Insurance companies recently paid $27.5 million toward the decontamination and demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building.
That nearly doubles the amount that the insurance companies previously paid, bringing their total contribution to $63.5 million.
Avi Schick, chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., announced the new funding earlier this month. The L.M.D.C. is charged with cleaning and knocking down the contaminated building at 130 Liberty St., where a fire last year killed two firefighters. The building has been unoccupied since 9/11 when it was badly damaged by the falling Twin Towers.
The total cost of the project has risen to nearly $300 million, including $90 million to buy the building and $7.1 million in legal costs associated with the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe into the firefighters’ deaths. The L.M.D.C.’s most recent goal is to have 130 Liberty St. cleaned by the end of January and taken down by next Labor Day.
The insurance money is coming from the Deutsche Bank’s prior insurers for the building, Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company and AXA Corporate Solutions insurance company. While the insurers have paid $63.5 million to the L.M.D.C., all the expenses will likely be subject to future negotiations, said Michael Murphy, spokesperson for the L.M.D.C.
Under a previous agreement, the insurers are supposed to pay 75 percent of the project’s costs over $45 million.
Bovis Lend Lease, the general contractor on the project, will also kick in some money. Bovis recently agreed to pay 50 percent of the decontamination costs that exceed $40 million, Murphy said.
— Julie Shapiro
