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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

1 By Matt Chaban 2/07 4:13pm

The Neverending Story

Rising towers, rising costs. (Getty)

World Trade Center Redevelopment Now 35 Percent More Expensive

The Port Authority has just released  the preliminary findings of its agency-wide review, the biggest, if least surprising, news of which is that the cost of redeveloping the World Trade Center continues to sky rocket. The price has risen from the $11 billion estimated in 2008 to a current estimate of $14.8 billion. That is almost twice as expensive as the project was initially expected to cost when first announced in 2006, with a price tag of $8 billion. Read More

1 By Matt Chaban 2/03 1:53pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

4 Photos

Abu Dhabi International Airport

This Is What a Nice, New Airport Looks Like

Last week, The Observer looked at the sorry state of New York City's three major airports. Once the exemplars in the world, JFK, LaGuardia and Newark have fallen behind the times. The Port Authority is working to improve them all—plans for a new terminal at LaGuardia are coming along quite nicely, in fact—but still, these will be ho-hum operations, beholden to the challenges of modern American infrastructure, with our limited funds and ambition.

For a look at a truly grand airport, then, consider the work of local firm KPF, which just won the commission to design a new terminal for that mecca of Middle Eastern mega-development, Abu Dhabi. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/27 5:09pm

lease beat

Picture 2

More Green Shoots at 1 World Trade Center: Law Firm Chadbourne Eying Upper Floors

The law firm Chadbourne & Parke is rumored to be checking out space at 1 World Trade Center. A report in The New York Times today hinted that a deal is close, but brokers familiar with the firm pointed out that a lease was far from done.

The Times wasn't the first to reveal that Chadbourne has been looking at the 2.6 million-square-foot skyscraper being developed by the Port Authority. Last year, the New York Post's ace real estate columnist Steve Cuozzo pointed out that the firm was one among a handful of law firms considering the building. Read More

3 By Matt Chaban 1/25 5:01pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

800px-Pan_Am_Boeing_707-100_at_JFK_1961_Proctor

Terminal Condition: How New York’s Airports Crashed and Burned—Can They Soar Again?

Terminal 3 at JFK International Airport is incontinent. At 52, such problems are understandable. Still, they are nonetheless embarrassing, especially for one of the main international entry points for still (arguably, hopefully) the capital of the world.

Hanging from Terminal 3’s massive flying saucer roof are two dozen diapers, the actual technical term for the no-longer white tarps, 10-by-10 or larger, affixed to the concrete ceiling by steel cables. Running out the middle of each is a clear garden hose. Why not something opaque is a mystery as baffling as the fact that this terminal, with its crumbling roof, still stands. At least a dark hose would hide the effluent passing through the cracks of time, the drippings of decades of decay and neglect, none of it would be exposed for all the world to see.

Hello Istanbul, greetings Sao Paolo, cheerio London. Welcome to New York. Hope your 12-hour flight was O.K. Please ignore the colostomy bags hanging overhead. Read More

1 By Matt Chaban 1/24 10:14am

The Neverending Story

Not giving up, going up. (Getty Images)

Silverstein: Gimme Two Years and I’ll Have My 3 WTC Tenant

So maybe it wasn't a bombshell after all, the "news" yesterday that Larry Silverstein might not be able to finish 3 World Trade Center all the way, leaving it instead as a seven-story retail and mechanical stump for the time being. In a statement, the downtown don insists he will find a tenant, and he has about two years to do it before he must truly pull the trigger and decide to cap the tower or to keep building. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/23 6:25pm

The Neverending Story

Slowing down? (Joe Woolhead/WTC Progress)

Shadows Return to Ground Zero: Infighting and Stalled Projects Are Back—Is the Media to Blame?

Was last year magical for the World Trade Center site, or was it merely a mirage? The Observer has heard more than once of a sort of media blackout—promises of cooperation so as not to taint the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with the same backbiting, political infighting and constituent-driven trench warfare that had reigned almost since the towers fell.

Instead, there were celebratory milestones. One World Trade Center was finally skyrocketing toward heaven, putting up nearly a floor per week. Condé Nast signed its game-changing lease for half of said tower. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with the long-suffering Greek Orthodox Church. And of course, the 9/11 Memorial opened on time, and quite a bit further along than originally hoped. The city was triumphant.

Was that real progress, though, or simply a one-year reprieve out of respect for the dead? With the exception of last week’s news that Condé would be taking additional space at 1 WTC, the bad news has been piling up all year. Read More

5 By Matt Chaban 10/26/11 6:21pm

on the waterfront

Red Hook Container Terminal, Brooklyn

Red Hook Redo Already a Reality? Give It a Decade

Two weeks ago, Port Authority boss Chris Ward declared that one of the biggest projects the city could undertake would be the redevelopment of Red Hook. Not only would it vitalize another corner of the Brooklyn waterfront, but it would also become a critical connection to burgeoning development on Governors Island.

At the time, this sounded like pontification—Mr. Ward fought to keep the container terminal active at his previous job running American Stevedoring—but now it is looking more like prognostication.

Last week, it was revealed that the Port Authority had quietly cancelled its lease with American Stevedoring, which has led a handful of outlets to speculate that Red Hook’s redevelopment is in the near future. According to a highly placed source at the Port Authority, though, it will be at least a decade before the port ships out for good and the BroBos can move in. Read More

9 By Matt Chaban 9/23/11 2:35pm

Heads of State

Chris Ward chilling with another governor. (Newsday

Governor Cuomo Could Care Less About the M.T.A. and the Port Authority

Just not much less than he already does.

At least that is the impression given by our former colleagues over at Capital and WNYC, who point out that in the governor's recently released schedules, no mentions are made of meetings with either agency's head, Jay Walder or Chris Ward. As The Observer has previously reported, the governor has had limited contact with either Mr. Walder or Mr. Ward, despite their being in charge of two of the state's most important and powerful agencies. Read More

2 By Matt Chaban 8/08/11 3:41pm

Towering Ambition

Air rights sold to develop 1.3 million square feet

Interminable Debate Over Vornado’s Terminal Tower

Sunday came and went, and still there is no deal for Vornado's Port Authority Bus Terminal tower. It has been a dozen years since Vornado was tapped to build the thing, and while the developer was poised to get to work in 2007, those plans collapsed along with the economy. The deal was set to expire this weekend, but the Port Authority has granted Vornado yet another extension to come up with a plan to make both sides happy. Read More

By admin 8/06/10 8:45pm

Jersey Louis Vuitton May Secede

Louis Vuitton’s land in Springfield, N.J., may soon no longer be considered U.S. soil.

Sort of. 

The company is currently under consideration to become part of a New Jersey “Foreign-Trade Zone,” which would mean that Louis Vuitton Watch and Jewelry U.S.A.’s (LVMH-W&J) would have fewer restrictions and could ultimately lower its costs.

Seems strange for the company that Read More