Posted on 07/04/2007 9:15:05 AM PDT by wagglebee
The New York Times just moved into a new $600 million, 52-story building and all people want to talk about is the mice. Or the leaks. Or the screwy elevators.
"There are going to be issues (with a new building). And a very typical issue is mice," said David Thurm, the company's chief information officer who oversaw the building project.
Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, the building dominates the skyline on the western side of Midtown Manhattan, its antenna topping out at 1,142 feet.
Even before the last Times employee left the old building around the corner on June 25, gossipy Web sites and tabloids reported on problems with a building that the company has hailed as exceptionally smart and environmentally friendly.
Executive Editor Bill Keller's third-floor office once had a leak following a rainstorm but Keller played it down. "It dripped for about an hour," he said.
The latest reports from gawker.com and the New York Post pointed to an infestation of mice, a common occurrence in New York.
"It's easily taken care of and we're taking care of it," Thurm said. "It's not like the Pied Piper is coming to our lobby."
Under a headline that said "Terror at the Times," the Post said employees were gagging on the smell of rotting mouse carcasses but Thurm said he had not heard of such complaints.
Thurm is proud of the building's high ceilings, ample natural light and automated air conditioning and window shades that he said trim 30 percent off the company's light bill. An on-site cogeneration plant provides 40 percent of the building's power.
But employees complain about scarce elevators, which leave many riders wondering what floor they are on and whose doors give them only a few seconds to get on and off before slamming shut.
They generally like the cafeteria, however. It has won positive reviews for quality and price.
Health Commissioner: Rats Are Not A Health Risk
Run, Bloomie, run!
LOL—I was just wondering how the mice were getting along with the ‘Rats....
I thought the NY Times was run by mice?
I just got done reading a book about the ISS. In the continuous comparisons on how the US v Russia/USSR dealt with problems, the Russian equivalent of "Mission Control" was once over run by rodents (mice or rats). They brought in cats to solve the problem.
It is an exceptionally ugly and banal building, that has ruined the skyline. Fitting.
‘Times’ to Commoners: Go Elsewhere
Don’t soil our publicly subsidized new HQ with your riff-raff
by Paul Moses [Village Voice]
August 16th, 2005 10:29 AM
When The New York Times and Forest City Ratner Companies open their grand new office building on Eighth Avenue, it won’t have a Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Nathan’s, because they are specifically forbidden under terms of a land deal with the state. But a Starbucks or Cosi would be just fine.
The lease, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, also bars renting space in the 52-story building for “a school or classroom or juvenile or adult day care or drop-in center.” It forbids “medical uses, including without limitation, hospital, medical, or dental offices, agencies, or clinics.” It gives the New York Times Company “the sole and absolute discretion” to reject United Nations or foreign-government offices, including any “considered controversial” or that are potentially the focus of demonstrations. It bans any “employment agency (other than executive-search firms) or job training center” and auction houses, “provided, however, the foregoing shall not apply to high-end auction houses specializing in art and historical artifacts.” Discount stores are forbidden. And the deal bars “a welfare or social-services office, homeless shelter or homeless assistance center, court or court-related facility.”
In fact, any government office is excluded from the building if it would attract people who arrive “without appointment.”
Lease restrictions that exclude the public may not be unusual in luxury office buildings, but there is an irony in this case. The Pataki administration, acting on behalf of the New York Times Company, condemned the property for a so-called “public purpose.” This is the standard the Fifth Amendment sets for the state to invoke the immense power of eminent domain.
More:
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0533,moses,66887,5.html
Meet the new tenants; same as the old tenants.
i vaguely remember something about the times trying to use 9/11 relief funds to build their new offices. anybody know what became of that story?
you beat me to it....good on you!!!
have a great 4th!!!
Perhaps Pinch and his gay mafia would do better to think of them as gerbils.
Poor mice... around all the RATS that work there! I pity the mice.
LLS
Whores do their trade in cathouses - no problem.
I don't understand, I thought there was always a drip in Keller's office.
How about “what do you get when you starve liberal Rats?”
You get mice
This reminds me of the millions we spent to develop a "space pen". The Russians simply invented the "space pencil".
Urban “Golden Fleece”-type legend.
Check out http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
Although, the book repeated the story as true.
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