Little Noticed Building Is Coming Down

 by Etta Sanders

Tucked behind the damaged, shrouded former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St., a smaller building also awaits demolition. While the planned deconstruction of the 40-story tower has undergone months of intensive public scrutiny, Deutsche Bank's other building, at 4 Albany St., sits boarded up, contaminated and barely noticed.

Shrouded 4 Albany Street, in foreground. Rising above is 130 Liberty Street.Photo: Allan Tannenbaum

"This was completely off everyone's radar," said Catherine McVay Hughes, a Community Board 1 member who specializes in environmental issues.

Nearby residents learned only last month that both buildings, damaged on Sept. 11, will be taken down at the same time, bringing more trucks to the narrow streets where they live.

"That was a double whammy," said Pat Moore, who lives at 125 Cedar St., one block away. "It's two times the noise, two times the dust and two times the possibility of an accident." Moore, also a member of CB1, heard about the impending demolition when it was mentioned at a recent meeting convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), which now owns the Liberty Street building.

Only eight-stories high, 4 Albany occupies most of the block bordered by Albany, Washington and tiny Carlisle Streets. Signs outside the building and just inside the small, guarded lobby warn, "Danger: Asbestos." Although the building is considered contaminated, it did undergo some cleaning after Sept. 11, according to spokeswoman at the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Last month, local elected and community officials met with Deutsche Bank and EPA representatives to discuss the methods and timing of the 4 Albany Street deconstruction. Those plans, an EPA spokeswoman said last month, include the sealing and removal of contaminated contents, the use of negative air pressure to contain dust, and community air monitoring.

The public will get a chance to hear about, and comment on, those plans at a presentation by Deutsche Bank and the EPA to a CB1 committee on Jan. 10. (See Community Calendar, page 16.) The committee will also get an update on Fiterman Hall, the Borough of Manhattan Community College building north of 7 World Trade Center, which also will be coming down.

Last month, the LMDC released a detailed plan for the interior demolition of 130 Liberty Street. That work will likely begin soon, pending review and approval by various government agencies.

LMDC president Kevin Rampe and Congressman Jerrold Nadler have asked the EPA to take the lead in environmental oversight of the deconstruction. When it comes to the cleanup of a toxic site, Nadler told the Trib, "The EPA is the only agency with the expertise and the legal responsibility."

In a statement issued late last month, the EPA said that federal, state and city agencies failed to reach a formal agreement on how they would coordinate oversight of the deconstruction. The EPA is taking a leadership role, said Mary Mears, an agency spokeswoman, but in some areas other agencies have jurisdiction. "The EPA can't police the entire deconstruction," she said.

While demolition of both buildings may begin at the same time, possibly as soon as this month, the work on the interior alone of 130 Liberty Street could take up to nine months. Four Albany Street could be an empty lot by the summer.