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NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

RtSTOteATlON - vAs i

Landmark Battles Back After Being Down and Briefly Out Battered call center powers through $1.4-billion upgrade

T Ihe battered, 32-story tele­ »-T. communications center that looms over the north side of the World Trade Center site has a toughne.ss much deeper than its stout 76- year-old steel frame and brick and limestone facade. With only a pause between |4> the death of its backup batteries at 10:21 p.m. on Sept. 11 and the restoration of emergency power on the night of Sept. 16, the center has continuous I- -'I < 1 5».« ■

processed millions of calls and data transmissions daily through Bi IB banks of delicate equipment MB that have been smothered by MB corrosive dust, exposed to the elements and even, in .some X Hu cases, suspended in space by A 4 5' Verizon call center, -5 cables when floors fell cra,shing ■ L 'i’ ;j pierced and beaten, is being A multipronged reconstruc- 252 upgraded and restored. 2 tion program is in progress. RI I Environmental cleanup is com- The building took a pound­ I ing on Sept. 11. The fall of One I plete and a gut renovation is J under way. Restoration of the World Trade Center, the 110- > facade, a job begun well before U.J story tower 360 ft away, rained S Sept. 11. has resumed. A new windows, parapets and the fa­ I mechanical and electrical system cade from the eleventh floor g i.s being installed. Switching and down wnh a hail of debris. Fly­ 5 routing equipment, most of ing beams pierced walls and S which still functions but whose PS/J cut into cables and telecommu­ I: reliability was seriously compromised, are nications gear. Choking dust and a 9 to also being replaced. l2-million-gal basement flood ravaged The owner, Verizon Communications, the interior. New York City, says it expects the total cost “By far the worst damage” was caused to hit $1.4 billion. It hopes to move ad- hours later by the collapse of the 47-sto-

I 3 J ministrative staff back in by late 2003. “It’s ry Seven WTC, 60 ft away, says Andrew the telecommunications equipment that Mueller-Lust, project manager for struc­ makes it so expensive,” says Verizon tural engineer Severud Associates, New

i 8 M - spokesman John Bonorno. York City. The building burned and fell Through it all the call center continues late in the day on Sept. 11. Debris stocked to operate as the nexus of 300,000 voice against the face of the Verizon building lines and 4.5 million data line.s in the fi­ to the fifth floor and the bottom of the nancial hub of the world. “It’s like chang­ pile pushed into it at grade level. The ing flat tires on a moving bus,” says John pre,ssure bent two adjacent steel columns I SniNT Temporary brace supports o V. Magliano, a partner with project me­ 20 ft apart, just above and ju.st below chanical and electrical engineers Syska grade. Despite that, Mueller-Lust says “die I column pushed inward at base. Hennessy Group, New York City. overall building frame was apparently not

16 ENR/SEPTEMBER 9, 2002

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