I don’t understand how there isn’t a law about this. What is preventing a developer from swapping the materials to something extremely garish at the last minute while keeping the public in the dark? I’m not familiar with how the approval process works. Do the people that approve the changes in diagrams filed with the DOB get more detailed renderings that are not released to the public?
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The DOB..is that one of those silly little departments still left standing then?
Unless renders are included in set submissions, no, DOB typically doesnt get anymore information than the public in that regard. Zoning documents also dont include renders, just the massing representation stripped of information.
We can assume at this point that the materials are mostly the same and its just the massing that changed, it wouldnt make sense for all the material pallete to have just been overhauled. In general its not DOBs job to look at materials, though they have access to that information, DOB doesn’t care about the design, they just care that it complies with zoning and other code compliant fields.
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Interesting! 
So basically, I can submit some magnificent-looking building with tons of flair, premium-looking materials, and the finest designers ever but then build a featureless monolith in the sky so long as it’s compliant with the space and limits it’s approved for?
Makes total sense with what we’re seeing here! If this is how it’s always been, I wonder how many other buildings got approved just for having a nice presentation (vs what was delivered) 
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Its also not about presentation, DOB doesn’t care about that, there is a standard to setting up your zoning documents, and as I mentioned in the other posts, firms choose to strip information from the 3d axo view and just show a simple massing with relatively little information besides dimensions, because that is what DOB cares about. Again, DOB doesnt care about the design. That is entirely up to the Architect/Developer what happens with the design of a building.
If a building changes significantly, a firm will need to resubmit to DOB, so in the instance “you” submitted something but then start building something else you would have had to submit another zoning document informing DOB of those major changes.
They can only dictate appearance in landmarked areas.
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yikes, thats worse than I would have hoped.
VE strikes again
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Any update on Tower 2?
Why are mobile cranes being used to construct the lower floors? And when will work begin on erecting the tower cranes?
Even the cranes got value engineered 
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Yes actually! The dust and dirt within the fenced areas have been blown around a bit because of the wind
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there’s another tower?
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They mean 2wtc lol