Daily BrewQuebec company accused of holding World Trade Center’s spire ‘hostage’
If America has a modern sacred cow, it's Ground Zero. The 9/11 terror attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers imbued that piece of New York real estate with immense emotional heft and symbolism. You just don't mess with it.
So what must Americans be thinking when they hear a Canadian company is delaying completion of the 1 World Trade Center, aka the Freedom Tower, being built on the site of the destroyed buildings.
ADF Steel Corp., a division of ADF Group Inc. of Terrebonne, Que., is being sued by the by the New York Port Authority, which owns the new development, alleging the structural steel fabrication firm is holding "hostage" the steel needed to complete the tower's communications spire, according to Bloomberg Business Week.
"ADF refuses to ship this antenna steel unless and until it receives approximately $6 million allegedly owed under another project, as ransom," the Port Authority said its legal complaint.
Erection of the 400-foot-tall spire would allow the building to reach its symbolic height of 1,776 feet, according to the project web site. Business Week says that would make it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and it would serve as a "symbol of recovery" after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to the complaint.
"Due to the iconic character of 1 WTC Tower and the enormous complexities surrounding its erection, leasing and opening, money damages cannot adequately compensate for the harm ADF is causing with every passing day that it refuses to deliver the antenna steel," the complaint states.
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But ADF chairman and chief executive Jean Paschini's heartstrings aren't feeling any tug.
"I know I'm not making friends right now but at the end of the day, money is money and business is business," Paschini told the National Post.
"I'm not holding it hostage, it's here in my backyard. Pay me and then you get your antenna … Let's resolve everything, then you get your nice antenna so you can put it up."
The Post reported the dispute stems from a package of three contracts for ADF steel for the project worth a total of $100 million. The spire is worth about $10 million. A beef over payment on one of the contracts has ensnared the spire steel.
The Port Authority claims a settlement in the first disputed contract, with a schedule of payments, included a stipulation that shipment of the antenna would not be affected, the Post said. But Paschini disagreed.
"To me it is the same owner, the same people," he told the Post. "It's three different contracts but it is the same guy — so you cannot hide behind, well, this is one contract, this is another contract."
The suit claims ADF's intransigence has disrupted the schedule for completing the project. And there's a potential further delay if the issue isn't settled before the St. Lawrence Seaway freezes.
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"We're shipping everything by barge," Paschini said. "If it freezes, well, they'll get it next year."
The Port Authority is requesting a court injunction ordering the steel be shipped immediately, the Post said. A hearing is scheduled for later this month but Paschini said he hopes it will be resolved through negotiation before then.
