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Deutsche Bank Building Decontamination to Happen First Five months after a raging blaze killed two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building, the LMDC, which owns the building and is overseeing its demolition, finally agreed to decontaminate the building before proceeding with its deconstruction. Until the August fire, decontamination and deconstruction were proceeding simultaneously at the building in an effort to speed its demolition. While workers on one floor removed all the toxic material deposited in the building on Sept. 11 when a falling World Trade Center tower tore an enormous gash in its north face, others were at work several floors above, taking the building apart. But the demands of decontaminating the building—pumping air into the building and building partitions to divide each floor—proved to have fatally dire consequences for fire safety. For months, LMDC officials told neighbors of the site that they were seriously considering decoupling the two processes, but always stopped short of committing to doing so. As work recommences at the Deutsche Bank building, it is being performed by the LVI Group, Inc., a new subcontractor hired in January. LVI, a nationally-known firm with extensive experience in remediation and deconstruction, replaces John Galt, a little-known company with minimal experience and purported mafia ties. Even as work on the building begins again, however, the aftermath of the fire continues to have consequences for the LMDC. Last month Barbara Beddia Crocco, the sister of Robert Beddia, one of the two firefighters to die in the fire, filed suit against the LMDC and some of its contractors, charging that they knew of the dangerous conditions at the building but did nothing. A lawyer representing the family of the other fallen firefighter, Joseph Graffagnino, said they plan to sue the agency as well. LMDC officials made no mention of the suits when their board of directors met Feb. 14, but they did vote to extend the agency’s contract with it’s lawyers, Dechert LLP, by $2,500,000 to $3,500,000 overall. The LMDC is also increasing its budget for legal document management by a quarter of a million dollars to $350,000. The board also approved a motion to pay the Battery Park City Authority for a full year’s work by it’s employee Kevin Finnegan as Acting Senior Project Manager at the Deutsche Bank building. Finnegan’s post at the LMDC was initially expected to end last year with the completion of the deconstruction. Finnegan’s salary could add up to $170,000.
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