We’re not that building Deutsche Bank and delay are not just synonymous when it comes to the bank’s former headquarters building.
The fountain Deutsche promised to build four years ago will finally open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Fri., Nov. 16 at 9:30 a.m.
Located on Wall St. near Water St., the fountain is dedicated to the victims of 9/11, said Ted Meyer, a bank spokesperson.
The fountain took so long to build because of construction in the area, Meyer told UnderCover. Deutsche Bank provided $400,000 to build the fountain and keep the water flowing indefinitely.
Speaking of water, an element that Meyer is less fond of is fire, specifically the fatal one that killed two firefighters in August. Though Deutsche vacated the building three years before the fire, most people still associate the bank with the building.
“It was and remains frustrating to us,” Meyer said of the misidentification. The initial reports of a fire at Deutsche Bank “alarmed and confused a lot of people who work here” at 60 Wall St., the bank’s new headquarters.
Oh, Danny boy Rumors that Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff is leaving the Bloomberg administration at the end of the year continue to heat up. Tobi Bergman of Pier Park and Playground reports that at a meeting he recently attended on city matters, someone “in a position to know” announced that Doctoroff was stepping down as of Jan. 1, 2008. Given that Doctoroff is the common denominator in numerous development plans affecting Downtown — Related’s project to turn Pier 40 into a mega-tourist destination, the gargantuan Sanitation garage at Spring and Washington Sts., the marine waste transfer station on Gansevoort Peninsula, blocking a full investigation of use of Pier 76 or Block 675 near the Hudson Yards as an alternative Sanitation site to the Gansevoort and Spring St. locations — perhaps his departure, if it in fact happens, will free others to think more creatively about how to work with the community and elected officials to solve these issues.
Doctoroff also oversees all World Trade Center development for the city’s other dollar-a-year man, Mike Bloomberg.
Taming Soho? Is Soho Journal cleaning up its act? The local “Magazine of Arts & Politics” is raising its profile from being plopped down inside local businesses, recently rolling out new street boxes around the ’hood. However, we didn’t notice the usual centerfold spread of Publisher Don MacPherson’s nude photographs of sexy female models. MacPherson said the new boxes have nothing to do with it, and that the nudes shall return. “No, not at all, no connection whatsoever,” he said. “The magazine was displayed all over Lower Manhattan before.”
Ceci Springs ‘Uptown’ Fans of the French bakery Ceci-Cela Patisserie will have to go to Soho for their fix of fresh croissants — the Chambers St. location is closing.
A letter in the window informs patrons that “an unacceptable increase to our lease” forced the bakery to leave “this lovely and beautiful, community-minded neighborhood” by the end of the year.
A worker behind the counter told UnderCover that all employees would keep their jobs, moving over to Ceci-Cela’s 55 Spring St. shop.
Play ball, for now Little Leaguers holding their breath in anticipation of construction next to their Battery Park City ballfields get to keep on waiting—for the next couple months, at least.
Milstein Properties is planning luxury residential towers and a community center on the North End Ave. site between Murray and Warren Sts., and has pushed back its start date again. The Downtown Little League in the spring and then the Downtown Soccer League in the fall both expected to have their seasons disrupted.
However, Leticia Remauro, Battery Park City Authority spokesperson, said last week that the authority is still negotiating a lease with Milstein for Sites 23 and 24. She expects the lease to be final by the first of the year, at which time construction can start.
Once started, the construction will last for two or three years. The impact on the playing fields remains to be seen. Remauro is optimistic, while the youth leagues are skeptical.
Super-prime voter Three election workers in Tribeca and one police officer waited like Maytag repairmen for three hours Tuesday morning until the first voter showed up at the Communication Workers Association headquarters on Hudson St. There were only a few judges races and a statewide ballot referendum. The voter said he has voted in every election for four decades.
“Congratulations, you’re the first voter,” one worker said at 9 a.m.
“I registered people to vote in Mississippi in the ’60s,” the voter told the woman, a source close to UnderCover. “I know what it means to be able to vote and I always do.”
