it provided all the unlimited access they needed to pull wires, plant explosives, as well as install and test firing controllers.
the charges appear to have been in the elevator shafts and the behavior of the ace elevator techs on 9/11/2001 was quite suspect.
only 1 elevator tech died on 9/11 and he worked for another company, otis iirc, at another building.
the ACE guys all scattered like roaches.
i'm not suggesting they are gonna blow up the empire state building(not saying they won't either) but, an important point is made in the story:
"Only three elevator manufacturers —
Schindler, ThyssenKrupp and Otis — could credibly compete, he said."
so, how did a no-name company called ACE elevator, which appears to be a mobbed up front company, manage to land the contract to upgrade the wtc elevators following the 1993 bombing?
an upgrade that was the largest in all of recorded history. then ACE seems to have disappeared, though i have tracked a few employees to charlotte,n.c. and then england. the company seems to have gone brigadoon on us.
if you don't know the ace elevator story i suggest you look in to it. i'll look for my old reference material on it and answer any questions i can.
http://www.wral.com/business/story/9735985/
By STEPHEN SINGER, AP Business Writer
HARTFORD, Connecticut — Everything is big with New York's landmark Empire State
Building, so upgrading the 20th century elevators running up and down its 102
floors without disrupting thousands of office workers, visitors and tourists
each day is no small task.
The office and retail tower and Otis Elevator Co., the country's best-known
elevator manufacturer, were set to announce Thursday a partnership to replace
and modernize the building's elevators to bring them into the computer age and
reduce passenger wait time.
For the Empire State Building — among the world's most photographed buildings,
reproduced into countless paperweights and star of a 1933 movie with King Kong
hanging from its side — the renovation caps its 80th year.
And for Otis, which sold its first elevators in 1853 but now gets much of its
business in China's booming office construction market, working at the marquee
office tower in midtown New York is as high profile as it gets.
"When you're young from another country you think of the Empire State Building,"
said Didier Michaud-Daniel, Otis' president, who hails from France. "The Empire
State Building is known worldwide, so in terms of image it's a great opportunity
for us to talk about what we're going to do there."
The newly refurbished elevators promise quick and efficient rides to make the
prized address even more attractive to tenants, who also are benefiting from
upgraded lighting, heating and cooling and other systems.
Anthony Malkin of the Empire State Building Co., which owns the tower, said his
company has been leasing to tenants that occupy entire floors or multiple floors
and expect premier appearances and service.
"We're touching on everything, restoring the Art Deco lobby to its original
grandeur and a new energy-efficient system," he said.
Upgrading all 68 elevators and replacing 13-ton machines with new equipment
while workers, tourists and others enter and leave will be a major effort. The
elevators will carry nearly 10 million people each year, Otis said.
Malkin called it the largest elevator modernization of its kind in the world and
Otis, a United Technologies Corp. subsidiary based in Farmington, Connecticut,
says it's the biggest in its 158-year history.
The two sides did not disclose how much the contract, which includes a 10-year
maintenance agreement, is worth.
Design specifications and the bidding process lasted more than a year in what
Malkin called a "hotly competitive process." Only three elevator manufacturers —
Schindler, ThyssenKrupp and Otis — could credibly compete, he said. Otis came up
with a novel and innovative staffing system, Malkin said.
The project is a homecoming for Otis, which designed and installed the Empire
State Building's original elevators during the 1930s Great Depression. It will
hire a full-time branch manager to run the project that is set to begin in
November and be finished in March 2014. It will involve as many as 60 workers on
two shifts a day, six days a week.
The number of tenants has declined to fewer than 200 from 561 since 2006 as
tenants rent entire floors or multiple floors and the building's management
seeks larger and higher quality tenants, Malkin said. The renovations, including
the new elevators, are part of the plan.
The new elevators promise to route passengers better and reduce their wait
times, Otis said. Michaud-Daniel said it's probably the first time ever in a
building this size that elevator equipment will be as good or better than those
newly installed.
"I've been working in the industry 30 years and for me, coming from France, it
was a dream getting the Empire State Building back," he said. "We're extremely
proud of it."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.