funny how easy it is to forget the interesting things our friends are involved in.

i was sitting at brunch a few weeks ago with two buddies.  we met on a crisp but sunny sunday afternoon to eat overpriced eggs and catch up a bit.  we had our first cup of coffee and quickly moved through the typical brunch agenda: heath, social life, family, work, travel, etc.

i knew one of the guys, malcolm williams, was a construction manager at silverstein properties.   as a new york city real estate broker, i’m relatively familiar with silverstein.  they are the developer responsible for silver towers, the two massive residential towers on 42nd between 11 and 12th.  offering 1 bedrooms around $3750 and two bedrooms starting at $4500, this rental complex (aside from the atelier condo across the street) is probably most responsible for changing landscape of midtown (very far) west.

the second reason silverstein properties is relevant of late is that they are the ones developing the new world trade center, which by chance is what malcolm is working on.

4 WTC - photo credit: joe woolhead

malcolm just returned from italy and i was fascinated to hear why a construction manager based in new york needed to visit a rock quarry thousands of miles away.  below is a transcript of our conversation and some images from his trip.

so what do you do? what is your official title, position?

currently, i’m in the field of construction and real estate development. title: sr. project manager, with a focus on the construction of towers 2, 3, and 4 of the new wtc project.

so how long have you been working at silverstein?

i’ve been at silverstein properties (spi) for close to 4 years.

i remember when you mentioned that’s where you were working and being somewhat familiar with the brand because of residential project up on 42nd street. before the wtc project, what other projects were they known for?

yes, the projects on 42nd street that you mention are river place and silver towers. prior to developing towers 2, 3, and 4, silverstein properties previously developed the original 7 wtc (1987) and the new 7 wtc (2006). silverstein  properties has also purchased an managed many existing commercial properties in new york city such as 120 broadway, 120 wall street, and 1177 ave of the america’s.

when you tell someone what you do, what do they think that usually involves? do they have any idea?

well, you’re right. usually when i tell people what i do, they have no idea. some people aren’t aware that construction has progressed as far has it has at the site, and if they do realize that construction is underway, they have no comprehension of the size and complexity of the mega structures we are building on the 16 acre site. these buildings don’t build themselves, and my job is a piece of the very large and complex management puzzle.

so you recently were tasked with going to italy for work.

yes, i took at trip to the carrara region of italy last fall.

why would a construction manager erecting on a building in downtown manhattan need to fly to italy?

it’s amazing to think about the amount of collaboration from people and places around the world that are going into making these fantastic, green, state of the art buildings.

but to answer your question, i went to italy to review the stone that will be used in the lobby floor and walls of tower 4, which was designed by the japanese architectural firm maki and associates.

so you went to look at rocks?

hahaha, yes, i guess that is true if you want to be absolutely literal about it. members of the construction project team, the stone contractor, the architect, and myself all went over to view the quality of the fabrication process. although not usually done this way, the architect on the project really wanted to view and “approve” every single piece of featured natural stone to be used on the project. and believe me, by volume its bit more stone (about 500 times more SF) than you would use in renovating your typical kitchen and/or bathroom. the swedish black stone wall is one of the most prominent design features of the building, so the architect wants to make it absolutely perfect.

love it. of course, leave it to the japanese to be ultra vigilant about seemingly irrelevant details. very cool.so what was that process like?

so, the process is called a “dry layout” and consists of 1.) the stone fabricator laying out the cut and polished pieces of stone in the same position and orientation that they will appear on either the wall or floor. 2.) the architects view the stone from various angles and heights (riding in the basket) and under various lighting conditions to see how the pieces interact together. 3.) then the large and heavy stones are moved and shifted in a process called “blending”. during this process the architect calls for some stone pieces to be “rejected” due to natural imperfections such as a non-desired vein pattern or mineral deposit.

now, it’s during the ” blending/rejecting ” process is where my position is so important. as i mentioned before, the architects are striving for perfection, and will like to reject stones for the slightest imperfection. since these stones are quite expensive, its my job to keep the “rejection” rate to a minimum and see to it that the overall design intent of the architect is maintained. there are long days on these trips and it’s not always easy, but we work together and get through it for the good of the project.

give me two factoids about the project that general public have no idea about.

well, most of the general public does not realize that there are 4 basement concourse levels (80 ft below street level) that connect all the projects together. included in these levels are below grade retail space, truck loading docks, bus and car parking, as well as many storage and mechanical spaces.

also, a neat design feature of tower 4 is that in 2 of the 4 corners of the building, you can actually have 2 corner offices. figure that!