The reconstruction of the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, on the east side of the elevated Liberty Park, has been stalled out since 2017, when the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America defaulted on payments to the contractor. But the Santiago Calatrava-designed shrine (renderings below) is now back on, with an infusion of energy from Governor Cuomo’s office and the creation of a new board to oversee the construction.
The budget for the shrine started at $20 million and ballooned to $80 million — similar to the budget for the Calatrava-designed Oculus. But the Archdiocese acknowledged fiscal mismanagement as part of the problem at the shrine, pinning that to the previous archbishop who retired last year at the age of 91. They are still short $40 million, so I assume the new board will be the ones to raise that money. Construction is expected to start in earnest in March.
The original church was at 155 Cedar and was crushed by the collapse of the south tower on 9-11.
It’s totally worth watching Calatrava’s thought process on the design as shown in his watercolor sketches:
Almost criminal that this size of a building is $80M.
Mouth is agape. $80m-
Seems like these people in charge are the real story:
“ The 13-member board will be chaired by Dennis Mehiel, former Chairman of the Battery Park City Authority (2012-2018), and the Chairman of US Corrugated, which he founded in 1966. … John Catsimatidis, Owner, president, chairman, and CEO of the Red Apple Group and Vice Chair of the Archdiocesan Council;”
2 more years to finish this tiny little church? Are you kidding me? How? The structure is already built. They literally need to finish the inside and install the marble facade. This is pathetic.