Taxpayers will have to cough up an extra $37.5 million to demolish the deadly Deutsche Bank building near Ground Zero.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board Thursday approved spending the additional money, boosting the state agency’s cost to acquire and demolish the toxic tower at 130 Liberty St. to $274 million.

LMDC Chairman Avi Schick declined to set a firm date for when the building will be torn down. He has previously said the goal was by the end of the year.

Thursday, Schick said he was “confident” 130 Liberty St. would at least be decontaminated by that deadline.

“How far along we are in taking the floors down is something we’re working toward every single day,” he added.

LMDC board member Julie Menin, head of Manhattan Community Board 1, said dismantling 130 Liberty is important for the revitalization of downtown Manhattan.

“Obviously, we want to see the building taken down as expeditiously as possible,” Menin said.

A new contractor, LVI Environmental Services, was selected to demolish the toxic tower after a deadly Aug. 18 blaze at the site killed two firefighters. Then-contractor John Galt Corp. was fired shortly after the blaze.

Schick said LVI has 250 employees on the site working double shifts six days a week.

“We got to pay the bills,” the chairman said.

Demolition costs have escalated due to the complexity of the job.

The building was being cleaned of toxic dust and torn down floor-by-floor simultaneously, but after the fire, that procedure was scrapped.

Now the dust must be completely removed before demolition can move forward.

The Deutsche Bank structure was damaged by falling debris on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists.

The state agreed to purchase it for $90 million to resolve a dispute between the bank and insurers. As part of the agreement, LMDC will tap those insurers to pay for 75% of demolition costs above $45 million.

Once the site is cleared, there is a plan to build a new 42-story home for JPMorgan Chase.

Source: NY Daily News