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Finally, Plans for Taking Down Fiterman Hall
By Etta Sanders Preparations are finally underway to take down Fiterman Hall, one of the last casualties of the World Trade Center collapse. The 15-story Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) building, at 30 West Broadway between Park Place and Barclay Street, sustained a gash from roof to basement when 7 World Trade Center fell on Sept. 11, 2001. At a recent public meeting at the college, BMCC laid out preliminary plans that could have the building fully decontaminated and deconstructed by the end of next year. Those plans, for a two-phase process, cleaning and then demolition, are currently under development, according to Benn Lewis, vice president of Airtek Inc., an environmental consulting firm. Like 130 Liberty Street, the former Deutsche Bank building to the south of the WTC site, the deconstruction plans for Fiterman Hall will go through review and approval by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), as well as city and state regulators. “There will be a complete environment gut strip that has become the standard in Lower Manhattan for deconstruction projects,” said Lewis. The removal of the Fiterman Hall, which is partially covered in black netting, has stirred concerns about risks to the surrounding neighborhood from the removal of materials laden with asbestos and other toxic dust. The building was shored up and had an external cleaning in 2002, but the interior is virtually untouched more than five years after the disaster. There will be eight air monitors placed around the site during the cleaning, according Lewis, but some residents said that is not enough. “I for one would feel a whole lot better if there was a monitor on my block, on my corner,” said Holly Haff, a resident of nearby 275 Greenwich Street. “That’s Murray and Greenwich,” she added, making sure that they know exactly where to put it. The building has also not been checked for human remains. BMCC officials said the city medical examiner’s office would begin inspecting the building in late November, according to Eduardo del Valle, CUNY vice-chancellor. The main delay in taking down Fiterman Hall has been financial. An insurance settlement came through in 2004 and last year the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation committed $15 million to the deconstruction. City and state funds will also be used. BMCC submitted plans to the EPA for the erection of a scaffold last month. Further plans for the cleaning and deconstruction are under development and should be submitted by December. If approved, work will begin early next year and take 10 to 12 months to complete, according to del Valle. All submitted plans and regulator comments will be posted at www.lowermanhattan.info. Designs of a new building, with 370,000 square feet of classrooms and offices are underway by the firm of Pei, Cobb and Fried, for a new 377,000-square-foot building of classrooms, labs and offices. Construction is expected to begin in 2008.
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