Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Silverstein's Luxury Tower Breaks Ground After 5-Year Construction Freeze

By Gustavo Solis | December 3, 2013 3:25pm
  After five years of stalled construction in Lower Manhattan, an 82-story tower that will feature a Four Seasons hotel, restaurant, public plaza and 187 luxury condos finally broke ground Tuesday.
30 Park Place Groundbreaking
View Full Caption

TRIBECA— An 82-story luxury hotel and condo tower finally broke ground Tuesday, five years after construction stalled because of the financial crisis.

The 30 Park Place building, by developer Silverstein Properties, will feature a Four Seasons hotel, 187 condos, a restaurant and a public plaza.

“I’ve been staring at the site from my office [in] 7 World Trade Center for several years,” said Marty Burger, co-CEO of Silverstein Properties, which is also developing several World Trade Center towers. “It’s so nice to see yellow cranes on it.”

Developer Larry Silverstein bought 30 Park Place in 2006, demolished the existing building on the site in 2007 and finished the foundation in 2008 but then had to stop construction because he couldn't get financing, he said.

“It was difficult,” Silverstein said Tuesday. “No one expected it [the crisis] to be as deep as it was.”

Now that construction has resumed, Silverstein said nothing will stop the 926-foot building from opening in 2016.

“It’s going up,” he said. “It’s 100 percent financed.”

Community Board 1 Chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes praised the groundbreaking as "another milestone for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan."

The work is expected to bring in 5,000 jobs, and ones completed, the building will employ 350 people when it is completed, she said.

Although Four Seasons has another New York city location in Midtown East, this is the first time the luxury hotel company has been involved in the construction process. Four Seasons executives helped design the Park Place hotel's rooms and the building's entrance, said Craig Reid, Four Seasons' president of hotel operations.

“When this opens it will be the best hotel in the company and the best hotel in the country,” Reid said.

Silverstein is also developing three towers at the World Trade Center site. Four World Trade Center opened last month and 3 World Trade Center is set to open in 2016. Silverstein did not offer an update on 2 World Trade Center, which does not yet have financing.