Although the staircase made it through September 11th relatively undamaged, its condition had begun to deteriorate as a result of nearby construction.  If the structure hadn’t been named an endangered historical place by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it might have been destroyed.

However, Joe Daniels, the president and CEO of the Memorial & Museum, stated in an email, “[D]edicated crews at the World Trade Center site labored to transport and position this 21 foot high, 64 foot long concrete remnant.  As 25 construction professionals, conservators, structural engineers, and Memorial & Museum staff kept careful watch, the Stairs, securely set within a flatbed transporter truck, passed under a nearby pedestrian overpass crossing the West Side Highway with a mere four inches of clearance.”

Next, “Weighing some 116,000 pounds, the Stairs were then lifted by the single cable of a 500-ton crane, pivoted, and lowered more than 70 feet to bedrock.  Now safely placed within the foundations of the Memorial & Museum, the Stairs will be repositioned in the coming months for their final installation.”

The Survivors’ Staircase is the first non-in situ artifact to become arrive at the site.  It should become visible to the public again when the National September 11 Memorial & Museum opens in about four years’ time.

“NYPD will have access to all Port Authority facilities within the area,” according to an official announcement.  Also, “The City will form a dedicated police and security unit for the World Trade Center Area on a schedule to be established by the NYPD as part of a security plan for the World Trade Center Area to be developed by NYPD, with the concurrence of the Port Authority.”

The Port Authority will remain in charge of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, anyway, and on the record, representatives from both groups had nothing but gracious things to say.

Still, for the sake of seamless operations - which are the stated goal here - a key part of this agreement is the establishment of a security advisory committee.  Individuals representing the City, the Port Authority, the Governor of New York, and the Governor of New Jersey should all get together to discuss and iron out issues.

Here’s one last important note: Mayor Bloomberg said the World Trade Center security deal “will accelerate the rebuilding of the entire site.”

In one sense, this represents a major blow to the reconstruction effort.  Not a lot of private companies have expressed interest in becoming World Trade Center tenants, so having a big corporation like Merrill Lynch come aboard would have helped with image problems.  Merrill Lynch’s money would no doubt have been welcomed, as well.

There is a way of looking at the development that makes it appear quite positive, though.  Steve Cuozzo points out, “Merrill could have dragged out talks with Silverstein until the cows came home just to squeeze a better deal out of its current landlord, Brookfield Properties.  That might have prompted Silverstein to ask the PA for another deadline extension, which could have led to indefinite delay.”

And delays are bad, especially since established construction schedules already seem to have been abandoned.

One last thing to consider: there’s a possibility - though a very weak one - that Merrill Lynch will come back at some later date to ask for space at the WTC site.

At Governor Paterson’s request, Ward began a thorough reassessment about a month ago.  Following a first step, he wrote, “[T]he schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic. . . .  [W]e found that at least 15 fundamental issues critical to the overall project had not yet been resolved . . .”

It’s good that Ward could provide so honest a look at the situation.  It’s also encouraging that a central “steering committee” should be formed as a result.  The 101 contractors and sub-contractors, 33 designers, 19 public agencies, and two private developers working on the project could use some direction.

Some real progress is taking place, of course, as physical evidence at the World Trade Center site can prove.  It’s just that, otherwise, things aren’t looking good.

A second phase of Ward’s assessment should be finished towards the end of September.  Hopefully he’ll have some better news to report at that time.

You can examine Ward’s initial 36-page overview here.

According to Stephen Winslow, the technology behind the equipment will be about as advanced as everything else in the Tower.  “The air conditioning system will consist of custom-designed air-conditioning units to meet the specified requirements of the project, including HFC-410A refrigerant with no ozone depletion potential or phase-out date, and low operating sound levels,” he writes.

Also, “The high efficiency, floor located, self-contained units are ideal for high-rise projects because they eliminate the need for large equipment rooms and chilled-water piping systems and can be operated individually floor-by-floor.”  So floor space, money, and the environment should be saved, all while creating a minimum of noise.

For this up-to-date equipment and its expertise, McQuary International will be awarded around $15 million.  Most of the equipment manufacturing should take place near its Minneapolis, Minnesota headquarters.

“The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said on Wednesday that it was running more than a month behind schedule in delivering the site of Tower 2 at the new World Trade Center to the developer, Silverstein Properties,” according to David W. Dunlap.

Assuming a common pattern of compounding errors, “more than a month” now is likely to mean much longer later.

Also, in reference to both timetables and finances, Governor David Paterson has asked for new evaluations of all previous estimates.  Although the report could come back showing green across the board, it seems unlikely Paterson that would have requested it if everything was going well.

Should any official changes be announced, you can count on reading about them here.  In the meantime, remember that the tenth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks is likely to remain central in planners’ minds.

Here’s one piece of information that should make onlookers breathe easier: the change of a few names on pieces of paper isn’t supposed to affect construction.  The design will definitely stay the same, and timetables should remain intact.

Yet “the PA is open to structure a deal in a variety of ways, which includes the transfer of a long-term lease (the Port Authority owns the land), finding a financial partner such as Blackstone Group LP or Fortress Investment Group LLC, or a combination of both,” according to an article on TheDeal.com.

Dates and prices relating to a development aren’t available; official confirmations and even completely reliable rumors are still lacking.  But given the other projects on the Port Authority’s plate, the difficulty it’s had in finding companies to inhabit the Freedom Tower, and the general state of the American economy, the idea of a sale isn’t impossible to believe.

The Port Authority’s PR people are not in an envious position right now.

The Freedom Tower and three other structures aren’t going to get all of their energy from these fuel cells, but together, the cells boast an impressive 4.8 megawatts of generating capacity.  That’s roughly equivalent to the output of a modern railroad locomotive.

The New York Power Authority asked UTC Power to provide the fuel cells as part of a $10.6 million agreement, and the NYPA’s president and CEO, Roger B. Kelley, stated, “We are committed to helping make clean energy initiatives at the new World Trade Center site a reality.”

He also addressed concerns about experience, reliability, and the greater scheme of things by adding, “To date, we’ve installed 15 fuel cells in New York City and other locations, and expect to add to this total in support of the Governor’s ambitious goals for significant increases in the state’s renewable power.”

As divisive as some aspects of the Freedom Tower’s design and construction have been, this development looks set to be relatively controversy-free.

A letter of intent indicates that Vantone will lease 190,000 square feet for 22 years.  The company’s participation sounds like a solid “win” in what’s been a shaky process; it’s the sort of thing that could encourage other business to occupy World Trade Center space.  There is a potential problem with the deal, though.

“A developer who is building three towers at the World Trade Center site, Larry Silverstein, abandoned negotiations with Vantone in 2006 - when he was slated to build the Freedom Tower - after he claimed that the company signed a term sheet but then failed to deliver a letter of credit,” reports Peter Kiefer.

Kiefer then continues, “A year later, the same thing happened to the president and chief investment officer of L&L Holding Co., Robert Lapidus, for office space at 195 Broadway.”

So Vantone’s promise isn’t the sort of thing on which anyone should want to count.  Still, if its plan to move into the Freedom Tower can stir up interest, this will prove to be a significant development, and if it actually inhabits some space, all the better.

The financial giant (its market cap is currently just over $43 billion) is being tempted to leave the World Financial Center, according to an article in The New York Sun.  And Merrill Lynch’s willingness to relocate will at least in part be determined by the layout of the new buildings.

Trading floors are rather different from cubicle-filled offices, you see, and Janno Lieber, the president of World Trade Center Properties, explained, “This extension gives us the time to design and construct a modified building foundation that could accommodate Merrill’s specialized requirements.”

Unfortunately, there’s been no word as to when Merrill Lynch might make its decision; all meetings have been held in private.

The completion dates of Towers 1 and 2 will remain completely unaffected by this development, however, and Towers 3 and 4 should be finished in 2012, regardless.