On the heels of a report that One World Trade Center is now the world's most expensive building, costing an estimated $3.8 billion, the Post now says a delay with the skyscraper's underground loading dock "can’t be finished in time for [Conde Nast] and other tenants to use the planned 13 cargo bays to move in equipment to build out their space... As a result, the PA is scrambling to construct a temporary, above-ground loading dock with just five bays. The unexpected change in plans will add 'tens of millions' of dollars to the cost of building 1 WTC, sources said." And the temporary PATH station is at fault!
See, the temporary PATH station at the WTC site is blocking the most direct path. And it actually seems like a big clusterfuck:
The route, starting at the VSC, turns east beneath Liberty Street, then north beneath Greenwich Street — and then west through what’s now the temporary PATH terminal toward 1 WTC.
The temporary PATH station can’t be dismantled until the huge, way-behind-schedule Hub is completed — which can’t happen before 2015.
Even after the temporary train station is taken down, the PA still won’t be able to build the underground road from Greenwich Street to 1 WTC until a foundation is installed for the proposed Performing Arts Center, which would stand where the PATH station is now.
Sources said the loading dock problem wasn’t recognized until about a year ago. Why it took so long to figure it out was unclear.
While the Post isn't sure if the temporary loading dock is part of the $3.8 billion figure, "tens of millions" would be equivalent to 1-2% of the big number.
Port Authority executive director Patrick Foye told the AP, "Several years there was a design miss. Should it have been caught? The answer is, probably." Who wants to bet on a price tag over $4 billion?
