NEW YORK, NY August 07, 2007 —Rebuilding efforts in Lower Manhattan are seeing real progress, although all the construction underway remains a source of tension between residents and contractors. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

For years the shrouded 41-story Deutsche Bank tower cast a shadow over the World Trade Center site. Now almost a quarter of its floors are gone, and work continues with about a floor a week being removed. Still, contractors are not going to make their end-of-the-year deadline to make way for the new JP Morgan building. Work should be done the first quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, the Port Authority and MTA are facing rapidly rising construction costs for their underground transportation hub and complaints from neighbors.

Community Board One members have petitioned the Port Authority to abide by the City's new noise ordinance. No response yet from the bi-state agency.

In addition to the Deutsche Bank building, progress is also being made on City University's Fiterman Hall. The New York Dormitory Authority says it will take a year to deconstruct the building and another two and half to rebuild. The NYDA says the new Fitterman Hall will be a 2OO-million-dollar state of the art classroom facility.