Silverstein Properties’ Janno Lieber and Serge Demerjian Talk WTC
By Daniel Geiger September 11, 2012 7:30 am
reprintsHave you both become fluent in Port Authority-speak?
Mr. Demerjian: Yeah, I have more than anyone.
Was putting the mechanicals for the Calatrava-designed hub in 3 World Trade tricky?
Mr. Demerjian: When you put that many mechanical systems in an above-grade space, you have to get it from there and back. It creates a lot of shaft space and chews up real estate quickly.
Mr. Lieber: Everyone thinks the fights went on and on and on. But the truth is, in 2006, it was a major turning point. Because for the first time, all the stakeholders who needed to work things out were doing that. Subsequent to that, the Port was struggling with the schedule. It became clear, principally with the hub.
When did you realize the hub project was behind, and did you get a sense of what the problems were?
Mr. Lieber: That was apparent to Serge very early. He was saying, “What do you need?
Show me your plans. What kind of feeders do you need? What kind of back-of-house space do you need?” And they were constantly changing. They hadn’t figured all their stuff out. That alerted us to the fact that there were difficulties on their side.
Where were they doing wrong?
Mr. Demerjian: It was the systems, which are extremely complex power mechanicals.
They’re not easy to decide. This thing is extremely complex. With how this thing deals with air, life safety, engineered smoke systems. It’s easy to criticize now. The point is that it’s a large, complex building.
Are you sympathetic to the fact that the hub went so far over budget and behind schedule?
Mr. Demerjian: Yeah. They were in a difficult spot dealing with many difficult issues. So yeah.
Mr. Lieber: You’re being generous
Mr. Demerjian: When you go to an architect who is known for designing bridges, what do you get? A bridge. You have three bridges on the site.
