NEW YORK – Greek-Americans nationwide are getting excited by word that concrete is pouring and construction has begun on the St. Nicholas National Shrine at Ground Zero.
“Over the coming weeks and months we will see the walls rise. It’s going to be quite a sight to behold,” said Father Evagoras Constantinides, the Archdiocese’s spokesman for the Shrine.
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Jerry Dimitriou, Executive Director of Administration at the Archdiocese, and Father Alexander Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who is spearheading the fundraising, will observe the progress and determine whether the Feast of St. Nicholas can be celebrated on or near the site this year,” Fr. Evagoras said.
The New York Times noted that “St. Nicholas has a mission different from any other building on the site,” and quoted the Archbishop: “The purpose is to project something that will open a window to Eternity.”
Dimitriou told The National Herald “we are now on a path that will take us to the summer of 2017,” a realistic estimate he said, given possible weather on other hiccups.
Pictures of the construction are spreading all over the world through social media and progress can be followed at Stnicholaswtc.org, where individuals can make donations to the cause.
Andrew Veniopoulos is coordinating much of the effort out of Fr. Karloutsos’ office, especially the fundraising.
“We have pledges as of today $37.7 million,” he said.
A number of major donations were acknowledged at the ground blessing held October 18, 2014, which were added to the contributions that came in from as far as Bari, Italy and Greece soon after 9/11. It is expected that more large gifts will be finalized over the next few months.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has informed TNH that it is committed to a donation of $5 million upon the condition that the remainder of the money required for construction is in place.
The hard construction costs are now estimated at $35 million, down from an earlier announcement.
The period around St. Nicholas’ December 6 feast day has been designated the time for parishes to hold fundraisers in the spirit of Archbishop Demetrios’ desire that people across the country share in the endeavor along with the major donors and the local parish.
The effort is being organized by Bishop Andonios, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and Dimitriou estimates $500,000 has been raised to date, including portions of proceeds from Greek festivals and a concert in Modesto, CA that raised $30,000.
The Church of Our Savior in Rye and the Kimisis church of the Hamptons in New York have made substantial donations.
Nicholas Koutsomitis, who is the architect supervising the project – Santiago Calatrava is the design architect – reflected the state of mind of the entire team: “We are elated, absolutely elated by the fact that concrete is actually pouring on our site.”
Koutsomitis explained that the concrete forms are at a height of about three feet – is the interstitial space between the concrete platform built by the Port Authority and the church floor that will house the building’s mechanical equipment.
“The entire team has been working day and night for the construction to have been able to begin when it did…there are a lot of people involved – it’s a very complex team of people, including his firm, Koutsomitis Architects PC, Calatrava’s office, construction managers, structural and mechanical engineers, AV, lighting and security consultants,” he said.
By mid-October the Church itself will begin to take shape as the concrete walls rise and the steel dome modelled on Hagia Sophia’s in Constantinople should be visible by next Spring.
It is hoped that the exterior marble which will be back-lit to produce a unique glow-in-the-dark appearance, will begin to be affixed to the building’s outer shell – by the middle of 2016.
The marble, which will come from Mount Pentelikon, the source of the Parthenon’s stone, will not only be mined in Greece. The pieces, which will express a complex geometry, will be cut and shaped in Athens also.
“They will be three dimensionally carved from machines,” Koutsomitis said, and the Archdiocese is very pleased that in that way they project will provide Greece with some economic stimulus.
Koutsomitis informed TNH that there was a change in the builder of the project from Turner Construction to the international firm of Skanska, which he said was a good decision.
Skanska is one of the firms building the complex PATH rail station at Ground Zero, and it constructed the architect’s building at the Florida Polytechnic University successfully and under budget, Dimitriou said.
Dimitriou noted that “Turner was handling pre-construction matters and they did a good job getting us to where we were in November 2014, but then the committee and others at the Archdiocese decided we needed to make a change that would drive the cost down,” especially regarding the marble outer shell.
“That is the single most complex and costly component of the Church itself… so the Archdiocese reached out to others,” he said.
Dimitriou told the Times that Calatrava has also “done a lot to assist in keeping the budget down.”
The crowning glory of a Byzantine Church are its icons and while Archbishop Demetrios is focused on the building, planning for the iconography program is moving forward. He has already spoken to iconographers based in American, most of whom have offered their services gratis given the importance of the project. In the coming months His Eminence will speak to more artists in Greece. He hopes that all the icons will be in place when St. St. Nicholas opens – the icons in the renderings do not reflect any decisions about what the interior will look like.
Dimitriou said the budget for hard construction costs is now $35 million, down from the previously announced $40 million. “We have made some changes in the last few months that have generated significant savings and we continue to try to drive that cost down.”
He said many people have come forward with in-kind donations that will cause that number to drop further.
“Peter Pappas, founder and CEO of P.J. Mechanical has donated the HVAC system and related work – that amounts to a $1.5 million contribution, Dimitriou said.
Pappas also serves on the construction advisory committee, which includes Manny Velivasakis, Ted Moudis, top people in the building industry who have been advising and helping us with the decision-making.
“It’s been a great effort and a lot of people have taken an interest in participating,” Dimitriou said.
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