April 2012

DOB has granted our request to start placing our concrete at 6am, which will allow us to finish this work earlier in the evening. We have 3 more instances like this until we finish our superstructure in early June.

Therefore, next week (April 30 to May 4), Superstructure work will continue at the 15th and 16th floor levels. Tuesday, May 1st and Friday, May 4th we will have a pour with a 6 am start time and similar end time, weather permitting. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (May 7 to May 11), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 17th floor and roof levels. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

This weekend the site will be closed.

Early rumors suggest that Union Square will become the center of Occupy-related protests on May 1.

Burlington Coat Factory, a leading national off-price retail chain, has announced today that it will open a new flagship store in the space formerly occupied by Filene’s. Burlington offers brand name merchandise for the entire family and home with up to 65% off department store prices every day. The new location will feature the latest trends in ladies’ dresses, suits, sportswear, juniors, accessories, menswear, family footwear and children’s clothing. It will also include a broad assortment of furniture and accessories for baby at Baby Depot, home decor and gifts, along with the largest selection of coats in the nation.

DOB has granted our request to start placing our concrete at 6am, which will allow us to finish this work earlier in the evening. We have 5 more instances like this until we finish our superstructure in early June.

Therefore next week (April 23 to April 27), Superstructure work will continue at the 14th and 15th floor levels. Monday, April 23rd, and Thursday, April 26th, we will have a pour with a 6 am start time and similar end time, weather permitting. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (April 30 to May 4), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 15th and 16th floor levels. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, April 21st for superstructure related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. To control noise levels within the site, work activities will be limited to the placement of formwork and concrete, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement, using the crane and equipment to support all activities. Safety horns are used, and required by law, to coordinate lifting with the crane and to alert the workers of the danger overhead. We have directed the operators to limit the use of horns to one short sounding and to use the crane later in the day so as to avoid any excess noise.

In addition to the normal work on the job site, we will have an additional crane on site at 13th st. and 5th ave. to install the stair trusses on the west side of the building. The crane will be completely on site and should not interfere with pedestrian or automotive traffic in the area.

In response to community concerns about the time in the evening we end our concrete placing, DOB has granted our request to start placing our concrete at 6am, which will allow us to finish this work earlier in the evening. We have 8 more instances like this until we finish our superstructure in early June.

Therefore next week (April 16 to April 20), Superstructure work will continue at the 13th and 14th floor levels. Wednesday, April 18th, we will have an identical pour with a 6 am start time and similar end time, weather permitting. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (April 23 to April 27), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 15th and 16th floor levels. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, April 14st for superstructure related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. To control noise levels within the site, work activities will be limited to the placement of formwork and concrete, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement, using the crane and equipment to support all activities. Safety horns are used, and required by law, to coordinate lifting with the crane and to alert the workers of the danger overhead. We have directed the operators to limit the use of horns to one short sounding and to use the crane later in the day so as to avoid any excess noise.

In addition to the normal work on the job site, the 14th St. Con Ed Vault utility connection street work will continue per DOT Permit granted for weekends only.

Next week (April 9 to April 13), Superstructure work will continue at the 12th and 13th floor levels. Wednesday, April 4th, we will have an identical pour with a 6 am start time and similar end time, weather permitting. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (April 16 to April 20), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 1th and 14th floor levels. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

This weekend the site will be CLOSED on Saturday, April 7th.

Over on East 12th St., it was Piola, the Brazilian pizza place, and now it’s Ribalta, the Italian pizza place. And it’s a pizza school, too. UrbanDaddy writes:

There are book smarts.

There are street smarts.

And then there are pizza smarts.

Today, we’re going to focus on that last one.

Also, we’re going to eat a bunch of pizza pies.

So let’s enroll at Ribalta, the only pizzeria in New York with three different types of ovens and its own university (but alas, no football team), now open.

Bottom line, this restaurant is really quite absurdly serious about pizza. The dough: imported from an Italian mill and aged 48 hours before baking (we’ll let you imagine what this does to a crust). The tomatoes: all San Marzano and all hand-crushed. The ovens: plentiful, varied and powerful.

Yes, these master pizzaiolos/fusspots felt it was necessary to install three different ovens in the place. Brick. Wood-burning. And stainless-steel convection. Reason #1: to bake your sausage-and-sage pie precisely the way God intended. Reason #2: the syllabus required it.

See, when this place is not standing in as the prototypical Friday night date spot, it’s doubling as the city’s first Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli—an esteemed pizza school that’s been around in Italy since the ’80s. So eventually you’ll be able to register here for classes, seminars and lectures on the science of the slice.

Assuming you scored high enough on the pizza SATs.