Developer Time Equities broke ground in June 2008 on a 66-story hotel/condo tower at 50 West Street. It was a grand affair, with the company’s CEO Francis Greenberger and city officials joined by a vicar, a reverend and a rabbi to bless the site. More than a year later, divine intervention may still be in order. By fall the work had stopped and today that ground remains a neatly maintained but dusty lot. Designed by architect Helmut Jahn, the $600-million mixed-use tower was to include a hotel on the first 14 floors, condominiums above and a public plaza.
According to a Time Equities source, who did not want to be identified, delayed completion of the foundation means that construction now must wait, not due to financing, but because the work can’t coincide with the State Department of Transportation’s planned reconstruction of West Street. “The impact that [foundation work] would have on the water table makes it not feasible for us to build,” the source said.
