Brookfield Hires Turner to Repair (11/9/01)

These properties include One Liberty Plaza, World Financial Center 1, the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center and Two World Financial Center, which is owned by Brookfield and leased by Merrill Lynch. In addition, American Express has hired Turner to provide similar services for Tower C of its complex.

Turner Operations Manager Richard Bach said the multimillion-dollar project at One Liberty Plaza included replacement of 650 pieces of glass, power-washing the exterior of the building and interior repairs such as ceiling tiles, carpet and paint.

“We started the work on Sept. 17 and completed it in time for the building to reopen on Oct. 24,” Bach said.

“Right after the disaster, we anticipated there would be a major repair effort, so we secured materials, contractors and laborers and had them on standby.”

Bach said the work required to repair Tower A of 1 World Financial Center was similar to the work performed for One Liberty Plaza. In addition, “this is a stone building. As a result, we had to replace exterior stone. To do this, we had to locate the original quarry in Canada and the original fabricator so we could start fabrication of the granite panels that were needed. The first stone arrived on the site in late October.”

Bach said Tower A of 1 World Financial Center also required roof repairs and replacement of glass storefronts.

The Winter Garden, Bach said, “sustained significant damage.” Damage to this building was caused by falling debris, he added.

Repair plans have not yet been finalized for this structure, but Bach said, “The plan is to first make it safe, and the rebuilding will depend on the master plan for the entire downtown Manhattan area. In the meantime, we will make it weather-tight, do some repairs and ensure stability and safety for he building, pedestrians and occupants.”

Work to repair the Winter Garden is expected to begin after the building has been shored and the recovery has been completed, Bach added.

He said Two World Financial Center sustained similar damage and will require similar repair efforts as Tower A of 1 World Financial Center. The work was completed at the end of December.

Tower C of the American Express Building suffered significant structural damage, including the partial collapse of floors, Bach said. “There is quite a bit of steel that needs to be replaced,” he added. “The exterior facade on the southeast corner of the building needs to be replaced in its entirety. There is also a corner sheared off of eight floors in the middle of the building.

Steel falling from the North Tower is still protruding form the building as well. This steel caused the damage to this tower.

“American Express’ Tower C needs to be shored up and made safe. The New York City Office of Emergency Management is shoring up all of the buildings,” Bach said.

Turner also did cleanup work at the American Stock Exchange building a half block away from the World Trade Center site. Bach said the work was challenging because the exchange needed to be operational as quickly as possible. The work consisted of cleaning up dust and paper, and took several weeks to complete.

Tishman and Its Affiliates Help WTC-Area Clients (11/9/01)

Tishman Construction, Tishman Interiors and Tishman Technologies were hard at work after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, helping private clients restore and rebuild their facilities.

Daniel R. Tishman, president and chief executive officer of Tishman Construction Corp., said his people became involved in several ways. “Our main objective was to repair affected buildings so that companies could get up and running as soon as possible, and their employees could have places to work, and ultimately get our entire economy back on track,” he said.

This work includes the management of structural repairs, facade replacement and other remedial work on the 1.4 million-sq.-ft., 42-story, 130 Liberty St. for Deutsche Bank. Tishman Construction is also handling repairs for Deutsche Bank at 4 Albany St., just south of 130 Liberty St., and it is managing the facade restoration and other remedial work for the Bank of New York Building at 101 Barclay St. The company also provided estimate and planning services for 75 Park Place.

“One of our largest and most important efforts is taking place at 140 West St., the Verizon Building,” Tishman said. “Tishman has had ongoing assignments with Verizon since 1997, with about 20 staff members stationed at the 31-story building to handle infrastructure, network and fit-out projects.

“When 1 World Trade Center collapsed, flying debris caused considerable damage to the facade of 140 West St. and lower floors on its Vesey Street side, including numerous steel columns piercing the building all the way through to the basement.

“When 7 World Trade Center, which was across Washington Street from 140 West St., collapsed, it also opened holes in the façade — in some spots extending over several floors — and left a six-story-high hill of debris and steel leaning against the building. In addition, 140 West’s two lowest basements were flooded, and other floors had water and moisture damage. All of the building’s utilities were shut down as a result.”

Tishman said his company’s team has been working two 12-hour shifts every day since Sept. 12 and has made great progress. For example, Tishman Interiors and Tishman Technologies teams quickly built 24-ft.-high sidewalk bridges, two capable of holding up to 50,000 lbs. to carry temporary power cables and house two new 400-ton chillers. Tishman also helped to construct “Verizon City” in a parking lot two blocks north that now houses trailers, tents, garages, maintenance facilities and vehicles to help get the building’s services up and running.

He added that Tishman and Verizon crews have removed all of the water and cleaned and dried all of the switch equipment. With the switch equipment running, Verizon was able to test cables and lines to determine where it needed to restore service. Tishman also built temporary walls inside the facility to support the structure and sealed off portions of the damaged facade.

At the 1.2 million-sq.-ft., 25-story Bank of New York Building at 101 Barclay St., Tishman is managing the facade repairs as well as interior repairs. Damage to this building was primarily on the south side, which faced the World Trade Center’s north tower. In addition, there was damage on the east facade, which was exposed to debris that fell from 7 World Trade Center.

Tishman has removed all broken glass from the facade and installed plywood panels in the cleared areas. Approximately 1,200 new glass panels were ordered to replace those destroyed Sept. 11.

In addition, water was pumped out of the building’s 60,000-sq.-ft. basement and new sheetrock walls and new floors were installed. A new building entrance was built on the tower’s north side because the original entrance on the damaged south side faced the World Trade Center site.

Tishman added that company teams are at 16 new or accelerated projects that came online within two weeks of the disaster.

Turner Contributes $500,000 (11/9/01)

To Relief Fund It Established Turner Corporation has contributed $500,000 to the “Terrorist Attack Relief Fund.”

This fund was established by The Turner Construction Company Foundation to aid victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and their families.

In addition, the company will also match cash contributions made to the Foundation’s Terrorist Attack Relief Fund up to a maximum aggregate amount of $2,000 per year per person, with a total maximum aggregate matching contribution of $150,000 per year.

Those wishing to contribute can write a check payable to “Turner Construction Company Foundation Terrorist Attack Relief Fund.” Checks should be sent to Don Sleeman, senior vice president and chief financial officer, The Turner Corp., 901 Main St., Suite 4900, Dallas, Texas 75202.