Only a fraction of the nearly $4 billion new World Trade Center transit hub is open to the public, but it’s already costing a mint to keep its all-white spaces clean.
Three unionized crews of three workers each toil around the clock to constantly scrub, buff and dust the white Italian marble that lines the underground concourse linking the PATH station and Brookfield Place, the office complex formerly known as the World Financial Center, The Post has learned.
Their nonstop efforts led one construction worker to call the alabaster color scheme “job-security white,” adding sarcastically, “It’s a good thing they picked a nice, neutral color that doesn’t show dirt.”
The Port Authority, which owns the site and chose the design, wouldn’t say how much cleaning the 600-foot passageway costs, and there’s no contract for the work listed on the agency’s Web site.
But a cleaning-industry source said Able Services, the San Francisco-based firm that supplies the concourse’s cleaners, is likely charging at least $3,000 a day for the 24/7 janitorial operation, which employs members of the powerful 32BJ union. The union workers make more than $17 an hour to start, with a raise after six months. That means it has probably cost more than $450,000 in just the five months since the passageway opened Oct. 24, 2013, to keep it clean.
Able declined comment.
At virtually any minute of the day, at least two workers can be seen tending to the 40,000 square feet of white marble — sweeping up dirt and debris, scouring scuff marks and wiping down the walls with long-handled mops.
At night, a worker rides a mechanized floor-washer known as “The Chariot,” and on weekends, one climbs onto a huge, hydraulic lifting platform to vacuum the back-lit, rib-like lighting fixtures overhead. “We were told we’ve got to be on the floor at all times,” one cleaner said.
And whenever the weather turns wet, the crews go into overdrive drying the highly polished floor.
“They don’t want anybody to fall and get hurt,” a security guard said. “They’re constantly wiping.”
It’s unclear how many more workers will be needed to clean the entire 800,000-square-foot transit hub, which is scheduled to open next year.
The gleaming marble and sweeping arches of the concourse are part of a design by award-winning Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
He’s been widely acclaimed for spectacular eye-catching buildings, but
Calatrava has also been blasted for the impractical flourishes that often cause delays and push his projects into the red. That includes the WTC hub, which is six years behind schedule — and already 100 percent over budget.
Commuters who regularly pass through the concourse were astounded at the amount of energy — and money — being spent on its upkeep, with several saying the PA should have chosen a different color and materials.
“It’s beautiful and high-tech, but they clearly designed it more for appearances,” one woman said. “That’s a lot of money.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick