{"id":1450,"date":"2007-04-13T05:45:29","date_gmt":"2007-04-13T10:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/less-than-zero\/"},"modified":"2007-04-13T05:45:29","modified_gmt":"2007-04-13T10:45:29","slug":"less-than-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/less-than-zero","title":{"rendered":"Less than Zero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s an update on the construction efforts of the Freedom Tower and environs<\/a>. I know you’ll be shocked to discover that the budget is skyrocketing:<\/p>\n

Barry LePatner, Hon. AIA, a real estate attorney and construction cost expert, contends that the Freedom Tower’s initial bid numbers were virtually meaningless — unless construction companies agree to sign fixed-cost contracts, which seems unlikely. The problem, he explains, is that contractors often lowball their estimates to win projects and then file change orders and add other fees to make up the difference later.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An additional problem, as Ron Rosenbaum wrote last year<\/a>, is that it’s tough to get private companies to buy space in a building that will be the #1 target for domestic terror strike.<\/p>\n

But I’m starting to think the budget issues — and attendant regulatory bickering — will grow so enormous that the building won’t be finished till we’ve, um, won the war on terror.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s an update on the construction efforts of the Freedom Tower and environs. I know you’ll be shocked to discover that the budget is skyrocketing: Barry LePatner, Hon. AIA, a real estate attorney and construction cost expert, contends that the Freedom Tower’s initial bid numbers were virtually meaningless — unless construction companies agree to sign … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Less than Zero”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-no","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2197,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/license-to-ill","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":0},"title":"License to Ill","author":"Gil","date":"August 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Both the Giants and the Jets are planning to sell \"Personal Seat Licenses\" (PSLs) to gouge season ticket holders pay for construction of their new shared stadium. This morning's Newark Star-Ledger has an article on the subject, and it makes one of the most bone-headed statements I've read about PSLs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":586,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/american-job-destruction-act","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":1},"title":"American Job Destruction Act","author":"Gil","date":"July 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"When I write my annual Top 20 Pharma Companies & Top 10 Biopharma Companies report (this year's edition is soon to post at the website of my day job), I read a lot of annual reports, along with industry analysis, news coverage, and other neat sources. The annual reports have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/under-construction","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":2},"title":"Under construction","author":"Gil","date":"October 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Radley Balko just posted a photo-essay of his recent stay in New Orleans: So the fixtures of New Orleans seem to be there. You can still get beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde. You can still see co-ed boobs on Bourbon Street, hear streetside performers, or catch the dueling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Paris"","block_context":{"text":"Paris","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/paris"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5010,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nuclear-family","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":3},"title":"Nuclear Family","author":"Gil","date":"February 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've tried to avoid writing about politics and politicians for the last few years. This post is a pretty clear example of why I chose to do that. I read a news item this morning about Obama's announcement of $8 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear reactor construction. Awesome, thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics (explicit)"","block_context":{"text":"Politics (explicit)","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/politics-explicit"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2858,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-7-2008","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 7, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"November 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for a post-racial collection of links! Whatever that means! Just click more! Now THAT'S post-racial. * * * Where do you get your ideas? * * * I know I left that magic bullet around here somewhere. . . * * * Got a problem? Through a TARP\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000BITUF2","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":512,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/medicare-frauds","url_meta":{"origin":1450,"position":5},"title":"Medicare Frauds","author":"Gil","date":"March 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"What's $320 billion among friends?(Editorial from the March issue of my magazine) Last March and April in this space I wrote about the scandal(s) behind the passage of the Medicare prescription drug bill. At the time, I was irate over the fact that the White House hid $134 billion in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}