of the agreement and the Liberty Development Corporation board meeting where the board approved the $1.65 billion in Liberty Bonds on Monday went with little notice by the press and public, although a media advisory was released and an announcement was posted in the Empire State Development Corporation’s office, according to Deborah Wetzel, a spokesperson for the E.S.D.C.

“How dare they approve this project and not give anything to the public,” said Bettina Damiani, director of Good Jobs New York, a civic group, adding that she was unaware of the board meeting. “This amount of money and this amount of secrecy is really quite unprecedented.”

A public hearing regarding the Liberty Bonds will be held on Sept. 7 and relevant documents will be released the day before. “I don’t know anybody that can analyze a $1.6 billion finance package and prepare and give testimony about it the next day,” said Damiani. “They’re negotiating with our tax dollars and our foregone resources. How we don’t have the most preliminary information about these projects is shameful.”

Goldman’s return to the fold has been hailed a victory for Downtown’s redevelopment by Democratic and Republican leaders alike, both sides insisting the business, jobs and cache the new headquarters — at the corner of West and Murray Sts. —will bring is benefit enough for the community located across the street from the W.T.C.

“From the standpoint of making sure that Lower Manhattan stays the financial capital of the world, having Goldman Sachs commit to having its global headquarters right across the street from the scene of those attacks was absolutely essential,” Governor Pataki told reporters at the ribbon cutting. “It’s going to mean Lower Manhattan will be the financial center of the world. It’s going to mean thousands more jobs in Lower Manhattan.”

The new deal guarantees that Goldman will bring more than 8,000 jobs Downtown.

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents part of the Battery Park City community, has taken strides to ensure that the remaining $3.3 billion in Liberty Bonds be reserved for Downtown. Goldman’s return “will have a long-term positive impact on the community,” said Jim Quent a spokesperson for the speaker.

City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., who must also approve the deal, came out in favor of the agreement on Wednesday, clearing another obstacle in the hasty process. “This agreement strengthens the hope of renewal and job stability for Lower Manhattan and will benefit the entire city for years to come,” Thompson said in a statement.

With Goldman now claiming $1.65 billion of the remaining Liberty Bonds, the pot of bonds is quickly running dry, making it unclear how Larry Silverstein, who owns the W.T.C., will fund his remaining projects. Silverstein was expecting $3.5 billion in Liberty Bonds to supplement his $4.5 billion in insurance proceeds to finance the rest of the build out, is now looking to government officials to allocate additional bonds, sources close to the redevelopment told Downtown Express. The federal government released $8 billion in Liberty Bonds to help New York recover from 9/11.

Supporters, however, insist the benefits of Goldman’s return will outweigh any setbacks Silverstein might suffer from the loss of bonds. Seven W.T.C., the first building Silverstein completed in the redevelopment, has languished largely unrented since construction began, even with a recent incentive package from the state legislature. Goldman, however, might create a sudden surge of interest from businesses wary of a waffling Downtown.

“The value to Silverstein of having Goldman go forward immediately with this $2.4 billion investment is far greater than any Liberty Bond,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and C.E.O. of the Partnership for New York City, a business leadership organization. “The success of the Trade Center will be driven, more than anything else, by this kind of high quality private sector commitment to bring 9,000 people to the Trade Center.”

The local residents who stand to directly benefit from Goldman’s original $4.5 million financial commitment to the neighborhood are lining up behind Goldman’s supporters.

“I’m optimistic for Manhattan Youth but also for Downtown,” Bob Townley, executive director of Manhattan Youth, the community organization that will steer the Tribeca community center partially funded with $1 million from the Goldman Sachs deal. The return of a major financial player to the Downtown community, he said, is more than a harbinger of good things to come, “it’s old fashioned Downtown.”

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

BigMac

August 24th, 2005, 03:11 PM

New York Times
August 24, 2005

Board Approves Deal for Bank Tower in Lower Manhattan

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

A state board formally approved a deal yesterday that would enable Goldman Sachs to revive its plan to build a $2 billion headquarters across the street from the World Trade Center site. But it would cost taxpayers even more in subsidies than has been previously disclosed.

State and city officials announced earlier this month that they had agreed to provide Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, with a bigger incentive package, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to lure it downtown after it had explored a move to Midtown.

But officials confirmed this week that they had also agreed to lower the bank's annual payment in lieu of taxes for the new headquarters, a decrease that could amount to as much as $9 million a year. Some government watchdog groups criticized the extent of government largesse, but state and city officials defended the new deal, saying Goldman Sachs was critical to the commercial future of Lower Manhattan.

John P. Cahill, the governor's chief of staff, who negotiated with Goldman executives, said that Goldman's decision to build a 43-story tower in Battery Park City "reinforces Lower Manhattan's position as the financial capital of the world" and would help the city's effort to keep American Express and Merrill Lynch downtown.

The state board that approved the deal, the Battery Park City Authority, agreed to lease the last remaining commercial development site at Battery Park City to Goldman Sachs for 65 years. The bank, in turn, agreed to make a one-time lease payment of $161 million in February.

"The economics of our deal have not changed since the beginning," said Tim Carey, president of the authority. But the larger deal has changed.

"From what's been reported, you can't imagine a sweeter deal," said Bettina Damiani, project director at Good Jobs New York, a government watchdog group.

Goldman had abandoned its effort to build a new glass and stainless steel tower across West Street from the World Trade Center site in April out of frustration with the seeming disarray of the state's plans to manage security and traffic in the area. Goldman then began a very public search for an alternative site in Midtown.

Many public officials and downtown landlords feared that if Goldman migrated to Midtown, Merrill Lynch, whose lease at the World Financial Center expires in a couple of years, and other large employers would follow. Lower Manhattan has been plagued by high commercial vacancy rates since the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. The developer Larry A. Silverstein has nearly completed rebuilding 7 World Trade Center, but so far he has been unable to land an anchor tenant.

In recent weeks, state and city officials went back to Goldman with new security and traffic plans as well as more enticements. They agreed to increase the value of the tax-free Liberty Bonds available for the project from $1 billion to $1.65 billion. The city's Independent Budget Office estimates that Goldman will save about $9 million a year in interest payments, up from $5.5 million, because the bonds are exempt from taxes. A public hearing on the bonds is the next step in the approval process, followed by final approval from the state.

"We felt we had to make an attractive offer that we believed would be compelling enough to make them reconsider Site 26," said Adam L. Barsky, deputy secretary to Gov. George E. Pataki, referring to the parcel in question.

Real estate executives say Goldman was unable to find an alternative location in Midtown that met its requirements. State and city officials say Goldman could have extended its leases at 85 Broad Street, 1 New York Plaza and other buildings downtown. But it would not have had the same impact as a commitment to build a $2 billion tower.

The state and city are also giving the company $115 million in tax breaks and cash grants, in return for its commitment to maintain its headquarters in Lower Manhattan and more than 9,000 jobs now in New York through 2028. The value of the tax breaks could swell to $150 million if Goldman's work force grows in the coming years. But earlier this year, officials offered tax breaks worth only $30 million to $55 million.

At the same time, the city reconfigured the payments in lieu of taxes that Goldman would have to make for its new headquarters, an arrangement that officials confirmed only this week. Officials had originally indicated that over time, the yearly payments, arranged when a developer is building on publicly owned land, would never exceed $15.11 per square foot, or $30.2 million. Under the new arrangement, the ceiling was set at a lower rate, $10.71 a square foot, or $21.4 million.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, said the state had agreed to reimburse the city for the difference, which he said would be about $40 million between 2012 and 2026.

Mr. Carey, of the authority, said Goldman would pay about $900,000 a year toward the upkeep of Battery Park City and $3.5 million toward designing and building a new library.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

New Jack City

August 24th, 2005, 06:15 PM

I don't get all the fuss, people want Lower Manhattan to come back and recover but question when politicians give Goldman a "sweet deal" with incentives to lure them back after they left their tower on the table. I mean you can't have it all.

NY1 is also reporting the tower is scheduled to break ground later this year.

New Jack City

September 10th, 2005, 06:00 AM

It would be nice to have access to the lobby, but as long as the tower goes up, who cares right?

Downtown Express

C.B. 1 says Goldman Sachs is selling it short

Volume 18 • Issue 16 | September 09 - 15, 2005

By Ronda Kaysen

This week Battery Park City residents had their first opportunity, since the city lured Goldman Sachs back Downtown with a sweetened deal, to tell the investment bank what think about its plans to build a new headquarters in their neighborhood.

Community Board 1 members from the Battery Park City neighborhood expressed dismay that no additional amenities will be offered to the community in exchange for a 740-foot tall tower in their midst that is entirely cut off from public access.

The development will now be financed with $1.65 billion in triple, tax-free Liberty Bonds — $650 million more than the original offering — and $150 million in city and state tax credits. Liberty Bonds were established in the wake of 9/11 to assist in the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.

“We are going to be suffering the consequences of more than 9,000 new citizens. we would like to think that Goldman would reconsider its decision and make a further contribution,” Battery Park City Committee chairperson Linda Belfer told Goldman Sachs representatives at a Tuesday night meeting. The 42-story Goldman Sachs headquarters is expected to house upwards of 9,000 employees.

“I would like to see some of this largess happen for us rather than it be discussed as some long-term theoretical concept,” said C.B. 1 member Barry Skolnick.

Goldman Sachs intends to contribute $3.5 million for a new library — the first for the 9,000-resident community — at another undeveloped Battery Park City development, Site 16/17. The investment bank will also contribute $1 million for a new community center currently under construction in Tribeca, a plaza, reservation-only access to a conference room and a civic facility fee. In exchange for the contributions, the public will have no access to the tower’s lofty atrium.

The contributions to the community have not changed since the original agreement for the site, known as Site 26. Neither has the 2.1 million sq. ft. Pei Cobb Freed design that was presented last fall. What has changed is the public financing.

Last April, Goldman withdrew its pledge to build a $2 billion headquarters at the corner of West and Murray Sts., citing security concerns. In the months since the deal collapsed, plans for a West St. tunnel that would have emptied out in front of the Goldman building have been scrapped and the Freedom Tower has been repositioned and redesigned at the World Trade Center site, resolving two of the most pressing concerns.

Last month, Goldman returned to the fold, accepting a sweetened incentives package from public officials. With the added public financing, Goldman Sachs will probably save $100 million in interest costs over 30 years from the Liberty Bonds, according to the Independent Budget Office, a nonpartisan group.

The investment bank earned $4.55 billion in profits last year.

The firm signed a $161 million, 64-year land lease with the Battery Park City Authority in late August. In a deal that was wrought with secrecy, additional amenities for the public were never brought to the table, according to sources on both sides of the negotiations.

“I’d like you to approach the community not just as another good deal, but as a good neighbor and a good friend,” C.B. 1 member Tom Goodkind told Goldman representatives.

Goldman insists the deal is not a windfall for the company so much as consolation for money lost in the months that the development was stalled. Goldman’s offices are currently scattered throughout Lower Manhattan and the plans are now a year off schedule. Further, “The economics of the deal weren’t even established when we first talked to you,” Timur Galen, director of corporate real estate for Goldman, told committee members.

Construction for the project is expected to begin at the end of the year and will be completed in late 2009 or early 2010.

Although the board did not offer specific amenities it would like to see added to the proposal, they requested Goldman be open to further discussion. “We’d be happy to have ongoing discussions,” Goldman spokesperson Andrea Raphael told Downtown Express later. “As always, we’re willing to listen to any proposals the community has for us.”

At this point the community has little leverage — the Liberty Bonds have already been allocated and the lease signed — and the request might be more a formality than a genuine possibility. “It’s highly unlikely that we’ll get any” additional amenities, C.B. 1 chairperson Julie Menin told Downtown Express after the meeting. “But it’s incumbent upon us — as a community — to at least ask.”

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

7 World Trade

September 18th, 2005, 05:47 PM

no access to the atrium?! man those guys are really paranoid are they?

whatever, just hurry up and get the tower started already! i don't want to have to wait all the way till 2010 to see the building get completed.

Marco Polo

October 4th, 2005, 11:40 AM

Good it is all finally resolved (so we hope).
When will the construction start?

NewYorkMantle

October 4th, 2005, 01:36 PM

TalB

October 16th, 2005, 08:57 AM

http://www.tribecatrib.com/
BPC Tower Construction to Begin

By Barry Owens

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http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/may04/goldman-architect.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/may04/goldman-aerial-2.jpg

Construction is set to begin as early as November on the 45-story building that will be the future headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Battery Park City.

Representatives of Tishman Construction and Goldman Sachs told members of Community Board 1 on Oct. 11 that work would continue through 2008.

Excavation of the lot at West, Vesey and Murray Streets-Battery Park City's last remaining undeveloped commercial site-is expected to take 11 months. Building of the superstructure of the 750-foot-tall, Henry Cobb-designed tower is expected to last 14 months. Work hours will be Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tishman will seek permits to work on Saturdays.

Noise was a concern for CB1's Battery Park City Committee, whose members noted that 30 weeks of drilling -163 holes will be drilled and then plugged with steel and concrete pilings to support the building-would coincide with student testing at nearby schools.

Tishman agreed to work around exam schedules should the noise be a problem, though it was pointed out that the drilling procedure is not half as loud as pile driving. Similar drilling methods were used for the piles at 7 World Trade Center.

Tishman will post crossing guards during construction to usher pedestrians and to guide trucks safely into the site. The development team told the committee that security will patrol the site 24 hours a day and that the construction company will have an office on-site to address community concerns.

Until recently, the property, known as Site 26, was used as a parking lot. All but three sites in Battery Park City-Sites 3, 23 and 24-have been developed or have designated developers.

The lower floors of the two-million-square-foot building will occupy the full lot and house the firm's 75,000-square-foot trading floor. One hundred and forty feet up, the building will be set back 70 feet to a more slender tower.

On the west side, across from the movie theater, the plan is for a narrow sidewalk sheltered by a glass canopy, and ground-level retail stores. On the West Street side there will be a walkway lined with planters and a double row of trees, and a lane for black cars that will run parallel to the existing bike path.

Only 15 parking spaces will be available for building employees. Black cars and public transportation are expected to shuttle the rest of the workers. Goldman Sachs intends to fill the building with 7,500 employees by 2010.

TalB

October 23rd, 2005, 05:35 AM

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_128/golmansachsreadies.html
Volume 18 • Issue 23 | October 21 - 27, 2005

Goldman Sachs readies to begin less noisy construction

By Ronda Kaysen

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_128/sachs.gif
Design for the Goldman Sachs building in Battery Park City

Construction of a new corporate headquarters in Battery Park City will be quieter than other projects have been, potentially sparing nearby schoolchildren from excessive noise.

Work on the new Goldman Sachs building, a 740-ft. tall Pei Cobb Freed-designed structure, could begin as soon as November and continue for at least two years. Despite its size, the foundation will not require pile driving, a noisy excavation process. Instead, developers of the $2 billion project plan to drill caissons. Unlike driving piles, which hammers the ground, drilling is a far quieter process.

Seven World Trade Center, a Larry Silverstein development just north of the World Trade Center site, drilled caissons opposed to driving piles, and received no serioius complaints from the community.

“That’s great news for us and for the schools and for everyone,” said Paul Goldstein, district manager of Community Board 1, in a telephone interview. “The caisson piles are quiet… We don’t anticipate a major impact if that’s the technique they’re using.”

The Goldman site, between West St. and North End Ave. and Murray and Vesey Sts., is two blocks south of P.S./I.S. 89, an elementary and middle school on West and Warren Sts. C.B. 1 members voiced concerns at an Oct. 5 meeting with Goldman representatives that construction might impact neighborhood children. “We’re hoping we can give you the children’s test days so when our children grow up maybe one day they can work at Goldman,” C.B. 1 member Tom Goodkind told Goldman representatives.

Goldman expects to work around school schedules “when there is written correspondence and it isn’t weekly spelling tests, but extraordinary tests,” said Jessica Healy, the Goldman Sachs community liaison for the project.

The community recently won a battle with another developer, Edward Minskoff, to mitigate noise at a Tribeca development on the east side of West St. The development, which will drive piles, is located opposite P.S. 234, a Tribeca elementary school. City Councilmember Alan Gerson led the protracted fight to quiet the noise, and eventually brokered an agreement favorable to the school. Gerson insists he will press Battery Park City developers to follow similar noise mitigation methods, if necessary.

With Goldman foreseeing a drilled foundation, the community will likely avoid another fight.

Goldman expects the drilling process to take 30 weeks. Crews will work six days a week, from 7 a.m to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and irregular hours on Saturdays.

Noise is not the only concern nearby businesses and residents will face as the 42-story tower is constructed. The businesses along North End Ave. will be encased in scaffolding for the next two years and eventually contained inside a glass-covered plaza. Goldman officials insist signage at Vesey and Murray Sts. will alert passersby to the presence of the stores—a movie theater, three restaurants and a gym.

The business owners seem unfazed by the prospect of a life enshrouded in blue scaffolding. “We’re not expecting it to be a negative thing. We’re expecting it to bring more business for us,” said Michelle Dapkins, a manager at Applebee’s, a restaurant in the middle of the block.

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com