On Eve of Anniversary, A Look at Rebuilding Progress - Sep 8, 2004
The past year has seen plans move forward in re-developing the World Trade Center site, including the start of work on the Freedom Tower. In the following report, NY1’s Roger Clark takes a look at the progress as we close in on the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (NY1)

Despite Terror Concerns, New York Builds Glass Skyscrapers - Sep 6, 2004
Defying concerns after the attack on New York three years ago that post-9/11 construction would be dominated by brute concrete bunkers, the designers of significant new public and private buildings in the city are turning again and again to glass facades. (New York Times )

Toys Showing Airplane Flying into Twin Towers are Recalled - Aug 28, 2004
Bags of candy left a sour taste when parents found it included a grotesque toy - an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Looks for JFK Ferry Link - Aug 27, 2004
The Port Authority invited ferry operators Thursday to submit proposals for boat connections between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport. (Newsday)

Post Office Closed on 9/11 Reinaugerated - Aug 19, 2004
Church Street Station reopened Monday, Aug. 2. Today, Postmaster General John E. Potter will formally reinaugurate the 67-year-old post office, at 90 Church Street, by unveiling an American flag that last flew there on Sept. 11, 2001. Folded and encased, the flag was displayed at Postal Service headquarters in Washington. (New York Times)

Hudson Yards Will Not Affect Downtown Development, Says Planner - Aug 15, 2004
Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of the Department of City Planning’s Manhattan Office, insisted that the Hudson Yards would not threaten Downtown. “We’re working with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to make the rebuilding of Downtown happen,” he said. “Some companies will choose Midtown and some will choose Downtown,” he said, “But the World Trade Center will redevelop first before you see a single skyscraper on the West Side.” (Downtown Express)

Reopening of Ground Zero Post Office Makes Life Easier Downtown - Aug 15, 2004
Downtowners living and working near the World Trade Center now have a shorter trek to make when sending packages and picking up mail — the Church St. post office reopened earlier this month after a three-year closing caused by damage from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. (Downtown Express)

Watchdog Group Recommends Diversifying Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Board - Aug 15, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has failed to allocate its federal 9/11 recovery funds in a transparent way and has given undue preference to big businesses and organizations with ties to its board members, according to a report released this week by a budget watchdog organization. (Downtown Express)

Pataki Signs Lower Manhattan Construction Act - Aug 11, 2004
New rules are being implemented for construction projects in downtown Manhattan, with the intention of ensuring high-quality work is done in a timely manner. (NY1)

City Gains Control of Streets at Trade Center Site - Aug 6, 2004
New York City - and not the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - will own and control the streets and sidewalks that run through the World Trade Center site, under an agreement that lifts a 37-year-old cloud over ownership of the property. (New York Times)

Ground Zero Post Office Reopens - Aug 2, 2004
A post office heavily damaged in the World Trade Center attack finally reopens Monday. The 67-year-old facility is located at 90 Church Street, right across the street from the World Trade Center site. (NY1)

Post Office to Reopen at Trade Center Site - Jul 28, 2004
The post office across the street from the World Trade Center site reopens next week after extensive work to repair the damage it sustained in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, postal officials said yesterday. (New York Post )

Blending Technology and Security, Architects Build Big Again - Jul 25, 2004
On the day the world Trade Center fell, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City. In the months that followed, six of its commercial tenants ran off. They did not want to be in the tallest anything, anywhere, anymore. Three years later, big is beautiful again. (Time Canada)

Vets Protest Iraq War at Ground Zero - Jul 25, 2004
Flashing peace symbols and yelling “Congress has spoken, the people have spoken: No more Vietnams,” eight members of Veterans for Peace came to the World Trade Center Site for about 20 minutes Tuesday to protest the war in Iraq. None of them made any mention of Sept. 11 during the protest. (Downtown Express)

Congressman Fears Health Hazards from Deutsche Building Destruction - Jul 20, 2004
Rep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday blasted the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s planned demolition of the Deutschebank Building, saying it could release toxins that may pose a health hazard to residents. (Newsday)

Governor Open to Scrapping West Street Tunnel Plan - Jul 17, 2004
With his clothes still wet after kayaking to Tribeca, Gov. George Pataki indicated for the first time that he was open to not building a West St. tunnel. Pataki told Downtown Express that he would let the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. make the decision on the tunnel and he thought the state-city agency would also make significant investments on Downtown’s proposed commuter-airport rail link and the Hudson River Park. (Downtown Express)

Over 700 Employees Prepare for Move Downtown - Jul 16, 2004
The revitalization continues in Lower Manhattan, as 730 state employees get set to move their offices downtown. (NY1)

Post 9/11 PATH Ridership Exceeds Expectations - Jul 12, 2004
The number of commuters who use the temporary World Trade Center station and the Exchange Place station in Jersey City has exceeded expectations since they reopened last year, officials said. (New York Post)

Convention Planners Fear Train Bombing - Jul 11, 2004
Security planners for the upcoming political conventions are highly concerned about a train bombing and are taking unprecedented steps to safeguard subway and commuter lines in host cities New York and Boston. (Newsday)

New Home for Trade Center Art Studios - Jul 11, 2004
From 1997 until 2001, artists worked on the 91st and 92nd floors of Tower One of the World Trade Center, capturing the city’s landscape from the highest vantage point in the Manhattan. One artist in the program died on Sept. 11, 2001. After 9/11, L.M.C.C. hopscotched from the World Financial Center, to Brooklyn and spent last year Downtown in the Woolworth Building, before artists and members of L.M.C.C. learned that Silverstein Properties had donated the artists’ current space on Broadway between Pine and Cedar Sts. (Downtown Express)

With Post 9/11 Revitalization, Downtown’s Parks Get a Little Greener - Jul 9, 2004
Bowling Green, New York's oldest park, is looking especially fresh. The park, at the foot of Broadway, has just undergone an $690,000 renovation by the city Parks Department as part of a $37 million crash program to restore and create 14 parks downtown in the wake of 9/11. (New York Times)

I Had to Settle Family Feuds, Says 9/11 Fund Chief - Jul 6, 2004
The man who divvied up the $6 billion compensation fund to relatives of the Sept. 11 attacks said he had to resolve some pretty prickly disputes among feuding family members. (New York Daily News)

For One Junior High Student, Groundbreaking Ceremony Meant a Big Performance - Jul 5, 2004
Julian Davis tried to focus on the words on the page as he took the stage at Ground Zero yesterday, and declared in a strong, clear voice "that all men are created equal." The 12-year-old, whose dad, Port Authority cop Clinton Davis, was killed on 9/11, read from the Declaration of Independence before a crowd of hundreds at the laying of the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower. (New York Daily News)

Freedom Tower Cornerstone Laid - Jul 4, 2004
A 20-ton slab of granite, inscribed to honor "the enduring spirit of freedom," was laid Sunday at the World Trade Center site as the cornerstone of the skyscraper replacing the destroyed towers. (Associated Press)

City Prepares Cops for Chemical Attack - Jul 4, 2004
Behind the gates of a former Brooklyn grade school, the NYPD is mustering an army of 10,000 cops that will be ready to march into the chaos of a chemical, biological or nuclear terror strike - just in time for the upcoming Republican National Convention. (New York Post)

Housing Complex Residents Split on Rebuilding Project - Jul 3, 2004
With the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation considering the Chatham Green Houses complex as a potential site for an underground parking garage, the building’s shareholders and board members are already split as to whether the project would be a blessing or a boondoggle. (Downtown Express)

Some Rebuilding Groups Shutting Down, Other Face Financial Challenges - Jun 26, 2004
In the months after Sept. 11, a wide array of organizations sprang up in the wake of the attacks with the purpose of rebuilding – literally, financially, culturally – Lower Manhattan. Over two years later, many of the organizations have folded or largely completed their projects. (Downtown Express)

Commuters Happy With Silver's Decision on South Ferry - Jun 26, 2004
South Ferry subway commuters were happy to hear that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had dropped his opposition to the station’s planned renovation Friday in exchange for $15 million worth of improvements to Battery Park. (Downtown Express)

Jersey City Cools to Russian Sculptor's Offer of 9/11 Memorial - Jun 24, 2004
When an internationally known Russian sculptor offered last year to erect a 100-foot-tall Sept. 11 memorial on the waterfront opposite the World Trade Center site, the mayor of Jersey City embraced the idea as befitting a city that lost 40 residents in the attack. But with opposition from the city's new mayor and from community groups who consider the teardrop-themed sculpture simplistic and overly imposing, a resolution to accept the offer has been withheld from Wednesday night's City Council meeting, leaving its future in doubt. (WNBC)

Planned Transportation Improvements Spur Real Estate Upswing Downtown - Jun 20, 2004
After a long lull, the commercial real estate market is gaining momentum Downtown, industry experts say. Lower Manhattan’s comparatively low rents, planned transportation improvements and government incentives are among the factors driving the recent upswing. Shrinking office stock in Midtown has also spurred firms to expand or relocate to the area. (Downtown Express)

Downtown Welcomes Back Ground Zero Farmers Market - Jun 20, 2004
On June 17, commuters and residents welcomed four farmers back to the World Trade Center site for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. The tables of fresh strawberries, apples, blueberries, lettuce, tomatoes, squash and cherries — set up on the corner of Church and Vesey Sts. immediately north of the PATH station entrance — seemed to fill a void that went deeper than people’s cupboards. (Downtown Express)

Green Market Returns to World Trade Center Site - Jun 15, 2004
New York blueberries, homegrown lettuce and fresh-baked bread are making their return to the World Trade Center site for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. Four green market farmers will set up tables of homegrown produce on the north side of the entrance to the WTC PATH terminal starting Thursday. (New York Daily News)

Seven World Trade Center Rises - Jun 12, 2004
Seven World Trade Center is rising rapidly. In the following report, NY1's Amanda Farinacci takes us on an exclusive tour of the under-construction building, with a view from the top and from developer Larry Silverstein. (NY1)

On Centential of General Slocum Disaster, 9/11 Gives New Perspective - Jun 8, 2004
The fiery sinking of the paddle-wheel steamboat General Slocum was the city's deadliest disaster before the destruction of the World Trade Center. More than a thousand innocents - mostly German immigrant women and their children, on a picnic excursion - perished in the East River calamity on June 15, 1904. "For many years, this was the tragedy that we forgot,'' said Kathleen Hulser, public historian of the New-York Historical Society. "But faded memories can be renewed, and this one was, after the greater disaster of Sept. 11.'' (New York Times)

Ground is Broken at Battery Bosque, With Help of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Jun 8, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Parks Department broke ground Monday at the Battery Bosque, in an effort to transform the run-down area into a lush green space. More than $8.5 million has been allocated for the project, which will include money for a new carousel. (NY1)

Fulton Street Subway Station Receives Praise - Jun 4, 2004
The $750 million design for a new subway center at Fulton St. and Broadway received glowing praise from resident leaders and transportation advocates at the opening unveiling May 26, but mixed reviews an hour later from some of the small businesses the new center will displace. (Downtown Express)

West Street Tunnel Plan a Waste, Says New Study - Jun 2, 2004
The $860 million plan to build a tunnel under a four-block stretch of West Street has been deemed one of the most wasteful highway projects in the country, a new report says. (New York Post)

World of Golf to Become Transit Center's Casualty - Jun 1, 2004
The latest project unveiled for Lower Manhattan, the Fulton Street Transit Center, will connect four subway stations under a crystalline glass dome. It will also almost surely doom the World of Golf in its building at 189 Broadway. (New York Times)

Businesses Face Eviction To Make Way for Station - May 28, 2004
For the businesses in buildings that will have to be knocked down to make way for the Fulton Street Transit Station there is more resentment than excitement. (NY1)

With Rebuilding Money, New Sports Fields Being Built on Downtown Pier - May 28, 2004
The Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors at their May 20 meeting approved $5.5 million in contracts to build a three-and-a-half-acre, interim sports field at Pier 40. The Trust will pay for the work out of its general funds, plus $1.6 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that had previously been slated for an ice-skating rink at Spring St. and the tennis courts. (Downtown Express)

Glass And Steel Dome For New Fulton Street Station - May 27, 2004
The new $750 million Fulton Transit Center will feature a 110-foot-high glass-and-steel dome that will allow sunlight to filter into what is now a dingy, maze-like subway complex, according to plans unveiled yesterday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hub, at Broadway and Fulton St., also would preserve the 115-year-old Corbin Building and use its arches as another entrance point. (New York Daily News)

Fulton Street Subway Station Calls For Huge Glass Dome Downtown - May 26, 2004
Add another transparent polymorph to downtown's future landscape. If blueprints can be believed, office towers, apartment houses, commuter rail terminals - and now, even a subway station - will shimmer luminously as they taper and soar. Astride a tangled labyrinth linking four stations on the A, C, J, M, Z, 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposes a tapering, conical, 110-foot-tall steel-and-glass dome that would emerge from within a 50-foot-high glass-box pavilion at Broadway and Fulton Street. This translucent and transparent structure would, in effect, harvest daylight and send it as far as possible underground, opening new vistas and brightening what is now a dank warren of platforms and passageways. (New York Times)

Architects Compete to Design Church Destroyed on 9/11 - May 14, 2004
It is the smallest building planned at ground zero. But the architects who will compete to design the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church may face the biggest challenge. They will be asked by Archbishop Demetrios, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, for a design at once unmistakably ecclesiastical yet in harmony with the bold secular architecture around it, one that captures unearthly mystery in tangible dimensions and conveys a sense of something outside human experience. (New York Times)

First Lady Dedicates Garden To 9/11 Vicitms - May 11, 2004
First Lady Laura Bush yesterday dedicated a garden in Battery Park to victims of 9/11, invoking a beauty tip from a past First Lady. "Flowers in the city are like lipstick on a woman," said Bush, quoting Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of former President Lyndon Johnson and an avid horticulturist. "It just makes you look better to have a little color." (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Environmental Impact Statement Still Lacking, Says Community Board - May 9, 2004
For all its 2,000 pages, a report on rebuilding the World Trade Center site did not go far enough in addressing specific public concerns, members of Community Board 1 said this week. In mid-April, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation released its final generic environmental impact statement on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The document was a revised version of a draft released in January, and in addition to repeating the expected impacts of the decade-long rebuilding effort it individually addressed some 671 comments submitted in response to the first draft. (Downtown Express)

In Rebuilding Update, Governor Backs New Tunnel Under East River - May 6, 2004
Governor George E. Pataki threw his political weight yesterday behind a plan to dig a new tunnel under the East River as part of a $6 billion rail link from downtown to Kennedy Airport and points east along the Long Island Rail Road. Mr. Pataki said the rail link would offer travelers a "one-seat ride to their terminal at J.F.K. in just 36 minutes" from Lower Manhattan. As an economic and political matter, the link would be even more important as the downtown gateway for up to 100,000 Long Island commuters, greatly expanding the capacity of businesses in the financial district to attract suburban workers who now live at least two train rides away. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Officials Say Insurance Verdict Won't Limit Development - May 1, 2004
A court decision may have left World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein billions short of the cash he needs to redevelop Ground Zero, but officials said yesterday plans will move along - with or without him. (New York Daily News)

High School Damaged On 9/11 Moves Towards Rehabilitation - May 1, 2004
Nearly three years after 9/11, the black shroud will soon be lifted from one of the few Downtown buildings still undergoing structural rehabilitation following the World Trade Center collapse. The 14-story building at 90 Trinity Place, home to the High School for Leadership and Public Service, remains covered with scaffolding and black netting as workers reinstall massive granite panels on its facade. (Downtown Express)

Feeling Shortchanged on Security Funds, Police, Firefighters Plan Convention Protest - Apr 28, 2004
Feeling shortchanged by Washington, some city firefighters and police are vowing to protest against President Bush and the Republicans at their convention in New York this summer. Unions representing cops and firefighters have requested permits to protest at the Republican National Convention in August at Madison Square Garden. (New York Daily News)

Downtown Has One Billion Dollars in Federal Funds Left - Apr 18, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board voted on Tuesday to earmark $176 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds — most of which will go to buy and demolish the Deutsche Bank building. If the money is allocated, it will leave about $1 billion to pay for a competing set of priorities for Lower Manhattan including affordable housing, park space, part of a rail link to J.F.K. Airport and the Long Island Rail Road, a new school, a recreation center and cultural facilities. (Downtown Express)

For Disabled, Safer Way To Cross West Street Near Ground Zero Planned - Apr 18, 2004
By late June or early July, nearly three years after the Twin Towers were destroyed, officials hope to restore the first safe and reliable way near the World Trade Center site for wheelchair-bound people to enter Battery Park City. State Transportation Dept. officials told Community Board 1’s Battery Park City committee Tuesday that elevators on the east and west sides of the Vesey St. pedestrian bridge will be running by the early summer and should not have the same mechanical problems that have plagued the neighborhood’s other pedestrian bridge elevators in the winter. The escalator on the west side of the bridge is expected to open Friday, April 16, and the escalators on the east by mid-to-late June. (Downtown Express)

Park Used Since 9/11 by Police Returned to Chinatown - Apr 17, 2004
The small stretch of asphalt is surrounded by 1 Police Plaza, Murry Bergtraum High School, a strip mall and the Gov. Alfred E. Smith Houses. Central Park it is not. But even a little bit of open space is better than none, so it was with some fanfare yesterday that residents and community leaders in Chinatown celebrated their reclamation of the park, James Madison Plaza, which the Police Department had been using as a parking lot since 2001. (New York Times)

Deutsche Building To Come Down Piece by Piece - Apr 16, 2004
Later this year, if all goes according to plan, the monolithic 40-story office tower immediately south of ground zero - shrouded in black netting and far too like a 536-foot-high tombstone for many New Yorkers' tastes - will be coming down. Piece by piece. (New York Times)

Noise and Congestion Downtown Until 2015, Says Revised Environmental Impact Statement - Apr 14, 2004
A decade of development at the World Trade Center site will create noisy, congested streets, cast longer shadows over parks and probably remove some remnants of the original trade center, a new report says. ``Some adverse impacts are inevitable'' in downtown Manhattan until 2015, when the site should be finished, according to the report issued Tuesday by the agency overseeing rebuilding. (Associated Press)

Low Crime Rates in Subway Attributed to Post 9/11 Tactics - Apr 6, 2004
Police are on track to beat last year's historic low tally of subway crimes - and cops are crediting part of the ongoing decline to anti-terror efforts. Crime in all major categories combined is down about 2% from last year, which was the lowest in more than three decades. From January through Sunday night, there were 775 felonies, compared with 789 during the same period last year. (New York Daily News)

Architect Who Designed Glass Wall for Times Warner Center Will Work on Fultron Street Transit Center - Apr 5, 2004
James Carpenter, 54, whose work includes the astonishingly transparent cable-net glass wall at the new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, was awarded a $340,000 contract by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week to join the architectural and engineering team working on the Fulton Street Transit Center, which is to be completed in 2007. (New York Times )

Health Concerns Keeps Some Businesses Away From Downtown - Apr 2, 2004
When Gov. George E. Pataki announced plans 21 months ago to move 750 to 1,000 state employees to Lower Manhattan, he said he was doing so to show confidence in its viability as it struggled to rebuild. The only problem is that 425 State Health Department employees do not want to go. They are concerned about health conditions at 90 Church Street, the Art Deco tower at the edge of ground zero where the state is negotiating a lease. (New York Times)

Downtown's Economy Looking Strong - Mar 31, 2004
The reluctance of many New Yorkers to reside and work downtown because of what happened there — terrorist attacks and the ensuing loss of 3,000 lives — has just about vanished, according to real estate and city sources. Indicative of this: •Surging housing prices,up an estimated 10% to 12% year over year, and a steady flow of new residential construction,with a lot of it on a luxurious scale. •Major jobs recovery, with 78% of the nearly 9,900 jobs lost since the Septmber 11 attacks in 2001 having been regained as of March 2003, according to the Partnership for New York City. It further notes that 72 of downtown’s largest companies have made commitments for an average 10 years that will result in the retention of 60,000 jobs, while federal incentives for smaller firms have enabled 1,352 businesses to create and retain an additional 23,293 jobs. •A slew of new stores, resulting in an estimated 6% to 8% increase in retail space since 2002. One sign of the recovery of Lower Manhattan is the rebound in $1 millionplus condominium sales at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Battery Park, just a heartbeat away from where the twin towers once stood. A Ritz Carlton spokeswoman describes interest as strong, with only eight apartments left of the 115 offered for sale on the 15th to 40th floors perched above the hotel portion. (New York Sun)

At Ground Zero, Retail Development Must Step Carefully - Mar 29, 2004
At the new World Trade Center, an area of six acres will be set aside for mourning and remembering. And in the surrounding buildings and concourses, an area of 650,000 square feet - almost 15 acres - will be set aside for shopping and dining. The retail space poses planning challenges rivaling those faced by the memorial, the Freedom Tower and the combined PATH terminal and transportation hub. (New York Times)

Artist Who Worked With Ground Zero Dust Honored - Mar 29, 2004
A New York-based artist became the first winner of a new British art prize on Sunday for a work made from dust collected from the streets of Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (Associated Press)

In Informal Deal, Bloomberg Cedes Control of Ground Zero to Pataki, Takes Lead On Far West Side - Mar 27, 2004
Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have each carved out a piece of Manhattan on which to fasten their economic development visions, with one another's blessing. Mr. Bloomberg has laid claim to the development of the far West Side. Mr. Pataki wants credit for the rebirth of Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Environmental Protection Agency Report: Apartment Clean-up Downtown Was Successful - Mar 26, 2004
A report by the federal Environmental Protection Agency shows that the agency's efforts to clean up thousands of apartments in Lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center attack were successful in removing asbestos and other harmful materials. But a critic of the program said the report, released yesterday, confirmed nothing more than the inadequacies of the cleanup and the need for further testing. (New York Times)

Silverstein Avoids Contempt of Court Charge - Mar 23, 2004
The developer Larry A. Silverstein narrowly escaped a civil contempt charge yesterday in the seventh week of a trial pitting him against his insurers for billions of dollars he seeks to rebuild the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Downtown Residents Approve Of Rebuilding, Distrust Environmental Protection Agency - Mar 22, 2004
Things are looking up Downtown, according to a new poll of Downtown residents, but the distrust of the Environmental Protection Agency has climbed to 72 percent. (Downtown Express)

New Yorkers Happy With Rebuilding Process, Poll Finds - Mar 18, 2004
People who live in Lower Manhattan appear to approve of the direction rebuilding plans are taking there, according to a new poll released Wednesday. (New York 1)

Federal Hall, Damaged On 9/11, Is Rehabilitated - Mar 18, 2004
Federal Hall, a 162-year-old Greek Revival landmark at Wall and Broad Streets, is undergoing repairs. Last summer, a dangerously undermined corner was shored up. Later this year, two other corners and part of the east wall will be shored up. Cracks will be stabilized and patched. And a new heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system will be installed. The $16 million rehabilitation can be traced directly to the attack on New York. (New York Times)

Tribeca Film Festival Receives $3 Million Pledge From Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Mar 12, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Thursday announced a two-year, $3 million commitment to the Tribeca Film Festival, which was the first major event to be held in Lower Manhattan after the September 11th attacks and has attracted hundred-of-thousands of visitors and millions of dollars in revenue to the downtown area since it debuted in 2002. (Newsday)

Buildings For Ground Zero Now Planned To Be Shorter Than Originally Intended - Mar 11, 2004
As plans for ground zero assume their final form, it is more apparent than ever that what New York will get - at least in the near future - is a far cry from the renderings by Studio Daniel Libeskind that captivated and puzzled the public a year ago. (New York Times)

Asthma Linked to Ground Zero - Mar 10, 2004
Children with asthma who lived within five miles of the World Trade Center had more severe illness after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, seeing the doctor more often and taking more medication the year after the attack than the year before, researchers found. There were no significant differences in care for asthmatic children farther away. (Newsday)

Downtowners React To Law Banning Vendors From Ground Zero - Mar 8, 2004
Downtowners on both sides of the selling tables had strong reactions to the ground zero vending ban approved by lawmakers on Monday, March 1. (Downtown Express)

Responses To Calatrava's Proposed Tower Downtown - Mar 6, 2004
Architect Santiago Calatrava, who wowed many Downtowners with his design for the World Trade Center train station when it was unveiled in January, may be on his way to doing the same with his proposed 835-foot slender tower design in the Seaport announced on Wednesday. The residential design described as “townhouses in the sky” received favorable reviews from some local residents who have opposed other large-scale projects in the neighborhood. (Downtown Express)

Veil Removed From Historic Skyscraper Next To Ground Zero, Revealing Wounds - Mar 5, 2004
Veiled in its 23-story shroud and braced in scaffolding for more than two years, the cherished little skyscraper at 90 West Street has been a building in mourning. To those living and working near ground zero, it has been a grimly persistent reminder of the terrorist assault on the World Trade Center. Now the cloak is gone. The scaffolding is down. And while the horrific wounds on its northern facade are finally - and shockingly - visible, Joachim Fiebich, a construction supervisor at the site, said that "it is as if 90 West has come back to life.'' (New York Times)

Green In Lower Manhattan: An Interview With Architect Bruce Fowle - Mar 5, 2004
MetropolisMag editor Julie Taraska spoke with architect Bruce Fowle about Ground Zero’s environmental opportunities: the chance to readdress the site’s density, to explore renewable power sources, and to utilize green roofs. The discussion occurred in January 2004, days before the LMDC released its Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the WTC Memorial and Redevelopment Plan. (Metropolis Magazine)

Plan For Underground Walkways Downtown Sparking Debate - Mar 4, 2004
Seduced by the distinctive architecture planned around the World Trade Center site, it is easy to forget that one of the most important transformations of Lower Manhattan will be almost invisible, at least from the street. A series of passageways being planned, including underground concourses, would permit pedestrians to make a sheltered journey, uninterrupted by traffic, from Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City to Broadway and John Street. (New York Times)

Refusing White House Conditions, 9/11 Commission Calls For Bush, Cheney To Testify In Public - Mar 3, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to accept strict conditions from the White House for interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and is renewing its request that Mr. Bush's national security adviser testify in public, commission members said Tuesday. (New York Times)

Calatrava Designs Residential Tower For Lower Manhattan - Mar 3, 2004
resh from causing a sensation with his avian design for the World Trade Center transportation hub, the architect and artist Santiago Calatrava is ready to make a second startling mark on the Lower Manhattan skyline with a residential tower unlike any New York has ever seen. It would take the form of an offset stack of 45-foot glass cubes, a dozen in all, each intended to house only one or two families. (New York Times)

Vendors Banned From Streets Near Ground Zero - Mar 2, 2004
Legislators voted yesterday to limit the number of vendors who can hawk their wares on crowded Manhattan sidewalks, and to ban street sales near Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

A Difficult Journey For Downtown's Disabled - Mar 1, 2004
Like many Battery Park City residents, Joseph Gibney works near Wall St. where the commute includes a short walk over or across the West Side Highway. Gibney guesses the trip would have taken him 10 minutes on his motorized wheelchair before Sept. 11, 2001 and thinks it could be just as quick now. (Downtown Express)

Beautiful, But Temporary, Architecture Downtown - Feb 28, 2004
The PATH station at Ground Zero is not intended to be permanent. And it certainly was not intended to be gorgeous. But like much of the temporary cityscape of Lower Manhattan, full of ephemeral landmarks that will disappear by the end of the decade, the station can sometimes feel sublime. (New York Times)

Nationwide Anti-Terror Network Launched - Feb 25, 2004
Hundreds of federal, state and local intelligence and law enforcement agencies will be able to share threat reports, investigative leads and potential evidence instantaneously under a new counter-terrorism computer system announced yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. (Washington Post)

New Look For Wall Street Security - Feb 25, 2004
The double ranks of pickup trucks that now control seven intersections leading to the New York Stock Exchange will be replaced with retractable posts, wedgelike vehicle barriers and custom-designed barricades resembling small sculptural bronze boulders. These and other elements of high-security landscaping, which were approved yesterday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, are intended to protect the exchange from terrorists without sacrificing the public realm to the almost warlike blockades, including the trucks, that have been in place since Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

New School On Wall Street A Sign Of Neighborhood's Revivial - Feb 18, 2004
In the latest sign that downtown is bouncing back, the Wall Street area near Ground Zero is getting its first elite private school - just steps from the New York Stock Exchange, The Post has learned. (New York Post)

For Second Consecutive Winter, Pedestrian Bridges Aren't Up To Par - Feb 16, 2004
Despite Governor George Pataki's assurance that everything is being built on schedule at Ground Zero, people in wheelchairs and pushing strollers have no reliable, car-free way to cross the six-lane highway on West St. highway, for the second consecutive winter. (Downtown Express)

College Acquires New Space, To Replace Building Damaged On 9/11 - Feb 16, 2004
The Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall is still severely damaged from 9/11, but across the street, the school has just signed a 10-year lease so their students can move from temporary trailers back to regular classrooms this summer. (Downtown Express)

College Wants To Demolish Building Damaged on 9/11 - Feb 11, 2004
Through much of the Ground Zero precinct, hope is measured in promise of construction. At Fiterman Hall, hope will take the form of demolition. (New York Times)

State Comptroller To Audit PATH Construction Costs - Feb 8, 2004
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will audit the Port Authority's $566 million World Trade Center PATH station construction job to see whether cost overruns were justified and whether the project had proper oversight, his office says. (New York Post)

Families Of 9/11 Victims Unsatisfied With Extension Of Commission's Deadline - Feb 5, 2004
Bowing to pressure from a Sept. 11 survivors group, President Bush agreed yesterday to extend the deadline for the federal 9/11 commission report - but not as long as many wanted. Bush agreed to give the panel 60 extra days, until July 26, but relatives of victims killed in the terror attacks, and some members of Congress, wanted the extension to stretch beyond the elections. (New York Daily News)

Battery Park City Residents Face Rent Hikes As 9/11 Grants End - Jan 27, 2004
Battery Park City is bracing for change as the bulk of 9/11 rental assistance winds down and residents evaluate whether they can afford to remain in the area without the monthly government subsidy. (Downtown Express)

Deutsche Deal Near At Ground Zero - Jan 22, 2004
Development officials hope to work out a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero in coming weeks, at the same time they resolve an insurance dispute that has threatened to stall downtown rebuilding plans, sources told The Post. (New York Post)

Next For Ground Zero: Noise And Traffic - Jan 21, 2004
Snarled traffic, long shadows and noise - a decade's worth of noise - will be the inevitable byproducts of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, according to a 2,000-page study approved yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

Two Visions Meet At 1,776 Feet - Dec 26, 2003
A week before they were to present it to the public, the architects David M. Childs and Daniel Libeskind had yet to find a form on which both could at least sign off, even if neither embraced it entirely. Their standoff was the latest in an architectural evolution that, however tortuous, wound up producing a remarkably well-regarded design. (New York Times)

Silverstein, Port Authority, Close Deal for $229 Million - Dec 24, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein got more than $229 million in cash - all wrapped up in time for the holidays - when he closed a deal yesterday with the Port Authority to restructure the finances of his World Trade Center lease. The holiday bundle includes the return of the $98.5 million that Silverstein and his partners plunked down as equity when they leased the trade center from the Port Authority in July 2001, just weeks before the terror attacks. (New York Post)

Deadline For Federal Victims Compensation Fund Looming - Dec 21, 2003
People who lost loved ones or were injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks have until midnight tomorrow to file with the federal Victims Compensation Fund. Officials expect nearly 90% of those eligible to file, depite a slow start and months of controversy. (New York Daily News)

Freedom Tower Now Has a Design, But No Tenants - Dec 20, 2003
"The first firm to sign a lease will get huge media attention," said downtown real estate broker Brad Gerla of CB Richard Ellis. But right now, downtown leasing is dismal. Freedom Tower developer Larry Silverstein, who also is building and marketing 7 World Trade Center, isn't finding takers for that property. (New York Daily News)

Freedom Tower Will Be A Boon For City Economy - Dec 20, 2003
The skyscraper planned for the World Trade Center site is expected to provide the city with one of its biggest economic boosts since the original WTC was built three decades ago. The greatest impact, at least initially, will be felt by the city's construction industry, which is anticipating that at least 2,000 jobs will be created for the building of what's known as the Freedom Tower, which is to be the world's tallest building (Newsday)

Freedom Tower Is Unveiled - Dec 20, 2003
After fervent public debate over how to mend the New York City skyline and a five-month effort by competing architectural giants that was one part collaboration and two parts quarrel, the design of the first tower of the new World Trade Center was unveiled yesterday. The torqued and tapering skyscraper, called the Freedom Tower, would rise some 70 stories, then dematerialize in its upper reaches among cables, windmills and antennas before piercing the clouds at 1,776 feet. At this height, it might be the world's tallest building upon completion in 2008 or 2009. (New York Times)

Compromise Reached on Freedom Tower - Dec 16, 2003
Months of architectural wrangling over plans for the tallest building at the World Trade Center site — and in the world — have apparently ended in a 1,776-foot compromise that would include an asymmetrical spire favored by Daniel Libeskind rising atop a cable-framed wind farm proposed by David M. Childs. Though the design will not be made public until Friday, an announcement yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation seemed to indicate that agreement had been reached on the broad outlines of the building, called Freedom Tower. (New York Times)

Debate Over Traffic Flow at Trade Center Site - Dec 15, 2003
While the public is transfixed by the struggle over the Freedom Tower and the memorial at the World Trade Center site, an equally vital debate has been occurring over the layout of streets around the site. Decisions made now about the street plan will determine how hundreds of truck deliveries are made, and how buses, autos, taxis, limousines, emergency vehicles (including a fire engine and fire truck quartered on Liberty Street) will share small slices of asphalt and concrete. The ripples from these crosscurrents will be felt down to the Battery, over to the Brooklyn Bridge, up the Avenue of the Americas and down Seventh Avenue. (New York Times)

Architects Reportedly Near Compromise on Freedom Tower - Dec 15, 2003
Warring architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs are inching toward a compromise on the design of the Freedom Tower, and officials hope details can be finalized as early as today, sources said. Gov. Pataki had initially set today as the deadline for the architects to present him with a fully realized scheme for the tower. (New York Post)

Goldman Sachs Wants to Build Tower Across from Ground Zero - Dec 12, 2003
Goldman Sachs is seeking subsidies to build in New York, where its headquarters have long been located. Henry M. Paulson, the firm's chairman, has told the governor and the mayor that Goldman wants its own tower, on what is known as Site 26 at Battery Park City, and wants some of the same cash grants, tax breaks and tax-free financing that are available downtown right now, according to state and city officials who are working with the bank. (New York Times)

Pragmatism for New York New Visions Co-Founder - Dec 12, 2003
Fame is what Daniel Libeskind, the big winner in the urban reality sweepstakes to anoint a lead architect for the resurrection of the World Trade Center, is basking in or suffering through, depending on his appetite for cutting a high-profile swath by creating world-class architecture from a disaster. Resignation is almost what Bruce S. Fowle, a prominent yet low-key peer — no kooky glasses, no silly scarf, no gel on the cranium or speckled beard — is feeling as the towers grow taller and clunkier and the planning ordeal crawls on. But not quite. (New York Times)

EPA Releases Downtown Lead Tests - Dec 11, 2003
Lead was the most common contaminant found among the 263 Lower Manhattan apartments the Environmental Protection Agency tested for a range of possible 9/11-related toxins, according to results released on Monday. Of the 222 apartments E.P.A. contractors tested before and after cleaning, 70, or 31.5 percent, had lead levels before cleaning that exceeded the agency’s conservative benchmark of 25 micrograms per square foot. After cleaning, 16 apartments still had levels of lead above the E.P.A. standard. E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears cautioned that urban environments often have background lead, making it hard to tell whether the lead detected in wipe tests came from the World Trade Center collapse. (Downtown Express)

Concern Over 9/11 Health Registry - Dec 11, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residents continue to feel shortchanged by the city’s World Trade Center Health Registry, even though anyone who lived south of Canal St. on Sept. 11, 2001 is eligible to enroll. Nearly 30 local residents and workers attended a forum on the health registry last Thursday at the Downtown Information Center at 25 Broad St. Some participants told assistant health commissioner Dr. Polly Thomas that the interview portion of the registry seemed geared toward emergency workers. If residents are not asked detailed questions about their experiences on and after 9/11, then the study will not be able to address their potential long-term health concerns, some residents fear. (Downtown Express)

New Vision for Wall Street Will Look Nicer - Dec 3, 2003
The new plan for the financial district is to replace the pick-up trucks that obstruct Wall St., Broad St. Exchange Pl. and New St. for a couple of blocks with less unsightly security barriers. At Broadway and Wall St. and Broadway and Exchange Pl., there will be bollards to block vehicles. A few days before last Wednesday’s announcement, the silver metal “bicycle rack” barricades blocking pedestrians and vehicles from the Big Board’s building were replaced with black decorative fencing. In addition to the aesthetic improvement, the change increased the space where people can walk on Wall and Broad Sts. (Downtown Express)

How Poorly Did the Environmental Protection Agency React to 9/11? - Nov 30, 2003
From the first days after Sept. 11, 2001, the fears and unknowns about health and air quality in Lower Manhattan were compounded by the politics that swirl, as always, around the Environmental Protection Agency. An arm of the federal government that is second-guessed and distrusted as perhaps no other had been put in charge of the environmental response. What was in the air and what people in Washington and New York believed about the E.P.A. were immediately intertwined. (New York Times)

New Money for Security, Appearance Downtown - Nov 27, 2003
The heavily guarded area around the New York Stock Exchange will be beautified, and its security revamped, with a $10 million grant announced yesterday by state and city officials. (New York Post)

An Old Sign, Touting Marvels Of World Trade Center, Still Up On Church Street - Nov 28, 2003
hile "World Trade Center" signs around the new PATH station startled commuters and visitors this week, a smaller but even more poignant graphic remnant of the past was hiding in plain sight across Church Street. "What has 200 elevators, 1,200 restrooms, 40,000 doorknobs, 200,000 lighting fixtures, 7 million square feet of acoustical tile ceilings, more structural steel than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge — and was built for a final cost of over one billion 1970s dollars?" asks the colorful sign between seven-foot cast-iron posts, outside Century 21, near the corner of Cortlandt Street. "That's right, the World Trade Center." ...the sign would stay in place at least a year (New York Times)

Opponents to West Street Tunnel Speak Out - Nov 20, 2003
More than a dozen people lined up at the microphone during a public information meeting to denounce the proposal, supported by Gov. George E. Pataki, to spend $860 million to bury a half-mile section of the road alongside the planned World Trade Center memorial site. Most of the comments were familiar: the tunnel plan was too expensive; construction would disrupt traffic for too long; the money would be better spent elsewhere; the tunnel ramps would be dangerous to pedestrians. (New York Times)

Families of 9/11 Victims Get Preview of Memorial Finalists - Nov 19, 2003
After seeing the eight finalists in the 9/11 memorial competition, family members of those killed in the attack used words like "reverential" and "respectful" to describe the designs. And "overwhelmed" when speaking of their own feelings. But some expressed disappointment that the plans did not set aside more of the twin towers' foundations as a setting for the memorial. (New York Times)

There is Enough Insurance Money for Freedom Tower, says Port Authority Chairman - Nov 14, 2003
Port Authority chairman Joseph Seymour said yesterday that even with the raging court battle, there are already enough insurance proceeds to build Gov. George Pataki's proposed 2.5-million-square-foot Freedom Tower. Whether there is enough money to build everything else on a long list of lower Manhattan projects as well as planned regional transportation projects is another question. (Newsday)

Con Edison Rebuilds Power Substations Destroyed on 9/11 - Nov 9, 2003
The reconstruction of the World Trade Center site took a small but symbolically important step forward yesterday as Con Edison began to rebuild two power substations that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three electrical transformers were lowered by crane into cavernous vaults beneath what will once again become 7 World Trade Center. The transformers, each nearly 85 tons and 20 feet tall, are the first of 10 transformers that will be placed beneath 7 World Trade Center in the next few years, said Michael Clendenin, a spokesman for Con Edison. (New York Times)

Officials Ask for Private Money to Help Reopen Statue of Liberty - Nov 8, 2003
Two years after the terrorist attacks shut down the Statue of Liberty, officials are appealing for private donations to boost security so the monument can reopen. About $5 million worth of security measures still are needed, said National Park Service spokesman Brian Feeney. (Newsday)

Trade Center Design Gets Down to the Finest Detail - Nov 8, 2003
After months of dealing in broad concepts, the planners of the new World Trade Center are devising guidelines that will prescribe the actual forms of the buildings — in inches and feet, metal and stone. A recent draft of the guidelines by Studio Daniel Libeskind, the master planners of the site, dictated the shape and size of every office tower so precisely that other architects would have had little leeway to pursue significantly different designs of their own. (New York Times)

Firehouse Near Ground Zero Reopens - Nov 6, 2003
The firehouse across from the World Trade Center site re-opened November 5 after being closed for two years. The Liberty St. firehouse, dubbed "Ten House," was badly damaged on 9/11 when flooded by mounds of concrete, dust and dirt from the collapsed towers. Five firefighters from the station died in the attacks. A $3.5 million repair project fixed the building and allowed some 50 firefighters to return home yesterday. Stainless steel has replaced the damaged brick. Inside the new stainless-steel kitchen is a red stove, with "The Ten House" painted across it in gold. "We'll never forget about any of our people, that's not even in the equation," said Fire Chief Gene Kelty. "I want the house to be an open door. If kids want to come in again - we want the schools to come over. We want the tourists to stop by and say hello." (New York Daily News)

Libeskind's Design Guidelines Are Too Strict, Say Development Officials - Nov 5, 2003
Development officials are working to ease master planner Daniel Libeskind's design guidelines for Ground Zero office towers, fearing they are too restrictive and could drive top architects away from the project. One source told the New York Post that the guidelines are being revised "in the direction of [greater] flexibility." "There's very little room left under those guidelines for anybody to exercise their originality and talent. They're proscriptive," said architect Peter Eisenman, who reviewed a draft of Libeskind's guidelines obtained by The Post. (New York Post)

Toxin Levels in Lower Manhattan to be Retested - Nov 5, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residences will be retested for World Trade Center toxins as part of an agreement reached by Senator Hillary Clinton and government officials. But details of the plan remained foggy last week, even as the Environmental Protection Agency reported elevated levels of lead in 13.5 percent of the wipe samples the agency tested for metals and other toxins before cleaning the apartments in response to 9/11. The lead results were released at an Oct. 28 Congressional hearing on the health effects of the W.T.C. disaster held at Mount Sinai medical center and attended by U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler. (Downtown Express)

Costs For Downtown Parks' 9/11 Renovations Go Up - Oct 30, 2003
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the estimated costs to renovate or build 13 Downtown parks have gone up, but he doesn’t think the $25-million project will have to be scaled back as a result. The $25 million was announced at the end of May and comes out of federal money being administered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency set up by Gov. George Pataki to help Downtown recover from the 2001 terrorist attack. (Downtown Express)

Ground Zero Catfight: Big Architects In Twin Snits - Oct 29, 2003
After months of working on their own tower designs, then clashing over which design was feasible, which had public support, and even who was being cooperative and who was being uncooperative, WTC architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs were told they had no choice but to work together. (New York Observer)

Difficulties Emerging in Rebuilding: An Interactive Map - Oct 30, 2003
Newsday's interactive map shows the problems and difficulties with the current WTC plan. (Newsday)

Trial Date Set For Silverstein's WTC Dispute - Oct 30, 2003
A tentative trial date in the multibillion dollar dispute between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his insurance companies was set for February yesterday. (Newsday)

Mayor's Office Seeks More Retail Space at Ground Zero - Oct 29, 2003
After many months of playing a backstage role in planning the new World Trade Center, the Bloomberg administration stepped forward yesterday and declared that the master plan would have to include far more streetfront retail space and one more full-fledged street than it now calls for. (New York Times)

WTC Architects Bury Hatchet - Oct 29, 2003
The two feuding architects charged with designing the first new building at the World Trade Center site met yesterday and agreed to put aside their differences in order to come up with a final plan for the tower, a source said yesterday. (Newsday)

Changes to Libeskind's Freedom Tower - Oct 28, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's striking vision for a "Freedom Tower" at Ground Zero has morphed into a more conventional glass-and-steel office building attached to an angular spire, as shown by one of the architect's new drawings obtained by The Post. Libeskind has been pushing this revised version of his tower design in a fight with trade center developer Larry Silverstein and his architect David Childs, who is the lead architect for the site's signature building. (New York Post)

Anger Over Eviction of Lower Manhattan Middle Eastern Restaurant - Oct 27, 2003
A wealthy church is evicting a popular Middle East restaurant from a lower Manhattan building it owns in what angry diners claim is a plot to get more money from the MTA -- which is planning to buy the property to demolish it. The building housing the Alfanoose restaurant, at 150 Fulton St., will be torn down by the end of 2004 to make way for a new transportation hub, a centerpiece of lower Manhattan's post-9/11 renewal. (New York Post)

9/11 Commission Threatens To Subpoena White House Files - Oct 27, 2003
The federal commission investigating intelligence and security lapses before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is threatening to subpoena White House records if they are not handed over voluntarily. (NY1)

Santiago Calatrava's Work: A Clue to What's to Come at Ground Zero - Oct 26, 2003
Last summer, Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design a $2 billion transportation hub at the World Trade Center site. For the moment, Calatrava is speaking about the project only in general terms, under the watchful eye of his client, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. But clearly he has grand ambitions for the station. "It has to feel as important as Grand Central, or the old Penn Station," he says. (New York Times)

Architects Agree to Meet to Work Out Tower Design - Oct 25, 2003
Trying to resolve their differences over the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, the tower's architect and Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, agreed yesterday to work together on a design that would more closely follow the Libeskind plan. (New York Times)

Pataki Backs Libeskind in Tower Debate - Oct 24, 2003
Gov. Pataki yesterday backed Daniel Libeskind's vision for a Ground Zero Freedom Tower - weighing in on a dispute over the structure's design that threatens to stall the progress of lower Manhattan's recovery from 9/11. "I think it's very important that the vision that was enunciated for the master site plan be ultimately what is constructed at Ground Zero," Pataki said, when asked about the fight between Libeskind and David Childs, the tower's lead architect. (New York Post)

Port Authority Stays Out of Architects' Struggle - Oct 24, 2003
The Port Authority will not help resolve a clash between a pair of architects designing the signature skyscraper at Ground Zero, Executive Director Joseph Seymour said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Libeskind Storms Out Of WTC Meeting - Oct 23, 2003
Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind stormed out of a meeting about the design of the site's Freedom Tower, threatening to break up his collaboration with the project's lead architect, David Childs. (New York Post)

Test Runs of PATH Train Stop at WTC - Oct 23, 2003
A PATH train, carrying only a conductor and an engineer, zipped under the Hudson River and eased into a bare-bones station at Ground Zero yesterday. The commuter train came to a stop at 1:42 p.m. - weeks ahead of schedule. There was no fanfare. No political speeches. But the moment foreshadowed a significant triumph in the long, hard recovery of lower Manhattan. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Gets Another Week To Resolve Dispute - Oct 22, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has another week to resolve a dispute with GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., which lent him $563 million to lease the Twin Towers site. Tuesday, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn extended the negotiation period, a month after giving Silverstein and the Port Authority, which owns the trade center site, until Tuesday to settle with GMAC. (Newsday)

An Architect's Grand Vision for a Trade Center Transit Hub - Oct 22, 2003
In hiring Santiago Calatrava to design the new transit hub at the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey thought large. And in his first public words about the project, Mr. Calatrava made it clear that he, too, would think large - on the scale of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Old Pennsylvania Station. (New York Times)

As Firehouse 10 Reopens, Facing Ground Zero Again - Oct 17, 2003
Everyone in the Fire Department lost incalculably on Sept. 11, 2001. The men of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 lost one thing more: their home. A department spokesman, Jim Long, said yesterday that no date had been set for the reopening of the three-story firehouse at 124 Liberty Street. This week, workers from the department's building division were putting finishing touches on the house. They set up the long dining table on the first floor and assembled bunks in the second-floor dormitory, which has - at least for now - a broad view of ground zero. (New York Times)

Whitehead Says Liberty Bonds Won’t be Wasted Downtown - Oct 15, 2003
The chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said last week that he thinks tax-free Liberty Bonds will be needed to build the proposed offices at the World Trade Center site and there are not enough bonds to cover all of the office demand in Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express)

Winter Garden Visitors Confused Over Plans - Oct 15, 2003
Although tourists continue to view the World Trade Center site from the Winter Garden’s expansive second-floor picture windows, many do not know that the memorial has not been selected yet, thinking it was already part of the selected site plan of Daniel Libeskind. (Downtown Express)

Critics: World Trade Center Plan Is Just Too Dense - Oct 13, 2003
If the World Trade Center master plan were subject to New York City zoning rules, critics say, the bulk of the site with its four towers on three square blocks would far exceed allowable density limits. (Newsday)

Handyman Leaves $1.4M To City - Oct 11, 2003
Come spring, plans for new ball fields will be under way and thousands more daffodils will bloom in city parks and street medians, thanks to a Minnesota handyman who left $1.4 million in life savings to the city after the Sept. ll, 2001, terrorist attacks. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said Friday that nearly $1 million of the bequest from the late Joseph Temeczko of Minneapolis, a Polish immigrant who was in his 80s and died two years ago this month, is earmarked for ballfields. (Newsday)

WTC Tower Will Now Top 2,000 Feet - Oct 10, 2003
Ground Zero's signature Freedom Tower will soar above 2,000 feet - well beyond the previously announced height of 1,776 feet - under a revised design being worked on by architect Daniel Libeskind, a rebuilding official said yesterday. (New York Post)

Grasso's Place on LMDC Board Questioned - Oct 10, 2003
Richard Grasso was ousted last month as the head of the New York Stock Exchange, and now his place on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board is in question. (Newsday)

Fire Commissioner Calls for Special Recognition in Memorial - Oct 9, 2003
Before a somber audience, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta repeated his call yesterday for special recognition for firefighters at the planned Ground Zero memorial. Scoppetta spoke in front of a sea of blue uniformed firefighters gathered for the annual memorial service at the Firemen's Monument on Riverside Drive at W. 100th St. (New York Daily News)

What's In a Name? For the WTC, a Lot. - Oct 8, 2003
There are 93 World Trade Centers worldwide. So what bearing, if any, does this fact have on establishing the name of the trade center currently under development in downtown Manhattan? This was one of the questions raised at "Starting at Zero: Reinventing the Identity of the World Trade Center Site," a panel discussion held Sept. 24 at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. The purpose of the event, which was sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York Chapter, was to reflect on the issues around the moniker of the sixteen-acre Ground Zero site; consider how the site's identity can be rebuilt; and most of all, think about how a name had the power to reflect our views of the city. (Metropolis )

WTC Legal Battle Costs Larry Silverstein $100 Million - Oct 7, 2003
Larry Silverstein has spent close to $100 million so far on the mammoth legal battle with his Twin Towers insurers - and has told officials he needs another $80 million a year to pay for lawyers and other expenses, according to court papers and other sources (New York Post)

Celebrated Architects Join WTC Team - Oct 2, 2003
"Ground Zero is set to become a Hall of Fame for the all-stars of contemporary architecture now that developer Larry Silverstein has named three of the world’s most celebrated architects to design massive towers to line the perimeter of the site. London-based Lord Norman Foster, of Foster and Partners; Tokyo-based Fumihiko Maki, of Maki and Associates; and Jean Nouvel, of Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris will design towers ringing the memorial site planned for the southwest corner of the new World Trade Center, if Mr. Silverstein has his way," writes Tom McGeveran in the Observer. (New York Observer)

'World-Class' Architects Picked for WTC Buildings - Oct 1, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein named a trio of renowned architects yesterday - including Lord Norman Foster, who tried for the main Twin Towers site design - to create designs for the five office buildings at Ground Zero. British architect Foster, Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and French architect Jean Nouvel will work with Silverstein architect David Childs. (Newsday)

Retail Returns to Liberty Street - Oct 1, 2003
Just south of ground zero, Liberty St. is getting ready for its closeup. Workers hang signs and dust countertops as merchants prepare to return for the first time in more than two years to storefronts facing the former World Trade Center site. It is a bittersweet homecoming for some. (Downtown Express)

WTC Worker Cleared in Clash With Police - Sep 30, 2003
A city supervisor at Ground Zero was cleared yesterday of criminal charges for trying to stop Port Authority cops from arresting a cleanup worker at the site. Three dozen supporters erupted in applause after a Manhattan jury acquitted Michael Kenny, 41, of resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and harassment in connection with the April 2002 incident. (New York Daily News)

Kerik: WTC site is sacred - Sep 29, 2003
No office building should rise on the footprints of the destroyed World Trade Center towers, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said yesterday. "Would we build on Gettysburg? Would we build on a cemetery?" asked Kerik, who headed the NYPD during the terror attacks and recently returned from a four-month stint helping rebuild Iraq's police force. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Marketing Space in 7 World Trade - Sep 29, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein is actively marketing 1.7 million square feet of office space in the new 7 World Trade Center, Crain's New York Business reports this week. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg to Approve Using 9/11 Bonds for Midtown Tower - Sep 29, 2003
The Bloomberg administration is expected tomorrow to approve a controversial plan to finance a new midtown office tower with tax-exempt bonds created to help lower Manhattan. The plan by the Durst Organization and the Bank of America to build the new tower at One Bryant Park with $650 million in so-called Liberty Bonds has drawn the ire of some downtown business leaders and government watchdogs. (New York Daily News)

Time Granted in Dispute Over Insurance for 9/11 Site - Sep 26, 2003
The developer Larry A. Silverstein, who controls the commercial leases at the World Trade Center site, and the Port Authority have one month to settle their dispute with a lender over insurance proceeds needed to rebuild the complex. (New York Times)

Bus Plan Could Reopen WTC Wounds - Sep 25, 2003
The proposed revisions to the World Trade Center rebuilding plan don’t provide enough parking space for tour buses and could reopen the emotional fight over the merits of preserving the footprints of the Twin Towers down to the site’s bedrock, according to a director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. “It’s not enough,” Madelyn Wils, the director, said about the proposed number of buses to be built underground across the street from the W.T.C. site. “It’s not even close.” (Downtown Express)

Mayor, Governor Back 9/11 Funds for Midtown - Sep 25, 2003
Mayor Mike Bloomberg said last week it is “perfectly appropriate” to use money intended to help New York recover from the attack on the World Trade Center to construct offices in Midtown. Gov. George Pataki pledged to help the mayor achieve his goals. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein's Legal Battles Continue - Sep 25, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has accused his bankers of trying to "choke off" his cash flow, run him out of business and derail the rebuilding of lower Manhattan in an escalating legal battle that will be aired in court today. (New York Post)

Court Hears of Tussle at Ground Zero - Sep 23, 2003
A city Ground Zero supervisor was portrayed variously yesterday as a hothead and a hero to a Manhattan jury weighing charges that he resisted arrest. Michael Kenny, a construction project manager at the World Trade Center site, was arrested April 13, 2002, after he tried to stop Port Authority cops from arresting one of his workers. The worker, Clint Collins, angered cops when he tried to stop them from entering the site without protective gear, lawyers for Collins and Kenny contend (New York Daily News)

Design Team for Trade Center Reveals a Revised Master Plan - Sep 18, 2003
Rebuilding officials released a revised and expanded master plan for the World Trade Center site yesterday that includes a taller, slimmer set of office towers surrounding the central memorial area and a large new park immediately to the south. (New York Times)

Name "World Trade Center" May Endure Downtown - Sep 18, 2003
A series of decisions points to "World Trade Center" as the formal, future name of that acreage downtown, Daniel Libeskind designs and all. (New York Times)

Revised WTC Plans on Shaky Ground - Sep 18, 2003
The fine-tuned plan for Ground Zero cleans up space around the proposed memorial and features thinner office towers - but the proposal hinges on a hotly disputed bid to add land to the site. (New York Daily News)

Officials to Release New Master WTC Plan - Sep 17, 2003
Officials involved in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site are expected to release a new master plan for the area today. The master plan will essentially set out the most detailed map yet for the many elements of the Daniel Libeskind plan, which was approved last year. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials insisted yesterday that Libeskind's plan has not been altered. (Newsday)

Retail Operator at Trade Center Is Pulling Out of the Deal - Sep 16, 2003
Westfield America, the mall operator that owns the lease for retail space at the World Trade Center, said yesterday that it was negotiating a cash settlement to pull out of its deal on the downtown complex. While the move could clear the way for significant design changes sought by rebuilding officials, it raises questions about how much money will be available for the downtown project if there are other buyouts. (New York Times)

Soon, PATH Will Ride to Ground Zero - Sep 14, 2003
PATH riders will soon be faced with a grim emotional wrench when trains roll back into the new World Trade Center station at Ground Zero - they'll be deep in "the pit," in the shadow of the famous Bathtub Wall and have a clear view of the footprints of the stricken towers. (New York Post)

Major Alterations and Minor Refinements to Ground Zero Plan - Sep 13, 2003
When the revised master plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center is released this month, it will include scores of changes to Daniel Libeskind's design, both major alterations and minor refinements, many of them never before seen in public. The plan will retain its signature elements, the recessed memorial area, the 1,776-foot spire that will be taller than the original towers, and a grand new transportation terminal. But other features will come into sharper focus, like a giant waterfall that has so far attracted scant attention and shrinking "urban parks" that in reality are little more than streets with flower beds. (New York Times)

Trump Criticizes WTC Plans - Sep 13, 2003
Donald Trump trashed the plans to rebuild Ground Zero yesterday, branding the design plans a "monstrosity of garbled nonsense." (New York Post)

Libeskind Continues to Battle for His Vision for Ground Zero - Sep 10, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's selection process as master planner for Ground Zero had been portrayed, for better or for worse, as a kind of sporting event, and Libeskind was seen to have triumphed in the playoffs and then won the championship. It would have been more accurate to say that he had got past a qualifying round. (New Yorker)

Apartments Rising In Lower Manhattan - Sep 8, 2003
Two years after the World Trade Center collapsed into ashes, lower Manhattan is being reborn. More than 2,000 apartments have been built within a few blocks of Ground Zero since Sept. 11, 2001, and an additional 17 buildings are under construction or in the planning stages - reinventing an area once predominantly filled with offices. (New York Daily News)

Neighborhood Around Ground Zero Is Fastest Growing In City - Sep 7, 2003
The area around Ground Zero has become the city's fastest growing neighborhood, but it's overpopulated and undeserved, residents charge. Following 9/11, vacancy rates in some Lower Manhattan buildings approached as 50 percent. But because of residential grants and bargain hunters flooding the market, the vacancy rate in some Lower Manhattan neighborhoods is now less than one percent - nearly a quarter less than the average for the rest of Manhattan, realtors say. (New York Post)

WTC Families Protest Rebuilding Plans - Sep 4, 2003
Loved ones of Sept. 11 victims who hoped to shut down Ground Zero yesterday were stymied by the Port Authority, which chained the main entrance and rerouted trucks before the protesters showed up. No entrance to block meant no civil disobedience. And no civil disobedience meant the victims' families would not be arrested - as they had hoped. Determined to get out their message about preserving more of Ground Zero, the relatives gathered in front of the locked gate around noon and slammed Gov. Pataki and other officials. (New York Daily News)

A Tour of Progress at Ground Zero - Sep 3, 2003
Newsday's new video tour of building progress at the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Dispute Continues Over WTC Mall - Sep 2, 2003
While planners try to put the finishing touches on a revised Ground Zero blueprint, sources said development officials continue to argue over where to put retail space at the site -- with the city trying to block the return of a large underground shopping mall. (New York Post)

New Downtown Information Center Opens - Sep 2, 2003
Wall Street Rising will open its free Downtown Information Center, a technologically advanced one-stop information resource on Thurs. Sept. 4 in a 1,800-sq.-ft. street-level store at 25 Broad St. at the corner of Exchange Pl. The $2 million center will contain one of the most complete databases available anywhere, listing every downtown restaurant, retail store and apartment building, with an up-dated catalogue of vacant retail space, neighborhood events, points of interest, parks, schools, activities, cultural programs and grant opportunities. (Downtown Express)

The Downtown Culture Derby Begins - Aug 31, 2003
In two years of roiling debates over the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, one of the most durable assumptions has been that space should be set aside for those varied pursuits collectively known as "culture." We are still far from knowing which museums or symphonies or purveyors of public art will find a home there, but early indications suggest that the 670,000 square feet allotted for the arts may be a new front in the battle over ground zero's future. (New York Times)

Questions Loom Over Buying Adjacent Properties to WTC Site - Sep 1, 2003
Significantly expanding the boundaries of the World Trade Center site by buying two adjacent properties could cost between $85 million and $150 million, real-estate experts say - but questions loom over where the money will come from and whether it's worth the expense. Development officials remain strongly committed to buying the two Liberty Street properties, despite a legal battle that has erupted over one of them - the black-shrouded Deutsche Bank building, whose eventual demolition is key to the plans for a larger WTC. (New York Post)

Call for Rebuilt Twin Towers Continues - Aug 31, 2003
In close solidarity with one another, and in opposition to the city's political establishment, business leaders, academics and civic groups, and just about everyone else whose opinion matters, the World Trade Center Restoration Movement demands that the World Trade Center towers be rebuilt. Not replaced by something new and supposedly better. Rebuilt, hewing as closely as possible to the design of the buildings that were lost on Sept. 11. The members of the group may not be the only ones who dare to mention rebuilding the towers, but they are by far the most visible and the least afraid of humiliation. (New York Times)

David Childs: The Invisible Architect - Aug 31, 2003
David M. Childs, who in conversation gives the impression of a gentlemanly, corporate architect, is remaking the face of New York. He is designing the key building at ground zero, the so-called Freedom Tower. But as a partner and the lead designer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the country's largest architectural concerns, Mr. Childs is also responsible for three more of the city's high-profile projects. (New York Times)

Bank Tower Joining in WTC Redevelopment - Aug 28, 2003
The World Trade Center redevelopment site will be expanded south to include a heavily damaged, still-vacant skyscraper, which will be razed and replaced with a new office tower, top rebuilding officials said. Redevelopment officials said they expect to acquire the 40-story Deutsche Bank building, across the street from the trade center, and replace it with a new 1.6-million-square-foot office building. (Associated Press)

92nd St. Y Considers a Ground Zero Site - Aug 27, 2003
The 92nd Street Y, whose concerts, camps, classes and health club have made it a mainstay of the Upper East Side, is developing detailed plans for a possible downtown branch at ground zero. The Y is talking with several other organizations, including the New York City Opera, the Joyce Theater, the Tribeca Film Festival and Hunter College about sharing space in the performing arts center designated for the World Trade Center site or in other locations nearby. (New York Times)

Silverstein to Hire Architects for 4 Trade Center Buildings - Aug 27, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein plans to select architects of "international stature" -- possibly by next month -- to design each of four proposed buildings at Ground Zero, said David Childs, chief architect for the site's 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. The decision may require changes to the designs of Daniel Libeskind, whose master plan was selected in February by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., Childs said. (Bloomberg.com)

Tribute in Light May Rise From Ground Zero - Aug 27, 2003
The beams of light symbolizing the fallen twin towers may rise from Ground Zero, instead of a nearby lot, during next month's anniversary commemorations, sources said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Insurers Say Bank's Suit Tries to Capitalize on 9/11 - Aug 26, 2003
This time it was the insurance companies' turn, and they did not hold back, declaring that Deutsche Bank was cynically seeking to exploit the Sept. 11 attack to tar their image and force insurers to pay more than $1 billion for the damage to the bank's former United States headquarters near ground zero. The increasingly bitter tenor of the dispute between Deutsche Bank and the insurers Allianz and AXA does not bode well for a speedy resolution to the conflict over exactly how badly damaged the bank building was when the World Trade Center towers collapsed. (New York Times)

Report: White House Pressured EPA to Call 9/11 Air 'Safe' - Aug 23, 2003
The White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to sanitize its immediate assurances about Ground Zero - leading to premature statements that the air was safe to breathe, a federal watchdog said. "When EPA made a Sept. 18 [2001] announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, the agency did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement," a report by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley charged this week. (New York Daily News)

Tower Will Be Located As Libeskind Planned - Aug 15, 2003
A leading downtown rebuilding official said yesterday a proposal to shift the location of the 1,776- foot-tall Freedom Tower at Ground Zero has been shelved. "It will stay where the [Daniel] Libeskind plan had it," said John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Post)

Bank Sues to Force Insurers to Declare Tower 9/11 Loss - Aug 12, 2003
Deutsche Bank filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to force two insurance companies to declare its office building across from the World Trade Center site a complete loss, in a dispute that threatens to complicate the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan. The bank-owned skyscraper, at 130 Liberty Street, at the south end of ground zero, stands on a parcel of land that developers, designers and public officials have for weeks assumed would be available for use in the redevelopment project. But the bank's decision to file suit signals renewed uncertainty over the fate of the building. (New York Times)

Daniel Libeskind Wants to Ensure His Lofty Design Goes Up, and Down, According to Plan - Aug 11, 2003
Five months after he won the competition to design Ground Zero, as Daniel Libeskind and redevelopment officials attempt to reconcile his symbolism-laden design with a host of construction, financial and political realities, he admits that his plan still remains vulnerable within the complex but delicate process that is reshaping Ground Zero's tortured spaces. The cherubic-looking architect faces the site's developer, Larry Silverstein - he of deep pockets. And Libeskind faces the feds, the state, the city - which of course means tricky politics. Not to mention the armies of engineers, architects, urban planners, environmentalists, downtown residents, families of the dead, even the memory of the dead. (Washington Post)

Fight to Raze Building May Delay WTC Plan - Aug 11, 2003
he battle over a shrouded office tower at the edge of Ground Zero will spill into court today as Deutsche Bank moves to sue two insurers blocking the building's demolition. The legal showdown threatens to stall rebuilding at Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

George Tamaro's Sunken Wall Held Back the Waters at Ground Zero - Aug 11, 2003
Deep in the pit that is Ground Zero, George Tamaro climbs atop a concrete knoll. He's trying to get a closer look at an engineering wonder -- the giant concrete slurry wall his team built some 30 years ago. He made his professional name with this wall. In fact, you could call it Tamaro's wall, except that the 66-year-old structural engineer with the squat frame and wide smile is a practical man, not given to pretense. He cringes at the very suggestion that he could claim this wall as a personal masterpiece. (Washington Post)

Silverstein Negotiating Lease on Trade Center Mall - Aug 8, 2003
Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein wants control over the whole rebuilt site - including the mall. Silverstein, who holds a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center site's once-and-future office towers, has begun negotiations with Westfield America to buy out the rights to operate the retail portion of the planned complex, sources said yesterday. Officials at Westfield, which ran the below-street-level concourse before the Sept. 11 attacks, don't like the plan for rebuilding the shopping mall - with hundreds of square feet of space stacked above ground. Although the company has denied wanting a lease buyout, sources said Westfield has approached several potential buyers - including City Hall. (New York Daily News)

Financial Battles May Slow Rebuilding Schedule - Aug 7, 2003
Gov. Pataki's push to lay the cornerstone for Ground Zero rebuilding by next August may be a bust because of a nasty money fight, the Daily News has learned. A financial battle between the Port Authority, developer Larry Silverstein and his mortgage company is jeopardizing the schedule - which would see construction of the world's tallest tower begin around the 2004 GOP National Convention. (New York Daily News)

Downtowners Brainstorm at L.M.D.C. Workshops - Jul 31, 2003
With about $1.3 billion of federal money left to spend, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has begun a series of invitation-only neighborhood workshops to get feedback on how best to use the money. The first two of six brainstorming sessions were held in the Financial District and Battery Park City last week (Downtown Express)

Families Considering Protest on 9/11 - Aug 2, 2003
Some relatives of World Trade Center victims are calling for a protest during the ceremony marking the two-year anniversary of the terror attack. The Coalition of 9/11 Families is asking "families, survivors, rescue workers and our fellow Americans" to wear yellow and gather together during the commemoration to oppose part of the rebuilding plans for the site. (New York Daily News)

Spanish Architect To Design WTC Transit Station - Aug 1, 2003
Celebrated Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava - praised worldwide for his sweeping sculptural creations - was tapped yesterday to design the $2 billion transit station at Ground Zero. Calatrava has joined forces with two city design and engineering firms to create the station, which downtown officials have said will be akin to Grand Central Terminal. (New York Daily News)

Trade Center Arguments Fade, and a Single Vision Is Emerging - Aug 1, 2003
After months of arguing over Daniel Libeskind's winning design for the World Trade Center site, officials overseeing the rebuilding said yesterday that they had resolved most of their differences, and many agreed that the Libeskind plan was now likely to be built in substantially recognizable form. Recent developments appeared to reflect a growing consensus on how the colossal project should take shape.Yesterday, for example, in announcing that a renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, had been selected to design the site's new transportation terminal, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre trade center site, essentially ruled out the idea of building an office tower atop the terminal. (New York Times)

City Hall Weighs In On WTC Plans - Aug 1, 2003
Mayor Bloomberg opposes any attempt to change the proposed site of the world's tallest building from the northwest corner of Ground Zero. In a strongly worded letter to the Port Authority yesterday, the administration also said it opposes putting 10 million square feet of office space at the site, as now planned. City Hall's positions clash with the wishes of developer Larry Silverstein, who is expected to use World Trade Center insurance money to pay for much of the rebuilding. (New York Daily News)

Cut in Space at Ground Zero May Bar Home for City Opera - Jul 31, 2003
The floor space available for a performing arts center for ground zero has been reduced by about 20 percent, say officials involved in drawing up the plans, making it harder to build an opera house there. It was this reduction of the available floor space, or footprint, to between 35,000 and 37,000 square feet from some 45,000 square feet in the original Daniel Libeskind plan that led the corporation in charge of the rebuilding effort last week to say there is no room for an opera house at the World Trade Center site. Officials of the New York City Opera, which wants to leave Lincoln Center for downtown, were troubled by the comments; the opera has been talked about as the lead contender for the site's cultural anchor. (New York Times)

Trade Center Is on Track, Downtown Residents Say - Jul 29, 2003
Residents of Lower Manhattan say the effort to rebuild downtown and the World Trade Center is moving in the right direction, and they are generally satisfied with the new design for the World Trade Center site, according to a poll by Pace University released yesterday. But many downtown residents say that some of the power to make decisions about the rebuilding should be in different hands. (New York Times)

Plans for 2 Towers Near TriBeCa Raise Concern - Jul 25, 2003
A 35-story residential building is planned for a long-vacant lot two blocks north of the World Trade Center site, and an even taller apartment tower is being considered for the adjacent parcel, leaving residents of the low-lying 19th-century buildings in nearby TriBeCa concerned about crowding. The 35-story building is being designed by Norman Foster, the British architect who, among other projects, remodeled the Reichstag in Berlin and designed London City Hall. (New York Times)

Politicans Seek Recognition for Rescue Workers on 9/11 Memorial - Jul 24, 2003
Democrats in the City Council sought yesterday to increase pressure on Gov. George Pataki to create a separate memorial for emergency officers who died responding to the World Trade Center attack. A non-binding resolution calls on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to recognize each uniformed rescue worker killed Sept. 11, 2001, with agency, rank, badge number and unit. (Newsday)

9/11 Congressional Report Faults F.B.I.-C.I.A. Lapses - Jul 24, 2003
The Sept. 11 attacks were preventable, but the plot went undetected because of communications lapses between the F.B.I. and C.I.A., which failed to share intelligence related to two hijackers, a Congressional report to be released on Thursday says. The report, by a joint committee of the House and Senate intelligence panels, found that for nearly two years before the attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency knew about the terror connections between the two men, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi, who in 2000 moved to San Diego, frequenting Muslim circles that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had infiltrated. (New York Times)

Public Hearings Held on WTC Plan - Jul 24, 2003
Plans for rebuilding at the World Trade Center site drew an array of concerns yesterday - from worries that too much was going to be packed onto the 16-acre site to questions about the memorial and even some distress that birds might collide with the proposed new skyscrapers. About 200 people from across the city spoke or listened at public hearings yesterday discussing the environmental impact of the proposed World Trade Center memorial and redevelopment plans in back-to-back public hearings. (Newsday)

Affordable Housing in Lower Manhattan Gets $50M Boost - Jul 22, 2003
About $50 million in federal aid will be set aside to add hundreds of new units of affordable housing in lower Manhattan, officials said yesterday. (Newsday)

Planned Tower Is Likely to Stay at Northwestern Corner of Site - Jul 22, 2003
Gov. George Pataki cast doubt yesterday on the possibility that the 1,776-foot tower proposed for the World Trade Center site by Daniel Libeskind will be moved to another location on the property, as has been proposed by Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who will build the tower. In response to a question from a reporter at a news conference in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Pataki said that while rebuilding officials will consider "any alternatives" for the location of the tower, "there's going to have to be a compelling reason" to move the tower or to otherwise disrupt the layout of buildings proposed by Mr. Libeskind. (New York Times)

WTC Family Leader Leaves Coalition - Jul 22, 2003
The outspoken leader of a group of 9/11 families yesterday angrily pulled out of a powerful coalition of victims' relatives - saying its members had unfairly criticized Gov. Pataki over plans to build on the WTC's "footprints." Monica Iken, founder of September's Mission, ripped leaders of the larger Coalition of 9/11 Families for their "name-calling" of Pataki in a Post story Sunday. In the article, Coalition members said Pataki was "duplicitous" because he broke his promise of protecting the site. (New York Post)

Where the WTC stands: Financing clouds original vision - Jul 19, 2003
Three months ago, Gov. Pataki stood before business leaders in lower Manhattan and set an aggressive timetable for rebuilding Ground Zero. He wanted architects to begin designing Daniel Libeskind's 1,776-foot spire by this month. The steel for the tower would be in place by Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the attacks. Pataki acknowledged the goals would be tough to meet. Here's a rundown of where things stand and what major decisions lie ahead: (New York Daily News)

9/11 Kin Rip PATH For 'Tainting' Holy Ground - Jul 20, 2003
A group representing 9/11 victims' families says Gov. Pataki has allowed construction on the footprints of the Twin Towers and wants Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton to sponsor a federal law to prevent further "desecration" of the World Trade Center site. (New York Post)

Libeskinds Get A Raise - Jul 18, 2003
Ground Zero architect Daniel Libeskind and his wife and partner, Nina, just got a hefty raise. Under a contract signed last week to refine his master plan for the World Trade Center site, Libeskind is charging the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. $300 an hour — up $25 from his previous rate. (New York Post)

DA: Man Concocted Dead Son For 9/11 Scam - Jul 18, 2003
An employee of the American Red Cross testified yesterday that the charity gave a Queens man more than $132,000 for living expenses and counseling after his son went missing in the World Trade Center terrorist attack - a son who prosecutors allege never existed. (Newsday)

Compromise to Build On; Developer Gets His Say in Ground Zero Design - Jul 17, 2003
Larry A. Silverstein was not in the room as the two renowned architects, Daniel Libeskind and David M. Childs, worked out an agreement early yesterday morning to collaborate on the design of the 1,776-foot tower that will be the first office building to rise at the World Trade Center site. But Mr. Silverstein, the developer of the site, nevertheless secured the right to put his imprint on the Lower Manhattan skyline when rebuilding officials agreed to appoint Mr. Childs, his handpicked architect, as the lead designer and project manager on the tower. (New York Times)

Architects Will Now Have to Reconcile Clashing Visions - Jul 17, 2003
The two world-class architects who shook hands yesterday over plans to design the world's tallest building at Ground Zero now have to face the hard part - figuring out a way to reconcile their clashing visions for the site's iconic tower. (New York Post)

A Profile of Architect David Childs - Jul 17, 2003
At the height of his career, architect David Childs is a free spirit trapped in a corporate suit, friends say. On the one hand, the man who will design the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero would like to create buildings in his own style. On the other, he can't bring himself to leave Skidmore Owings & Merrill, one of the nation's most powerful architectural firms. (New York Post)

Why Top Architects Skipped 9/11 Memorial Contest - Jul 17, 2003
Many of the people most qualified to design a memorial at ground zero — eminent architects — didn’t even bother to try out for the opportunity to commemorate the September 11 victims. Renowned architects from Frank Gehry, who created the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, to Bernard Tschumi, who designed Paris’ Parc de la Villette and Columbia University’s Alfred Lerner Hall, to Richard Meier, who designed the Getty Center, didn’t submit plans in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s ongoing memorial contest. Architects say they avoided the biggest memorial design contest ever because Daniel Libeskind’s master plan proved constraining to people used to leading creative efforts. (New York Sun)

Officials Reach Agreement on Rebuilding Downtown - Jul 16, 2003
The architect with the winning design for the World Trade Center site and the developer who will rebuild the office space there agreed early this morning to collaborate on the design and construction of the 1,776-foot tower that will anchor the redeveloped site both on the ground and in the Lower Manhattan skyline. The agreement between the architect, Daniel Libeskind, and the developer, Larry A. Silverstein, came during an eight-hour negotiating session that stretched from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. (New York Times)

Libeskind Secures Architect's Licence - Jul 16, 2003
Daniel Libeskind has already secured what has been called "the commission of the century." He has the plans, the contracts to carry them out and the backing of important patrons, from Gov. George E. Pataki on down. And now, Mr. Libeskind has one more thing that could help him make his vision for the World Trade Center site a reality: an architect's license. (New York Times)

Architect and Developer Clash Over Plans for Trade Center Site - Jul 15, 2003
With pressure increasing to begin the rebuilding at ground zero, the architect with the winning design for the World Trade Center site plans to meet today with representatives of the developer to try to resolve clashing visions of what will be built. The meeting between the architect, Daniel Libeskind, and senior aides to the developer, Larry A. Silverstein, is the latest attempt by rebuilding officials to force an agreement over the future of the site and the degree of Mr. Libeskind's influence in the design and placement of the commercial office buildings there. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Officials Consider Cutting Amount of Office Space at Ground Zero - Jul 11, 2003
Development officials are considering slashing the amount of office space to be built at Ground Zero — reopening a potentially rancorous debate over one of the key issues at the World Trade Center site, sources told The Post. The Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. are weighing a 20 percent reduction — placing some 8 million square feet of office space at the trade center site instead of the 10 million square feet destroyed on 9/11. Sources said even some top officials at the PA who had fought against scaling back the office space now realize the site can't hold 10 million square feet. (New York Post)

Former Windows on the World Workers Hope to Open New Restaurant - Jul 9, 2003
Former workers at the World Trade Center establishment Windows on the World hope to open their own restaurant, tentatively titled Windows on TriBeCa, within sight of ground zero. (New York Times)

Bikers On Their Way Upstate In Ground Zero Independence Ride - Jul 5, 2003
Bikers were off to an early start for the "Second Annual Ground Zero Independence Ride." The ride reunites construction workers and union members who worked side by side for 10-months during rescue and recovery operations at the site. (NY1)

WTC Family Members Debate Where To Put Bus Depot - Jul 3, 2003
A memorial at the World Trade Center site is expected to attract millions of visitors from all over the world each year, and the question of where to house tourist buses they'll use to get there has some family members offering alternatives. (NY1)

Suit Over Codes At Site of WTC - Jun 30, 2003
Families of Sept. 11 victims will file a lawsuit today against the Port Authority to obtain greater public scrutiny in the rebuilding of the former World Trade Center site.The suit, which will be filed in Supreme Court in Manhattan by the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, asks the court to declare the Port Authority subject to city building and fire codes. (Newsday)

Developer Wants Architect's Skyscraper Relocated - Jun 29, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein wants to move the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower envisioned for Ground Zero to a different corner of the site, sources told the Daily News. According to architect Daniel Libeskind's plans, the skyscraping spire is supposed to be built at the northwest part of the 16-acre site, near the corner of West and Vesey Sts. (New York Daily News)

Feds Sue Insurers Over 9/11 Damage - Jun 27, 2003
The federal government has filed suit against an insurance company for failing to reimburse it for millions of dollars in losses and damages incurred at a lower Manhattan post office on Sept. 11, 2001. (Newsday)

WTC Designer Strives for Master Builder Status - Jun 26, 2003
There’s a special purgatory reserved for those who would be New York’s master builders. For those who succeed, a measure of immortality is the reward. Those who fail are condemned to the margins of arcane Gotham monographs—the might-have-beens of the city’s developed environment. Daniel and Nina Libeskind are fighting tooth and nail to escape the latter fate. (New York Observer)

Downtown's Population Will Skyrocket - Jun 25, 2003
The Downtown population will skyrocket over the next few years, if development progresses as planned and builders continue to take advantage of government incentives for post-9/11 revitalization. Lower Manhattan was the city’s fastest growing neighborhood in the city before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Dept. of City Planning. While many residents were displaced in the aftermath of the attacks, occupancy has since rebounded, with rates exceeding their pre-9/11 levels in some places. And many more residents are on the way. (Downtown Express)

Housing Going Up Downtown - Jun 24, 2003
Lower Manhattan is undergoing a housing boom that will result in 13,002 new units already built or slated for construction between 2000 and 2005, according to a Community Board 1 study released Monday. The new units represent an increase of more than 75 percent over the 17,000 apartments that existed below Canal Street before 2000. (Associated Press)

At Ground Zero, A Wall Once Unseen, Now Revered - Jun 23, 2003
The wall at Ground Zero was once the invisible 3,300-foot-long perimeter of the World Trade Center. But now it has became a star in the epic story in the reconstruction effort at ground zero. If Daniel Libeskind's architectural blueprint for ground zero is heeded, the wall could become an icon of American patriotism. But only if it remains standing. (New York Times)

Battered Deutsche Bank Building to be Demolished - Jun 20, 2003
The battered and disfigured Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan, among the last remaining buildings damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack whose fate has not been decided, has been deemed beyond repair and is expected to be taken down beginning next month, according to people involved in negotiations on its future. (New York Times)

Libeskind to Control Design of Trade Center's Terminal - Jun 19, 2003
he architect Daniel Libeskind will set the design guidelines for the new transportation terminal at the World Trade Center site, according to an agreement reached with rebuilding officials yesterday, partly settling an ongoing dispute over Mr. Libeskind's formal role in the rebuilding effort. With the agreement, Mr. Libeskind is now assured that his signature motif will mark two of the three main elements of the new complex to rise at the site. Earlier, he secured the right to design the setting for the memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 attack and the cultural buildings that will partially frame the memorial and separate it from the commercial office buildings to be built on the site. (New York Times)

Independent Terrorism Commission Makes First Document Request - Jun 19, 2003
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks has made sweeping requests for documents from the Bush administration and White House that go beyond the information provided during Congress' review, officials disclosed Wednesday. (Associated Press)

Libeskind's WTC Plan May Take More Hits - Jun 17, 2003
Architect Daniel Libeskind's plan to redevelop the World Trade Center site could take its heaviest hits yet, with the launch of a $2 million environmental review likely to collect criticism from all sides. (Newsday)

Hospital Opens Counseling Center Overlooking Ground Zero - Jun 17, 2003
Behind windows overlooking the World Trade Center site, a quiet office decorated in serene colors offers free therapy for those with lingering Sept. 11 trauma, including acupuncture for stress and a Chihuahua for comfort. (Newsday)

Advocates Press for Affordable Housing Downtown - Jun 18, 2003
In a desire to revitalize lower Manhattan as quickly as possible, federal grants and tax-free bonds are being awarded for rebuilding projects. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was given $2 billion in grants for various revitalization projects, and has spent $700,000 million so far. Housing advocates say they would like to see part of the remaining $1.3 billion spent on housing for low or moderate income people. (Downtown Express)

WTC Architect Libeskind Demanding More Control - Jun 17, 2003
Ground Zero planner Daniel Libeskind is demanding greater control over key projects at the World Trade Center site - angering downtown officials and complicating negotiations over his role in the rebuilding, sources told The Post. In what one source criticized as "overreaching," Libeskind has insisted - in sometimes heated talks - that he be the lead designer on signature elements like the PATH station and the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower - even though he has no experience building office towers or major transportation projects, sources said. (New York Post)

Environmental Review Ahead for LMDC - Jun 13, 2003
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's project plan for the World Trade Center site is about to go through a rigorous environmental review process, and by law, the public gets its say. The agency is also facing pressure from government officials and advocacy groups to distribute the remaining $1.3 billion allocated by Congress for downtown's redevelopment. (Newsday)

Supporters Object to Efforts to Alter Ground Zero Plan - Jun 12, 2003
A coalition of civic and planning organizations said yesterday that Daniel Libeskind's plan for the World Trade Center site is in danger of being undermined by business and community groups that have proposed changes to it and by the companies that hold leases to the site. Officials of the group, the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, said Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who controls the office space at the site, and others were pressuring rebuilding officials to accept changes to the Libeskind plan. (New York Times)

Q&A With Daniel Libeskind - Jun 12, 2003
A transcript of an interview with architect Daniel Libeskind on Wednesday about the Civic Alliance's concerns: (Newsday)

Mayor and Governor At Odds Over WTC Funds - Jun 12, 2003
Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg are at odds over how to divvy up more than $1 billion in rebuilding money for lower Manhattan, and are squaring off over the last major chunk of redevelopment cash, sources said. At stake is the remaining federal funding for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which was given $2 billion early last year to spend largely as it pleased - and still has $1.3 billion left. (New York Post)

Silverstein Coy on Final WTC Result - Jun 11, 2003
Although Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have repeatedly endorsed architect Daniel Libeskind's vision for the World Trade Center site since February, leaseholder Larry Silverstein still won't say if the final result will look like it. "It's difficult at this juncture to say," said Silverstein, speaking at yesterday's BuildingsNY Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. (Newsday)

Park Row Law Proposed - Jun 11, 2003
City Councilmember Alan Gerson this week introduced what he called “Park Row” legislation that would establish review procedures and make it more difficult throughout the city to close streets for 45 days or more. The proposed legislation is in response to the police closing Park Row between City Hall and Worth St. since Sept. 11, 2001, a measure that residents of Chinatown and nearby neighborhoods say has cut them off from emergency services, choked their streets with traffic and filled the neighborhood with noise and noxious exhaust fumes. (Downtown Express)

Green Market Reopens Near WTC - Jun 6, 2003
The popular World Trade Center green market sprang back to life yesterday, with a new version opening diagonally across from Ground Zero. Gov. Pataki and officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. announced the development with great fanfare at a news conference in front of the fruit and vegetable stands. (New York Daily News)

Leaseholder Sees Limited Role for Libeskind at Trade Center - May 30, 2003
Larry A. Silverstein, the leaseholder of the World Trade Center site, said yesterday that Studio Daniel Libeskind would inspire but not actually design the office buildings he is planning there, including Freedom Tower, the 1,776-foot skyscraper that is expected to be the first to rise. Mr. Silverstein has been talking with other renowned architects, among them Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; Foster & Partners; and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. But he said no decision had been reached and declined to discuss any of his prospective choices. (New York Times)

Libeskind: I Won't Be Pushed Out of WTC Project - May 31, 2003
The architect who designed the plan to rebuild at Ground Zero lobbed a shot yesterday at twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein, saying he's not going to be pushed out of the project. Daniel Libeskind spoke a day after Silverstein said that a different architect will take the lead in designing the 1,776-foot spire at the northeast end of Ground Zero, a signature element of the Libeskind plan. (New York Daily News)

Poll: Residents Don't Like Libeskind Plan - May 28, 2003
More than half the people living near Ground Zero don't like the plan for a sunken memorial area at the World Trade Center site, a poll released yesterday shows. Fifty-one percent turned thumbs down on architect Daniel Libeskind's winning design, according to the poll commissioned by a coalition of downtown civic leaders called Downtown Rebuilds. (New York Daily News)

Tower's Leaseholder Is Suing Cantor Fitzgerald for Rent - May 28, 2003
The company that held the lease on 1 World Trade Center before terrorists destroyed the building on Sept. 11, 2001, is suing a former tenant, Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, for more than $1 million in back rent. The leaseholder, 1 World Trade Center L.L.C., a company controlled by the real estate developer Larry A. Silverstein, says in court papers that Cantor Fitzgerald, which occupied floors near the top of 1 World Trade Center, owes $1,027,685.96 in rent from Aug. 1 through Sept. 10, 2001. (Associated Press)

Greening of Lower Manhattan With $25 Million Grant to City - May 28, 2003
A carousel is planned for the Battery Park Bosque. A new park will spring from rutted asphalt at a bustling corner along Canal Street. Synthetic turf or natural grass will spread over concrete in several playgrounds. In all, city officials announced yesterday, at least 13 green or recreational spaces south of Canal Street will get a makeover or be created under a $25 million grant to the city from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

A Roundup of WTC Rebuilding Developments - May 25, 2003
A year after workers finished the cleanup at the World Trade Center site, the rebuilding of Ground Zero has picked up an architect, official support from political leaders, much momentum as well as some delays in insurance payouts — and hopes that some office buildings along the perimeter may reopen. (Newsday)

Space Questions About W.T.C. - May 22, 2003
Daniel Libeskind’s design for the World Trade Center site has been praised for creating a large public square at the Wedge of Light, but the proposed plaza will be much smaller than it appears on some diagrams once you allow for vehicles to run through the plaza at Fulton St., according to some. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein Angling for 5th Tower on Site - May 20, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein is pushing to overhaul the official vision of Ground Zero so another office tower can be squeezed onto the site, sources said yesterday. Silverstein's back-room campaign began more than a week ago and ran into immediate opposition from some rebuilding officials, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Official Puts Cost of Rebuilding Ground Zero at $10 Billion - May 16, 2003
Rebuilding the World Trade Center site will cost roughly $10 billion, with two-thirds of that paying for the office, cultural and transportation buildings envisioned in the architect Daniel Libeskind's design, a top rebuilding official said yesterday. The rest of the money will be for architectural and engineering fees, insurance, administration costs and legal fees and other costs, according to the official, Andrew Winters. (New York Times)

Mall Developers Sue Port Authority - May 16, 2003
The Port Authority was hauled into court yesterday for allegedly refusing to turn over information about the new Ground Zero design and a possible land swap with the city. Westfield America, which leased the shopping mall at the World Trade Center six weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, suggested in documents filed in Manhattan Supreme Court that it has been kept in the dark about decisions related to the 16-acre site. (New York Daily News)

Apartments Are Going Up on Wall Street - May 14, 2003
A developer is buying two office buildings in the financial district for more than $100 million. Until recently, the buildings were part of a site where a new trading complex for the New York Stock Exchange and a 50-story skyscraper had been planned. Instead of a tall tower, the developer plans to convert the buildings into as many as 500 apartments, with retail stores and some office space. The purchase is the latest example of the residential building boom downtown, where developers are planning the creation of more than 5,000 apartments over the next three years. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has promoted the trend as a way to revive Lower Manhattan, which has suffered corporate relocations and layoffs since Sept. 11. (New York Times)

A Profile of Ground Zero Landscape Architect - May 14, 2003
George Hargreaves, the landscape architect who worked on architect Daniel Libeskind's design for Ground Zero, is talking up nature to New Yorkers. (Newsday)

Poll: New Yorkers Don't Want Tallest Building - May 9, 2003
Nervous New Yorkers don't want the tallest building in the world built at Ground Zero. Fifty-seven percent of New York City voters think it's a "bad idea," while 52 percent think shorter buildings would reduce the site as a target for further terrorist attacks, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. (Newsday)

Wedge of Light Will Have Shadows Every 9/11 - May 8, 2003
There will be shadows covering much of Daniel Libeskind’s proposed “Wedge of Light” plaza every Sept. 11, which appears to contradict the architect’s previous claim about his design for the World Trade Center site. (Downtown Express)

New Legal Tangle for 7 World Trade - May 8, 2003
The future of Ground Zero became mired in deeper legal troubles yesterday, as trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein went to court to force an insurance company to pay up on the destroyed No. 7 World Trade Center. The litigation around the building, which Silverstein once declared would be the first to rise again at Ground Zero, also raises questions about Gov. Pataki's plan to have Silverstein break ground next summer on the world's tallest building. (New York Post)

Officials Close to a Deal for WTC TV Antenna - May 3, 2003
Officials are close to a deal with a broadcast group to put a new TV tower at Ground Zero, sources said yesterday. The sources said the city and state are hammering out a tower deal to keep the broadcast group, the Metropolitan Television Alliance, in the city. The new tower is to replace the one that stood atop the Trade Center's north tower. If it's put at Ground Zero, it will be a part of the 1,776-foot spire proposed in architect Daniel Libeskind's site plan. (New York Daily News)

Spotlight Is on Wedge of Light, Symbol or Not - May 2, 2003
Few people who have heard Daniel Libeskind describe his ideas to rebuild the World Trade Center would dispute that his plan is largely about symbolism -- his description of his arrival as an immigrant in New York Harbor, the design of a spiral of buildings to frame ground zero and mimic the upward spiral of the Statue of Liberty, and most apparently, the 1,776-foot tower. It perhaps is not surprising, therefore, that a number of fellow architects said they never thought Libeskind was being anything but symbolic with his description of the Wedge of Light in his design as a plaza where "the sun will shine without shadow" each Sept. 11 morning. (New York Times)

Libeskind Defends His Design - May 2, 2003
Facing charges that his "Wedge of Light" plaza will be cast in shadows, World Trade Center architect Daniel Libeskind defended the feasability of his proposal as workable, calling his latest critic "one of the sore losers." (Newsday)

Shadows to Fall, Literally, Over 9/11 'Wedge of Light' - May 1, 2003
When the architect Daniel Libeskind described his design for ground zero to New Yorkers late last year, he said one prominent feature would be an open plaza upon which "the sun will shine without shadow" each year on the morning of Sept. 11. But yesterday, under fire from a critic, Mr. Libeskind said that shadows would extend across the plaza — which he had called the Wedge of Light — for much of the time that he had said it would be illuminated as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

The Out-of-Towner Who's Reshaping Downtown - May 1, 2003
Lost amid all the talk about Daniel Libeskind's vision for the World Trade Center site has been the important role played by the head of the City Planning Commission. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission. That would be Gary A. Hack, who is also dean of the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Hack, 61, is the urban planning consultant on Mr. Libeskind's team. (New York Times)

Chinatown Businesses Battle SARS Fears and Rumors - Apr 30, 2003
As rumor played tug-of-war with reality last week in Chinatown, community members voiced concern that an outbreak of the SARS virus—actual or perceived—could bring further economic damage to an area already struggling with fears of the illness. (Downtown Express)

Preserving Fulton Street's Historic Structures - Apr 28, 2003
Considering its chaotic buildings, anarchic signs and gritty facades, Fulton Street is an unlikely candidate for architectural sanctity, let alone salvation. It is, however, dense with historic structures, and its westerly verge is destined to be the home of a new Fulton Street Transit Center on Broadway. Students of the city's past see the street, and its environs, as a cornucopia of neglected architectural treasures, even though anyone who walks it will be confronted by a hodgepodge of building facades, some of which are undeniably shabby. Nevertheless, a consortium of leading preservation groups is concerned that new development could result in the obliteration of many non-landmark structures. (New York Times)

Pataki Sketches a Timetable for Rebuilding of Ground Zero - Apr 25, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki, promising "a renewed sense of urgency" in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, laid out a plan yesterday to complete substantial portions of the work at the World Trade Center site by the fifth anniversary of the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. By that time, Mr. Pataki said, the permanent PATH commuter station at the site and the new Fulton Transit Center two blocks to the east will open, the substructure for the memorial to the victims of the attack will be completed, allowing construction of the memorial to proceed, and the erection of steel for the 1,776-foot tower, a signature piece of Daniel Libeskind's design for the site, will be finished. (New York Times)

State Bill Would Prohibit Peddlers At Ground Zero - Apr 24, 2003
Backed by Mayor Bloomberg, state lawmakers are moving to ban peddlers at Ground Zero, The Post has learned. Proposed legislation submitted by the city to state lawmakers for passage seeks to stop all vendors from peddling goods and food at Ground Zero "in recognition of the sanctity of the site." (New York Post)

Report: WTC Collapse Was Two Events - Apr 24, 2003
The twin skyscrapers of the World Trade Center collapsed because their inner cores were weakened by fire, but the south tower's destruction had no direct bearing on the later fall of the north tower, an engineering firm's study says. The analysis, made public on Wednesday, was conducted by Weidlinger Associates, a company hired by trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein. (Associated Press)

Pataki Wants Downtown Rebuilt Fast - Apr 22, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki is expected to tell a group of business and civic leaders this week that the 1,776-foot tower that is a central part of Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site will be one of the first construction projects to get under way there, according to people close to the rebuilding process. In an address on Thursday to the Association for a Better New York, a civic group, Pataki will lay out an aggressive schedule for construction in the first phase of the rebuilding effort, including the tower, a transportation hub joining the PATH commuter rail line and Lower Manhattan subway lines, and the memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the trade center, the people involved said. (New York Times)

Garvin Departing after Clashes With Other Rebuilding Officials - Apr 17, 2003
The director of planning at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, who personally invited Daniel Libeskind to enter the design competition for the World Trade Center site, has resigned, officials said yesterday. Mr. Garvin had clashed sharply with other participants in the rebuilding effort, including officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, and representatives of Gov. George E. Pataki on the development corporation's board and staff. (New York Times)

Libeskind Signals Flexibility in Memorial Process - Apr 16, 2003
Daniel Libeskind now seems willing to allow the kind of changes to his design for the World Trade Center site that he was unwilling to consider a few weeks ago. At a Community Board 1 meeting April 14, Libeskind said designers of the memorial for the victims of the Sept. 11 attack would be free to build pedestrian bridges over the 4.7-acre sunken memorial area he proposes in the design. "One competitor might envision 1,000 bridges," the architect said at the forum. (Downtown Express)

Craftspeople Recreating Art Deco Verizon Building - Apr 14, 2003
Stone carvers and metalworkers are healing the gaping wounds in the Verizon building, at 140 West Street. The building was battered by not one, but three, of its neighbors at ground zero: the north and south towers of the World Trade Center and 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed next door. (New York Times)

Downtown Express: Lower Manhattan Progress Report 2003 - Apr 10, 2003
A collection of articles on rebuilding, by Madelyn Wils, Carl Weisbrod, Tim Carey, Kathryn Wylde, Chris Kui, resident David Stanke, Trinity Church vicar Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard, and Charles Wolf, whose wife died on 9/11. (Downtown Express)

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Daniel Libeskind: Tracing the Empathy of an Architect - Apr 6, 2003
American architect Daniel Libeskind is a master at relating the beauty of a building to its meaning and purpose. His works are a blend of space and story -- the reason he won the intense, highly publicized competition earlier this year to redesign the World Trade Center site in New York. It may take a decade before his exciting complex is complete. But Americans can see what may be in store for New York with his two earliest works in Germany: the acclaimed Jewish Museum Berlin and the little-known Felix Nussbaum House in the northwestern town of Osnabruck. Visiting them is an emotional, even wrenching, experience. (Los Angeles Times)

Libeskind's WTC Design Back On Display - Apr 5, 2003
Architect Daniel Libeskind's inspirational design for the World Trade Center site was again displayed in the atrium of the restored Winter Garden in lower Manhattan yesterday. The exhibit includes a timeline tracing the evolution of the site, from the completion of the World Trade Center to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, to the first stages of the rebuilding effort and memorial development process. (Newsday)

Millenium Hilton Near Ground Zero Set to Reopen - Apr 4, 2003
The Millenium Hilton Hotel -- which is so close to the World Trade Center site that you can see it reflected in the hotel's glass facade -- is getting ready to reopen on May 5th for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. Miraculously, the 55-story tower at the corner of Church and Dey streets, directly across the street from Ground Zero, was left standing after the Twin Towers fell. (Newsday)

Retail-Space Developer Balks at the Design for Ground Zero - Apr 4, 2003
The company that holds the right to develop retail shopping space at the World Trade Center site has told its landlord that it believes that Daniel Libeskind's design violates the company's right to build appropriate shopping areas. The company, Westfield America, which is based in Los Angeles, first expressed its opinion in a March 14 letter to Joseph J. Seymour, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site. (New York Times)

Marriott Inn Demands More Say in WTC Rebuild - Apr 4, 2003
Host Marriott Corp. sent a letter to the Port Authority after the selection of a WTC master plan in February, saying the company expects to rebuild a hotel on the site as large as the one that was destroyed in the terror attack - and reminding the PA of the company's rights under its lease. The original hotel was 600,000 square feet, but the new WTC master plan by architect Daniel Libeskind calls for a hotel of just 360,000 to 560,000 square feet, depending on the configuration of the buildings on the site. (New York Post)

World Trade Center Shopping Mall Company Rejects Libeskind's Plan - Apr 3, 2003
The company that holds the right to rebuild the World Trade Center shopping mall has sent officials a letter rejecting architect Daniel Libeskind's Ground Zero design - raising the possibility of legal wrangling that could tie up decisions about the site. "At this point we have no choice but to formally notify you that the Libeskind plan does not provide an acceptable framework for the redevelopment of our retail space," said the March 14 letter from Westfield America Corp. to Port Authority Executive Director Joe Seymour. (New York Post)

Port Authority Architect Shown The Door - Apr 2, 2003
With the Port Authority endorsing Daniel Libeskind's plans for Ground Zero, the architect hired to develop the agency's own plans has been shown the door, the agency confirmed Tuesday. Architect Stanton Eckstut was hired by the Port Authority last fall to develop a plan detailing the site's infrastructure, transit and memorial needs, at the same time that the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. was running a design competition for the site. (Newsday)

Plans for Cultural Complex at Ground Zero Take Form - Mar 31, 2003
As plans begin to take shape for a cultural complex at ground zero, American Express has agreed to support a Museum of Freedom that may be built there. The museum would present exhibitions about the terrorist attacks as well as about issues like women's equality and civil rights. An American Express executive said that the company, based in lower Manhattan, decided to help sponsor the project because of its theme. (New York Times)

Buildings Near Trade Center Still Closed - Mar 30, 2003
Eighteen months after the World Trade Center was destroyed, several surrounding office buildings are still closed and the future of the largest remains uncertain. The 40-story Deutsche Bank tower just south of the trade center site has been cleared of a mold that infested it for months after the attack, but its owners have not decided whether to raze or repair it. Other buildings, such as a major Post Office building just north of the site, are still being cleaned and overhauled. (Associated Press)

New World Trade Center Design is Being Eclipsed by its Architect, For Now - Mar 30, 2003
World Trade Center site designer Daniel Libeskind has fast become a pop culture icon. In six months, the man who will help bring life back to the destroyed trade center site has become a hot ticket in a town obsessed with celebrity. And he may contribute to an uptick in applications at his alma mater, Cooper Union, too. (Newsday)

Residents ask Libeskind to Improve Access - Mar 27, 2003
Downtown residents last week pressed Daniel Libeskind to adjust his design for the World Trade Center site by making it easier to walk through the area at street level. Libeskind, who was selected to design the site at the end of February, presented his plan to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's advisory committees last Thursday. The committees are made up of relatives of the people killed in the Sept. 11 attack, representatives from civics and arts groups, and Lower Manhattan business people and residents. Just about all of the speakers praised Libeskind's design, but the consensus among the residents who spoke was that the plan needed to be improved by allowing people walking east or west to cross the site in more places. (Downtown Express)

Battery Park City Says West St. Tunnel Likely - Mar 27, 2003
Pedestrians try to make their way across West St. at Vesey St., near where an underground tunnel may be built.State officials are likely to build a short tunnel under West St. and construction will be much less disruptive than some neighbors fear, Timothy Carey, president and C.E.O. of the Battery Park City Authority, said last week. "That's what I think will happen," Carey said of the proposed underground roadway, which would be adjacent to the World Trade Center site between Vesey and Liberty Sts. (Downtown Express)

Daniel Libeskind To Get Joint WTC Site Contract - Mar 21, 2003
Daniel Libeskind, the architect who created the winning design for rebuilding the World Trade Center site, will soon be offered contracts to oversee nearly all of the development projects at the site, rebuilding officials said yesterday. The contracts, to be offered within 30 days by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, are intended to ensure that Mr. Libeskind's plan will guide development at the site. (New York Times)

WTC Architect May Work Primarily With Port Authority - Mar 20, 2003
Ground Zero architect Daniel Libeskind would work primarily for the Port Authority - not a state-city agency created to oversee rebuilding - under a pact being considered. PA Vice Chairman Charles Gargano said yesterday that the agency was "in negotiations right now" with Libeskind. (New York Daily News)

Mold Has Been Removed From Deutsche Bank Building - Mar 20, 2003
The toxic mold that was considered a serious environmental threat in the damaged Deutsche Bank building has been removed, city officials said this week - potentially clearing the way for a decision on what will happen with the black-shrouded wreck that looms over Ground Zero. (New York Post)

L.M.D.C. Looks to Plan the Rest of Downtown - Mar 18, 2003
The architect and the street plan for the World Trade Center site were selected three weeks ago, but officials are hoping to figure out in the next month who exactly will make future decisions at the site and who will pay the architect, Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind didn't seem worried this Monday when he rang the opening bell of the American Stock Exchange, smiling as he banged away with Kevin Rampe, the L.M.D.C.'s acting president. (Downtown Express)

9/11 Memorial Will Pay Tribute to All Victims - Mar 14, 2003
A memorial to the victims of Sept. 11 will recognize all of those killed as a single group rather than as members of separate groups like firefighters, rescue workers or World Trade Center tenants, rebuilding officials said yesterday. Directors of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation agreed at a board meeting yesterday to adopt a resolution laying out the guidelines for the memorial's content, including the provision that all the victims receive comparable recognition. (New York Times)

Supporters Rally To LMDC's Wils - Mar 13, 2003
Members of Manhattan's Community Board 1 rallied around their leader last night, calling criticism of her by some World Trade Center victims' families unwarranted. The remains of unidentifiable victims at the World Trade Center site has become a lightning rod for the board, whose members would prefer to see only a symbolic portion of the remains there. That led some families on Monday to call for the resignation of board chairwoman Madelyn Wils from her membership on the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (Newsday)

Rebuilding Agency To Discuss Libeskind Contract - Mar 12, 2003
The first contract with Studio Daniel Libeskind for work at the World Trade Center site will be considered for approval this week by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. They will discuss a contract for Mr. Libeskind to be a consultant on the memorial's development, the officials said. Some civic groups that have followed the rebuilding process have warned that if Mr. Libeskind does not have a formal role, crucial elements of his design could be compromised by the political machinations that surround any large public works project. (New York Times)

Families Seek to Oust LMDC Board Member - Mar 12, 2003
Several families of Sept. 11 victims have organized an online petition calling for Madelyn Wils, chair of Community Board 1 in lower Manhattan, to resign from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board. They argue that that Wils is opposing a World Trade Center site tomb for unknown remains. The families don't expect Wils to actually resign, but they hope to draw more attention to their dispute. (Newsday)

New York's New Visionary - Daniel Libeskind - Mar 12, 2003
Daniel Libeskind, the elfin, bespectacled architect who last month won the right to design World Trade Center II, overnight became New York's chief public intellectual of urban space. Part event planner, part village explainer, part rock star, the former professor has essentially been appointed the city's master builder. He is ready for the role. (Newsday)

Families, Residents Fight Over W.T.C. 'Footprints' - Mar 12, 2003
Relatives of the victims of the World Trade Center attack clashed with Downtown residents and business people last week over the ongoing dispute about where to put the tour buses expected to visit a 9/11 memorial. The Port Authority, which owns the W.T.C. site, had proposed a 120-bus garage near the bathtub slurry wall and under the "footprints" of the Twin Towers, but after an outcry from some relatives, agency leaders downgraded the proposal to a suggestion and said they would consider alternatives. (Downtown Express)

A Teenage Resident's View of the Bus Debate - Mar 12, 2003
Saruh Lacoff, a 15-year-old student whose bedroom window overlooks the World Trade Center site, began crying on and off for almost an hour after the mother of one of the victims said Downtown residents just wanted to clear the footprints for restaurants. "That's not what this is about," Lacoff called out, but few people heard her during a Community Board 1 meeting last week. (Downtown Express)

Libeskind's Past Projects Have Caused Budget Problems - Mar 10, 2003
Well-known projects designed by Daniel Libeskind, the artsy architect behind the controversial plan for Ground Zero, have been acclaimed by critics - but have caused headaches around the world because of budget problems. Still, his record indicates a willingness to retool his bold designs to accommodate financial and political realities. (New York Post)

Port Authority Stalls Real Estate Project - Mar 8, 2003
With the World Trade Center site's future still unresolved, the economy has slammed the brakes on another huge Port Authority real estate project. For five years, the agency has planned to build a 39-story office tower atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal at W. 42nd St. and Eighth Ave. But yesterday, developer Vornado Realty signaled the project's chances are "nil," said an analyst. (New York Daily News)

Activists Oppose New Liberty Bonds for Downtown Market-Rate Apartments - Mar 7, 2003
Another $48 million in Liberty Bonds is likely to be approved for new market-rate apartments in downtown Manhattan, angering housing advocates who say the federal tax-exempt bonds should do more to help low- and moderate-income residents. Liberty Bond housing projects are required to set aside just 5 percent of the apartments for moderate-income residents. But housing advocates say that doesn't go far enough and is at odds with the HFA's mission. (Newsday)

City Is Seeking Bigger Role in Rebuilding - Mar 7, 2003
The Bloomberg administration has proposed a broad restructuring of the city-state agency overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, city and state officials said yesterday. The plan would give the city more authority over the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and billions of dollars of federal recovery money, they said. The plan would transfer the development corporation's planning, design and development staff to a city agency and would give the city and the development corporation's board joint authority over the development of cultural programs at the trade center site. (New York Times)

Tensions Flare Over Proposed WTC Bus Garage - Mar 6, 2003
Tensions flared between relatives of Sept. 11 victims and people who live downtown last night over a proposal to put a bus garage beneath the memorial at Ground Zero. The heated exchange took place at a Community Board 1 hearing on the garage, which neighbors of the site largely support but many victims' families oppose. (New York Daily News)

Libeskind's WTC Vision Was Born of Socialist Bronx - Mar 6, 2003
As a young man living in the Amalgamated Houses in the Bronx, Daniel Libeskind — the architect selected this week to rebuild the World Trade Center site — recalls being immersed in an environment in which progressive politics, Yiddish literary debates and a community spirit thrived. (Forward)

'The Libeskinds' - Winning Architect Brings Wife Along - Mar 6, 2003
Call them Mr. and Mrs. Ground Zero: Daniel and Nina Libeskind, with their short gray hair, black ensembles, leather jackets and artsy glasses, are steeling themselves for what is perhaps New York's hottest political crucible of the moment-the rebuilding effort at the World Trade Center. In the decade or so since Daniel, the distinguished professor, and Nina, who shares a starring role in Studio Daniel Libeskind as the driving force of its business side, have been designing actual buildings rather than promoting architectural education, they have become a political force to be reckoned with. (New York Observer)

There's a Long Way to Go, and Plenty Left to Argue About - Mar 4, 2003
Libeskind's opulent vision won the favor of rebuilding officials last week, but the degree to which his plans will be adopted remains an open question; from here, the process is fraught with obstacles. The exact composition of a memorial must still be determined. Libeskind's design must also pass an environmental review, and opponents have the right to call for alternatives as part of that process. With Lower Manhattan mired in a deep recession, the 10 million square feet of office space envisioned in Libeskind's plan seems unrealistic. Civic groups are balking at both the proposed parking garage and the blueprint's 880,000 square feet of retail space--nearly twice the size of the first World Trade Center mall. Victims' families, meanwhile, are upset about the notion of housing tour buses on "sacred ground" underneath the memorial site. (U.S. News and World Report)

Now Libeskind Must Fight For His Plan - Mar 4, 2003
Eighteen months after the Twin Towers collapsed, New York finally has a plan—or rather the beginning of a plan—for rebuilding ground zero. The first rule in architecture is: Get the job. But the highly capable Libeskind has already conceded too much of his vision to get there. Still, he proved his mettle pulling his brilliant Jewish Museum in Berlin through a hellacious process, its design largely intact. Now we need him to summon those skills in the even tougher city of New York. (New York Magazine)

Political Considerations Lead To Current Vision For Ground Zero - Mar 3, 2003
The creation of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation set off what could have been any government operation -- a plodding, obtuse process run by bureaucrats with little public participation. Instead, it evolved into a grand public discussion about architecture, public space and the nature of memory. (New York Times)

Daniel Libeskind Takes Home the Prize - Mar 3, 2003
Who would have thought a year ago that a world-class radical architect would be chosen to design the WTC site? The selection of someone of Libeskind's caliber for this historic project is a turning point for architecture and for the city, and it sends a clear signal that the public has an appetite for innovative design. It was public passion that forced the design competition from which Libeskind has emerged victorious. (Newsweek)

Rebuilding at Ground Zero - Mar 3, 2003
The competition to design the World Trade Center site is over. The winner is Daniel Libeskind. But how much of his powerful scheme will be built? Libeskind's plan calls for a 7acre area, 30 ft. deep, to be preserved as testimony to the attack and the resilience of New York City and America - in effect, a Wailing Wall for the 21st century, with an emotional power that grows from calamity but tells of endurance. (Time)

Governor Compared Opposing WTC Plan To "Death" - Mar 1, 2003
Moments before he would cement his decision to go with the Daniel Libeskind plan for Ground Zero, Gov. Pataki compared the runnerup scheme's towers to "death," sources said yesterday. Pataki said he believed the latticework towers of design team THINK were a ghostly reminder of the fallen World Trade Center. The towers "look like death to me," Pataki said, according to several sources. (New York Daily News)

Libeskind Choice Only First Of Many In WTC Process - Mar 1, 2003
The selection last week of architect Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site capped an intensely public process, marked by large meetings, passionate debates by everyone from scholars to schoolchildren, and thousands of comments from ordinary New Yorkers. Despite that civic outpouring, many key decisions about the site's future are being made with little public input at the Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, critics say. (Newsday)

Victims' Families Oppose Bus Depot On WTC Site - Mar 1, 2003
Some victims' family members are calling a plan to build an undergound parking garage on the World Trade Center site disrespectful. The Coalition of 9/11 Families says the thought of buses parking on what they consider sacred ground is upsetting. They also say the plan is a security risk. (NY1)

Buildings on Broadway To Make Way For New Transit Center - Mar 1, 2003
A tailoring shop a block from the World Trade Center survived 9/11, but it may not survive the rebuilding effort. New York State and New York City are planning a new Fulton Street Transit Center, a $750 million project on the east side of Broadway between Fulton and John Streets that will simplify connections between nine subway lines at the Fulton Street and Broadway-Nassau stations. But some buildings will be razed to make way for the transit center. (New York Times)

Changes to Libeskind's Design - Feb 28, 2003
The scarred foundation of the World Trade Center shielded behind glass, a memorial pit 30 feet below street level, and a spindly spire with a 110th-floor restaurant - those are among the new twists in a rejiggered plan unveiled yesterday by winning Ground Zero architect Daniel Libeskind. (New York Post)

Libeskind Comes Home to New York - Feb 28, 2003
It was the magnanimous Daniel Libeskind — the adopted son of the great metropolis, the engaging former math and music wunderkind from the Bronx High School of Science — who showed up at center stage in the Winter Garden yesterday to accept the most extraordinary commission that any city has ever offered. (New York Times)

WTC Architect Sees 9/11 Memorial Within 4 Years - Feb 28, 2003
The architect named to redesign the World Trade Center site hopes a memorial, transit station and cultural buildings will be built within four years, although Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials Thursday said it could take longer. (Newsday)

Neighbors See New Plan As Roadblock - Feb 28, 2003
Architect Daniel Libeskind spoke passionately Thursday about his design for the World Trade Center site, using words such as democracy and freedom. But for Battery Park City resident Michael Kaufman, who has lived in the adjacent area for six years, the new plans seems to create a roadblock. (Newsday)

Silverstein Will Pay For Libeskind's Tower - Feb 28, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein threw his support behind the soaring new vision for Ground Zero yesterday, vowing to pay for a 1,776-foot spire that would raise the city's skyline higher than any other in the world. Silverstein's commitment for the first time offered rebuilding officials a solid way to pay for the signature tower in architect Daniel Libeskind's plan. (New York Daily News)

Vision for Lower Manhattan Is Still in Flux - Feb 28, 2003
As the winner of a grueling design competition, Daniel Libeskind was exuberant yesterday. Joseph Seymour, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre site, was more pragmatic. In four years, Mr. Seymour said, he expects the memorial garden will be completed, as well as a $2 billion transit center that will rival Grand Central Terminal and newly built stretches of Greenwich and Fulton Streets that are to crisscross the site. But many other elements of Mr. Libeskind's striking plans, he said, are "going to have to evolve." (New York Times)

Practical Issues for Ground Zero - Feb 28, 2003
In the end, it was not so much about architecture, about solemn memorial pits or soaring gardens in the sky. Instead, the decision announced yesterday to choose Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site revolved mainly around politics, economics and engineering, people close to the selection process said. (New York Times)

Libeskind Design Chosen for Rebuilding at Ground Zero - Feb 27, 2003
Officials overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan yesterday agreed to hire Studio Daniel Libeskind, the Berlin-based firm whose plan for the site centers on the excavated pit at the trade center, ringed by glass towers that swirl upward to a 1,776-foot spire. The Libeskind design was considered the front-runner for weeks, although a rival plan by an architecture team called Think, which featured two soaring latticework towers called the World Cultural Center, collected strong support as the decision neared. Ultimately, however, rebuilding officials voted in favor of Mr. Libeskind's somber treatment of the memorial and the incorporation of an active street life in the commercial portions of the site. (New York Times)

THINK Team Trimming Plan - Feb 26, 2003
The underdogs in the race to redesign the World Trade Center site were reportedly working furiously in the last several days to reduce the cost of their proposal, making it more attractive to redevelopment officials. The proposal by the THINK team led by architects Rafael Viñoly and Frederic Schwartz originally was estimated to cost as much as $800 million. Architect Daniel Libeskind’s proposal, supposedly the favorite of Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, costs $330 million. (Newsday)

Panel Backs Think Team Design for Downtown - Feb 26, 2003
A key committee, led by Roland Betts, recommended yesterday that Lower Manhattan be rebuilt along the lines of a plan that had seemed out of favor, a proposal by the Think architectural team for two soaring latticework towers as the centerpiece of a memorial area. The unexpected decision appeared to set the stage for a showdown today among city and state officials. (New York Times)

Finalists for Ground Zero Design Pull Out the Stops - Feb 26, 2003
Packed meetings at Town Hall, get-out-the-vote e-mails and head-to-head chats with Charlie Rose may not be as rugged and ritualized as photo-ops in the South Bronx, but in many ways the architects proposing designs for the World Trade Center site have been acting like media-age politicians. The two finalists from an original pack of seven design teams — Daniel Libeskind from Berlin and Rafael Viñoly and Frederic Schwartz, the two front men on the Think team — grasped the political nature of the selection process from the start, playing straight to the public as if the citizens of New York City were the clients for the job. (New York Times)

Battle Lines Harden Over W.T.C. Bus Garage - Feb 26, 2003
Relatives of the Sept. 11 victims clashed last week with Downtown residents and businesses over whether a proposed garage for tour buses built over the "footprints" of the Twin Towers would dishonor the victims. Conflicting priorities between residents and family members over the World Trade Center site have been apparent for some time, but rarely has the dispute come to the surface as clearly as it did last week and in a forum where both sides, roughly speaking, were equally represented. (Downtown Express)

Building Repair Work Begins At Ground Zero - Feb 25, 2003
Repair work will start soon to fix a jagged gash across the front of the mold-infested Deutsche Bank building, but the company said no final decision has been made about what to do with the black-draped structure that looms over Ground Zero. (New York Post)

WTC Finalists Step Up Lobbying - Feb 25, 2003
The conversations about "sacred ground" and "soaring memorials" have denigrated to sniping and snide remarks.Finalists Daniel Libeskind and the THINK team led by Rafael Viñoly have stepped up - or brought down - their behind-the-scenes lobbying as they prepared to present their revised work before redevelopment officials today. (Newsday)

Ground Zero: Picking a Plan and a Direction - Feb 25, 2003
The two teams that have been chosen as finalists offer a chance to sort through our ambitions for the site. Their plans are polar opposites. For the architects, the real challenge will be to deal with the complex history of the site. The Twin Towers aggressively muscled their way into Lower Manhattan, interrupting the city's street grid. Yet the destruction of these unpopular buildings was even more horrible and aggressive. In order to truly heal the wound the terrorists created, the design also must attempt to repair old scars. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Vinoly: High Drama - Feb 25, 2003
Rafael Viñoly landed on the short list of the world's most hotly pursued architects in 1989, when he defeated 394 contenders in an international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum. The $1.5-billion performing arts and convention center -- a huge glass and steel structure frequently described as a great ship gliding through the central city -- opened in 1997 to widespread acclaim. Since that spectacular success, Viñoly has snagged dozens of large commissions, but his achievements so far are merely a warmup for the current competition to design a replacement for the World Trade Center in New York. (Los Angeles Times)

WTC Project Coming Down To The Wire - Feb 24, 2003
In the coming week, one of two designs for the World Trade Center site is slated to be chosen. While those close to the process are speculating that the design of Daniel Libeskind has won over the plan devised by the THINK team of architects, development officials insisted last week they won’t decide until they’ve seen the latest versions of the proposals. (Newsday)

Officials To Announce Winning Design For WTC - Feb 24, 2003
On Thursday the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will announce the winning design to be the basis for reconstruction at the World Trade Center site. The two finalists, Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind and the New York-centered consortium known as Think, have spent the last three weeks revamping their ideas to answer certain concerns of rebuilding officials. The deadline for their final proposals is Tuesday. (NY1)

New York Times at Center of Architectural Nightmare - Feb 24, 2003
The New York Times is at the center of an "architectural blood-feud" over the selection of a finalist to design the World Trade Center site, Clay Risen reports in The New Republic. (The New Republic)

Libeskind: Building Resolve - Feb 23, 2003
Daniel Libeskind digs in as the contest to design the replacement for the World Trade Center winds down. It's a project calling for vision -- and the will to ride out competitors' gibes. Libeskind knows his bid for the New York project may be in vain. The Think design may win, or neither get built. In either case, the Libeskinds are moving to New York. (Los Angeles Times)

Manhattan Ready to Pick Libeskind's Jagged Towers - Feb 22, 2003
The design of one of the world's most versatile and celebrated architects, Daniel Libeskind, is expected to be chosen as the replacement for the World Trade Centre buildings, although some of its central features are likely to be either radically altered or left out. In an increasingly fraught process, which has been dominated by inter-agency rivalry and public disaffection, Libeskind had to apologise on Thursday for voicing sharp criticism of his rival's plans in a live internet forum. (Guardian)

Broadway Atrium in Plan for 750M Transit Hub - Feb 21, 2003
A sweeping glass atrium opening onto Broadway would greet more than 275,000 commuters a day in lower Manhattan, according to drawings for a new transit hub. The schemes for the $750 million Fulton Transit Center, obtained by the Daily News, show a bright and airy hub that would be a drastic upgrade from the current bleak, mazelike subway complex. The hub, scheduled to be completed by 2007, is expected to be among the transit projects to receive federal funding stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)

WTC Plan May End Up Looking Very Different From Architect Vision - Feb 21, 2003
Development officials are expected to pick the Ground Zero plan by architect Daniel Libeskind - but the new World Trade Center is likely to end up looking a lot different from the way he envisioned it. And that will come as a huge surprise to many New Yorkers, who had been led to expect that the buildings that go up on the city's hallowed ground will look just the way they do in the models that have been debated for weeks. Officials see Libeskind's plan as flexible, something they can shape to their needs. (New York Post)

World Trade Center Design Finalist Criticizes Competitor - Feb 21, 2003
Ground Zero design finalist Daniel Libeskind Thursday criticized the other finalist in the competition to redevelop the site. “There is a dramatic and urgent need to repair the skyline,” Libeskind wrote in an online conversation with Gothamgazette.com. “I do not believe that two skeletons in the sky asserts the vitality of New York or the courage of America. I do believe that a distinctive and economically viable skyline has to be built.” (Newsday)

Support Builds for One Plan for Trade Center Site: Libeskind - Feb 20, 2003
State and city officials involved in choosing a design for the World Trade Center site have begun lining up in favor of a plan by Studio Daniel Libeskind, which uses the ground zero pit as the setting for a memorial to victims of the terrorist attack, giving that plan important momentum in the week before the final site plan is chosen. (New York Times)

Downtown's Future Will Be Determined Soon - Feb 19, 2003
The long-term viability of Lower Manhattan will be determined in less than two weeks if you believe the many analysts who say improving transportation is the key to downtown's future. Officials from the various agencies with a stake in transportation or in the land in and near ground zero are expected to make most of the final transportation decisions by the end of February, when the street plan for the World Trade Center site is also selected. (Downtown Express)

Trade Center Developer Objects to City's Insurance Talks - Feb 16, 2003
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who controls the World Trade Center lease, claims that his effort to get the largest possible insurance settlement to rebuild Lower Manhattan is being undermined by city officials. With public officials on the verge of adopting a development proposal for the site, Mr. Silverstein has complained in recent weeks that despite his legal obligation to rebuild the trade center he has been shut out of the planning process. At the same time, he said he has been undermined in his negotiations with the 23 insurance companies that provided coverage for the trade center. (New York Times)

Mayor Prefers WTC Plan By Libeskind - Feb 15, 2003
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said he prefers the Ground Zero plan by Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind, which leaves much of the pit open as a memorial space. The mayor's remarks on his weekly radio show were the first time a major elected official has voiced a preference on the two remaining designs. (New York Post)

Silverstein May Seek Office Space Away From WTC - Feb 14, 2003
Twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein may be open to recapturing some of the 10 million square feet of office space lost in the terror attacks by acquiring nearby properties. Sources said the possibility was discussed in a meeting between Mayor Bloomberg and Silverstein, who has maintained that any new development at Ground Zero must allow him to recoup all of the lost office space. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Says Mayor's Plan to Use Insurance Billions Is Unworkable - Feb 14, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein told Mayor Bloomberg yesterday that a City Hall proposal to take over his insurance billions is unworkable, sources told The Post. The private meeting with the mayor came as Silverstein, who signed a 99-year lease on the trade center just weeks before the Sept. 11 terror attack, is seeking a more visible role in the planning process. (New York Post)

Trade Center Would Keep Retail Space Underground - Feb 14, 2003
Plans for an underground concourse at the World Trade Center would allow for the building of several hundred thousand square feet of retail space below ground, or nearly as much as existed at the site before the 2001 attack, officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said yesterday. Testifying at a City Council hearing, the officials said that no decisions had been made yet about how the retail space at the trade center would be divided between above and below ground. (New York Times)

Port Authority: We Will Have To Use the Pit - Feb 13, 2003
The vast pit at Ground Zero - the area where most of the remains of victims of the terror were recovered - cannot be left empty, top Port Authority officials said yesterday. Port Authority Executive Director Joseph Seymour said the foundation for a memorial - as well as transit infrastructure and probably a parking garage for buses - will be placed within the 70-foot-deep ditch. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Foundations Will Need to Be Covered and Reinforced - Feb 13, 2003
Most of the scarred and decaying wall inside the Ground Zero pit is in such bad shape it will need to be covered with a three-foot layer of concrete and braced with steel reinforcements, Port Authority officials said yesterday. Engineers are studying the wall to find out if any portions are strong enough to be displayed in a future WTC memorial, as called for in one of the design proposals being considered by development officials. (New York Post)

Ground Zero Designers Are Asked for Revisions - Feb 13, 2003
The two teams of architects working on designs for the World Trade Center site have been asked to modify their plans to address engineering problems in the pit at the site, according to people involved in the rebuilding effort. In the two weeks since the two finalists were announced, both teams, Studio Daniel Libeskind and Think, have been asked to change their designs to make room for parking, public transit and other purposes in the "bathtub," the seven-acre hole on the western half of ground zero, beneath the spots where the twin towers stood. (New York Times)

Libeskind Acolytes Attack Muschamp and the Times - Feb 13, 2003
Ever since crews began clearing debris from Ground Zero, the strong and sometimes acerbic writing of The New York Times’ architecture critic, Herbert Muschamp, has helped trigger a citywide—and worldwide—debate over what should stand at the site of New York’s greatest civic disaster. Some within the architectural community are charging that Mr. Muschamp exhibited a conflict of interest in his read-by-everyone review in the Feb. 6 Times, which promoted the two-tower Ground Zero plan helmed by an architect he knows and has worked with - Rafael Viñoly of the THINK group - while aggressively diminishing the other, Daniel Libeskind’s single-tower, "bathtub"-preserving design. (New York Observer)

Silverstein's Low Opinion of WTC Designs Tall Towers - Feb 12, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein yesterday criticized the signature elements of the two remaining Ground Zero site plans. "I don't understand those latticework towers, how they would be utilized," Silverstein said of the THINK architecture team's plan, which calls for two steel structures taller than the original Twin Towers. Silverstein said he is very concerned about erecting buildings more than 60 stories tall - because it is difficult for people to evacuate them in an emergency. (New York Post)

Pataki Backs West St. Tunnel in Letter - Feb 12, 2003
Gov. George Pataki wrote that the state is likely to build a tunnel on part of West St./Route 9A, in a letter requesting $5 billion in federal transportation funds to rebuild Lower Manhattan. "[S]afe pedestrian across West St. will be restored. Such restoration will likely occur through the tunneling of some portion of Route 9A," Pataki wrote to Joseph Albaugh, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Jennifer Dorn, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. (Downtown Express)

Downtown Express: Interviews with the W.T.C. Architects - Feb 12, 2003
Downtown Express interviewed Daniel Libeskind and Frederic Schwartz to find out their views of the site and to learn what types of modifications they are making. Schwartz was more willing to talk about specific changes. They were both reluctant to criticize the other's plan, although Libeskind did take a passing swipe at THINK's concept. Both dismissed the common criticism that "none of these buildings will ever be built" and expressed confidence in the process. They also felt their plans provide a feasible way to build structures taller than the Twin Towers, and far from seeking an extension about the pending deadline, they were looking forward to it. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein Says WTC Insurance Billions Must Be Used for Office Buildings - Feb 11, 2003
Twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein insisted yesterday that billions of dollars in insurance money for the World Trade Center must be used to rebuild office buildings - and nothing else. "There's no way that you can take insurance company money for office buildings and allocate it for some other use," Silverstein said at a meeting with Daily News editors and reporters. (New York Daily News)

Construction Forging Ahead at WTC location - Feb 10, 2003
For a place supposedly mired in a long planning process, the World Trade Center site seems awfully busy these days. The site is thronged with workers in hard hats, crowded with trailers and vehicles and buzzing with the sounds of construction. On the north side of the site, workers have dug some 40 feet into the ground, placed supporting caissons, and started to pour concrete for the foundations of the new 7 World Trade Center. (Newsday)

Pataki Presents Washington With A $5 Billion Transit Plan - Feb 8, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki outlined a long-awaited plan yesterday to spend up to $5 billion to restore and upgrade transportation in Lower Manhattan, including new above-ground hubs at the World Trade Center site and at the Fulton Street subway stations, as well as a rebuilt subway terminal at South Ferry. (New York Times)

Silverstein Meets With Architects - Feb 7, 2003
A week after he slammed the design proposals and warned development officials not to leave him out of the loop, World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein is back in the mix. The 71-year-old developer met Wednesday with Rafael Vinoly of THINK - one of two teams of architects picked this week to compete for the job of WTC planner. (New York Post)

Agencies Jockey for Control Over Future of Ground Zero Design - Feb 7, 2003
With the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation only weeks away from adopting a long-sought plan for the World Trade Center site, a struggle is taking place over just how much of the grand designs will ever be built, a struggle that is connected to the future of the agency. (New York Times)

Web Campaigns Against WTC Plans Begin - Feb 6, 2003
The Internet campaigns against the two visions for Ground Zero have begun. One day after redevelopment officials selected Studio Daniel Libeskind and the THINK team as finalists to redesign the World Trade Center site, critics have launched e-mail initiatives to criticize the plans, warn of danger or pitch their own designs. (Newsday)

Map Becomes Clearer in Trade Center Choices - Feb 6, 2003
Now that the designs for ground zero have been reduced to two finalists, it is possible to understand better what the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have in mind for ground zero and the surrounding blocks. Aside from the aesthetic eloquence in the Libeskind and Think proposals, both offer a framework for intense commercial development. (New York Times)

Two Firms Vie At WTC Site - Feb 6, 2003
After responding to a series of requests for modifications to their designs over the next two weeks, one of the two new finalists will emerge as the architect of the rebuilt World Trade Center. But whether or not the vision of that architect translates into real buildings erected at Ground Zero over the next decade may not be a matter for the public to decide. If the architect selected by the LMDC and the Port Authority is really to leave his stamp on the World Trade Center site, the LMDC will have to back up its claim to be the ultimate authority in the rebuilding process. (New York Observer)

WTC Designs Do Not Include Tallest "Structures" - Feb 6, 2003
This may seem like the height of hairsplitting, but many newspapers got it wrong Wednesday when they reported that the two finalists in the competition to design a replacement for the World Trade Center would be the world's tallest structures. The accounts neglected the very big, very cold country just to America's north, where in the city of Toronto is the CN Tower, which soars to 1,815 feet, 5 inches, taller than either the Libeskind or THINK plans would go. (Chicago Tribune)

Trade Center Developer Is Portrayed in Court as Calculating - Feb 5, 2003
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who controls the World Trade Center, has fought for the past 17 months with his insurance companies, claiming that there were two terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, requiring a double payment, nearly $7 billion, for the rebuilding effort. But in the latest courtroom skirmish, Silverstein is portrayed in a brief filed yesterday by Swiss Re, the largest of the 23 insurers at the trade center, as coldly choosing a strategy calculated to reap the most money possible from the catastrophe while the ruins of the trade center were still smoldering. (New York Times)

For Ground Zero Planners, Tough Job Begins - Feb 5, 2003
Now that two Ground Zero finalists have been chosen, the toughest work begins for those who will choose the master plan. By the end of this month, officials must decide everything from specifics about where office buildings will stand to the exact memorial space. Decisions also await on what streets will once again run through the 16-acre site, and on below-ground infrastructure. Those decisions, which the Port Authority has been studying for months, will largely affect what gets built. (New York Daily News)

Sometimes Artful PR Campaigns Helped Firms - Feb 5, 2003
It may be coincidence, but the two architectural teams selected yesterday in the World Trade Center site competition made it their mission to woo as many people as possible at public hearings and private meetings over the past seven weeks. Rafael Viñoly and Frederick Schwartz, leaders of the THINK team, showed up at almost every public hearing last month, including a community board meeting. Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind ran a similar campaign. He also met with a number of groups that had been critical of the planning process. (Newsday)

2 Finalists Picked for WTC Site - Feb 5, 2003
A pair of dramatically different visions for Ground Zero - one that evokes the original twin towers and another that preserves the scarred foundation of the World Trade Center - were embraced as finalists by rebuilding officials yesterday. For the first time since the struggle to resurrect lower Manhattan began more than a year ago, officials also defined the area for a memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)

2 WTC Plans Chosen, But Neither Plan Is In Final Form - Feb 5, 2003
The contestants vying to redevelop the World Trade Center site were narrowed to two Tuesday, but even after a winner is chosen, the look of the structures that will finally emerge from Ground Zero is likely to be a work in progress. (Newsday)

Two Finalists Are Selected for the Void at Ground Zero - Feb 5, 2003
Two teams of architects, one that sees the foundations of democracy in the concrete walls surrounding ground zero and another that imagines New York's rebirth in soaring towers of culture, have been selected as finalists in the competition to create the design for the World Trade Center site, rebuilding officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

New WTC Finalists Chosen, To Be Announced Later Today - Feb 4, 2003
Redevelopment officials apparently chose finalists for the World Trade Center site Monday night during a three-hour meeting, although they declined to comment on specific details. (Newsday)

Time to Pick Finalists For Redesign of WTC - Feb 3, 2003
This week, a committee of state, local, Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials will choose two or three finalists from the six remaining teams. They will select a winner sometime this month. Tara Snow, LMDC's vice president for government affairs, said community comments "told us what people thought was important." About 100,000 people have come to see the plans at the Winter Garden exhibit since it opened Dec. 19. There have been 8 million visits to the Web site (www.renewnyc.com). More than 6,000 people wrote down their comments at the exhibit, while another 4,000 registered their views via e-mail. (Newsday)

Victims' Families Criticize Silverstein For Trying To Take Control of WTC Site - Feb 2, 2003
Relatives of those who perished in the World Trade Center terror attack rapped twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein yesterday for trying to grab control of the site's rebirth. "It's like throwing a monkey wrench into the works," said Lee Ielpi, who lost his firefighter son, Jonathan. (New York Daily News)

Trade Center Leaseholder Says He Has Right to Rebuild as He Wants - Feb 1, 2003
Days before city and state officials are scheduled to narrow the design competition for the World Trade Center site to two architecture teams, Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who holds the lease to the property, charged yesterday that rebuilding officials were ignoring his right to rebuild the site as he sees fit. (New York Times)

WTC Plans Might Include Foster's 'Twinned Towers' - Jan 31, 2003
A proposal to build the world?s tallest skyscraper could be included to appease the public?s wishes when officials announce the finalists to redevelop Ground Zero, sources said Thursday. Lord Norman Foster?s environmentally-friendly building has emerged as one of the favorites during the public comment period, sources said. It could join plans by Studio Daniel Libeskind and the THINK team, which are expected to be named finalists next week. (Newsday)

Two Plans Rise to Top - Jan 30, 2003
Development officials tentatively whittled the proposed site plans for Ground Zero down to two yesterday - one featuring the exposed bedrock of the World Trade Center site and the other calling for a pair of latticework towers, sources told the Daily News. No formal decision was made and no vote was taken, sources said. But at a private meeting yesterday morning, a working group of Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board members and staffers reached a consensus on the two designs, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Officials Are Leaning Towards Two Plans - Jan 30, 2003
A key group of rebuilding officials yesterday agreed on two architecture teams they'd like to see as finalists in the search for a Ground Zero planner, sources told The Post. But the final decision will not be made until next week. Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind and a New York-based team led by architects Rafael Vinoly and Fred Schwartz emerged as the top choices. A third plan, by British architect Norman Foster, also received strong support, but the group felt it would not be practical to build and find tenants for Foster's faceted twin towers, which would be the tallest in the world. (New York Post)

WTC Decision Is Pushed Back - Jan 29, 2003
The incredible work of analyzing nine complex architectural proposals for the World Trade Center site has drawn out the decision-making process. After three finalists are chosen next week, a winner could be selected by the end of next month. (Newsday)

Community Board 1 Recommends Three Plans - Jan 29, 2003
Community Board 1 has recommended that architectural plans by Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster and the THINK Team (Sky Park) should be considered as the basis for the final plan for the World Trade Center site. The board's resolution, approved last week, also said a short underground "bypass" or tunnel along West St. adjacent to the site should be considered. The full board amended the draft resolution so it doesn't read like a full endorsement of the tunnel, which has been opposed by some residents in Battery Park City. (Downtown Express)

WTC Site Plan Decision Seen as Boon - Jan 26, 2003
Trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein says the selection of a plan - likely to occur in February - will give a needed push to lower Manhattan and the economy of New York City. Silverstein foresees an infusion of at least $28 billion into lower Manhattan in the next several years, $21 billion from the federal government and at least $7 billion in insurance proceeds. His own insurance claims are tied up in federal court, but he predicts the lawsuits will be settled this year. (Newsday)

Vinoly: High Drama - Jan 25, 2003
Rafael Viñoly landed on the short list of the world's most hotly pursued architects in 1989, when he defeated 394 contenders in an international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum. The $1.5-billion performing arts and convention center -- a huge glass and steel structure frequently described as a great ship gliding through the central city -- opened in 1997 to widespread acclaim.Since that spectacular success, Viñoly has snagged dozens of large commissions, but his achievements so far are merely a warmup for the current competition to design a replacement for the World Trade Center in New York. (Los Angeles Times)

Forum on Lower Manhattan’s Future Focuses on Retail - Jan 23, 2003
So far, there's no widely accepted solution to developing a strong retail sector in lower Manhattan, but about 50 residents, developers, retailers and advocates raised a host of possibilities at a Tuesday night forum at Pace University. (Newsday)

One Design for Trade Center Site Is Crossed Off After Firm Leaves - Jan 23, 2003
One of the seven architectural teams that submitted new designs for the World Trade Center site has been eliminated from further consideration, rebuilding officials said yesterday. The decision followed the withdrawal of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, who left the design study in order to continue its work with Silverstein Properties, for which it designed the proposed new 7 World Trade Center. The elimination was a disappointing surprise to some members of the team, who thought they might be allowed to continue in the design study even without the architecture firm. (New York Times)

A Profile of Ground Zero Architect Rafael Viñoly - Jan 22, 2003
Architect Rafael Viñoly, a leader of the "Think Team" that contributed a fabulist, Eiffel Tower-inspired confection to the World Trade Center design competition, says that his take on what should happen at ground zero is informed by what he says happened to him decades ago in his native Argentina, first when a 1966 coup resulted in raids, and murders, at his university, and later when the military, no friend to intellectuals, raided his home. (New York Times)

Overview: City Nears Decisions on World Trade Center Site Rebuild - Jan 20, 2003
16 months after terrorists who revile American democracy destroyed the World Trade Center, the rebuilding of lower Manhattan grinds on. The massive effort is certain to continue for years. But crucial decisions are to be made in the coming weeks and months. Officials had set a Jan. 31 deadline, but now say the middle to end of February is more likely. It remains unclear whether one design or elements from several will be selected. (New York Daily News)

World Trade Center Plan Promised by End of February - Jan 18, 2003
Lou Tomson , the outgoing president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, vowed yesterday to have a land-use plan for Ground Zero and transportation plans in place before his exit next month. Tomson spoke amid wide speculation that, given the detailed cost analysis the agency must perform for all nine schemes, the work won't be done by the end of February. (New York Daily News)

Three Designs for Ground Zero Emerge as Favorites - Jan 17, 2003
Three vastly different designs for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, one emphasizing tall towers, another an excavated memorial site and a third a large public garden, appear to be receiving the greatest support in public discussions about the future of the site and of Lower Manhattan. However, only about one-third of people responding in comments submitted to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website noted a preference for one plan over the others. (New York Times)

New 7 World Trade Center Building Faces Obstacles - Jan 16, 2003
It is by no means certain that Larry Silverstein's planned 52-story skyscraper to replace the old 7 World Trade Center will rise on the site of the old tower anytime soon. Silverstein, a persistently optimistic man, must still contend with a sluggish real estate market, the lack of a tenant to occupy the building, and the uncertainties of talks with his lenders, his insurer and the landowner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Any one could delay, or in the worst case scuttle, the $700 million building. (New York Times)

Federal Officials Press Pataki For Details On Transportation Rebuilding - Jan 16, 2003
Federal officials have sent Gov. Pataki a letter pressing the state to explain in detail how it will spend the $4.55 billion set aside to remake lower Manhattan's transportation system. The letter was meant to jump-start a process that appears to have stalled as City Hall, Albany, the Port Authority and the MTA remain at odds over setting priorities for transportation projects, sources in Washington said. (New York Post)

New Jersey Receving Bulk of Ferry Funds - Jan 15, 2003
New York and New Jersey will get $54.8 million to fund five Hudson River ferry projects as part of the federal government's post-9/11 aid to the city, the Department of Transportation said yesterday. The money includes $11.4 million to help build a new ferry terminal at West 38th Street. The remainder will be spent in New Jersey. (New York Post)

Public Says "Slow Down" At Hearing On Memorial - Jan 15, 2003
If there was one demand people made last night to those in charge of building a memorial for the World Trade Center site it was to slow down. "What's the rush?" asked Amy Rogers of Manhattan. "Let's do it right." She was among scores of speakers at the continuation of a two-night public forum at Pace University on the redevelopment of the site. (Newsday)

A Hint of Rebuilding Fatigue - Jan 15, 2003
A citywide series of public hearings yesterday and Monday to gauge response to the new designs and guidelines for a memorial to victims of 9/11 attracted little more than a predictable array of single-issue zealots and almost no substantive comments about details of the plans. Few officials of the rebuilding effort were happy with Monday night's meeting. "In the end, it didn't feel like a particularly useful meeting, and that was fairly dispiriting," said one board member. (New York Times)

Silverstein To Seek $400 Million in Tax-Free Liberty Bonds - Jan 14, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the lease to the World Trade Center site, will try to raise $400 million in tax-free Liberty Bonds for the reconstruction of 7 World Trade Center, it was revealed yesterday. This is because he apparently must spend half the insurance proceeds on the building just north of Ground Zero to pay off the mortgage. This news was not made public until the beginning of the public hearing held by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday, drawing criticism from those who feel rebuilding officials are being too secretive. (New York Post)

New Trade Center Plans Draw Old Complaints - Jan 14, 2003
Instead of offering specific feedback on the new designs, unveiled last month to great fanfare and significant public interest, many of the more than 700 people who attended a hearing at Pace University in Lower Manhattan focused instead on issues that rebuilding officials have heard repeatedly, including calls to rebuild the Twin Towers and demands to remember those affected in Chinatown and the Lower East Side. "This is not what we expected or hoped for," one Lower Manhattan Development Corporation director at the meeting said on the condition of anonymity. "These are the same people we've heard from before, saying the same things." Meanwhile, attendance in the outer boroughs and Long Island, where the public hearings were supposed to be simulcast with the one in lower Manhattan, was below expectations, with only about 60 people showing up. (New York Times)

New Issues as Hearings Address Rebuilding - Jan 13, 2003
At citywide public hearings today and tomorrow, officials will explain more details about each of the nine designs released last month for the World Trade Center site. In addition, they will discuss the process they are using to narrow those options to a single plan for redeveloping the site and creating a memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. What officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say they need now is comment on what one of them calls "the public realm" ? which plan provides the appropriate setting for a memorial, for a new railroad station and for a street system that will serve downtown. (New York Times)

Return of the Superblock? - Jan 13, 2003
Several of the proposed designs for rebuilding Ground Zero ignore a call to restore part of the area's old street grid - and even move toward re-establishing the World Trade Center "superblock" that has been reviled by downtown residents and planners. The trade center occupied a massive, 16-acre chunk of Manhattan real estate that was called a "superblock" because no streets ran through it and much of it sat on an elevated platform entirely cut off from the neighborhood around it. (New York Post)

Funds Shortage for Trade Center Transit Plans - Jan 12, 2003
The officials trying to devise a sweeping transit plan for devastated lower Manhattan are grappling with a stark reality: There's not enough money for everything. New York has been promised $4.55 billion in federal transit aid. From that pot, the Port Authority is hoping for about $1.6 billion for infrastructure costs below ground, including a bus depot, parking garages and access ramps at Ground Zero. The remaining $3 billion is being targeted for a new PATH terminal and underground concourse, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority center at Fulton St., a partial covering of West St. along the Trade Center site and a renovated South Ferry subway station. That leaves nothing for the most ambitious project being debated, which Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have called critical to downtown's future: a multibillion-dollar direct rail link from lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport. (New York Daily News)

Building Height Debated for WTC Site - Jan 12, 2003
Replacing the fallen World Trade Center towers with the world's tallest building would demonstrate courage. Or would it be hubris? As the date of the public hearing to gather public input on the new designs for Ground Zero approaches, some people believe the new structure must be a dramatic statement. But others say that creating the world's tallest building without regard to the neighborhood is not only impractical but in bad taste. (Associated Press)

High-Tech Research Center Planned Near Ground Zero - Jan 11, 2003
A high-tech research center will rise in lower Manhattan, with the help of a $3 million state grant, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said yesterday. The new Institute for Advanced Studies in Software and Information Technology will be based in the Ground Zero area, Silver said. A specific site hasn't been chosen yet. The center will be a collaboration that will include organizations such as the City University of New York, New York University, and private software and development companies. (New York Daily News)

Designer of World Trade Center Plan Open To Altering "Pit" Design - Jan 10, 2003
Faced with criticism from residents and relatives of World Trade Center victims, architect Daniel Libeskind said he'd be willing to alter his design's signature element - the open hole he wants to leave to the bottom of the Ground Zero pit. "I provided a space which . . . has a dignity for thinking about the memorial," Libeskind said of his design, which leaves open about two-thirds of the excavated trade center pit, known as the "bathtub," complete with exposed concrete walls. (New York Post)

Build Memorial First, Says Victims Family Group - Jan 8, 2003
A coalition representing victims' relatives demanded last night that a memorial be built at Ground Zero before anything else - and complained that most rebuilding plans ignore that concern. Lee Ielpi of the Coalition of 9/11 Families said relatives of those killed in the terror attack on the World Trade Center have always wanted a memorial occupying the entire 9-acre "bathtub" to rise first on the site. Ielpi said only two of the nine architectural plans for the site - the ones by Daniel Libeskind and United Architects - set aside the needed space for a memorial. (New York Daily News)

Victims Family Group Cool To Idea of Keeping Pit Empty - Jan 8, 2003
A Ground Zero design proposal to preserve the empty pit where the Twin Towers once stood is getting a cool reception from a surprising quarter - the 9/11 families who have campaigned for months to set aside the trade center "bathtub" area for a memorial. "We don't want to leave a hole in the ground," said Lee Ielpi, a member of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, whose firefighter son Jonathan was killed. "I don't want to go below grade for the memorial. I want the memorial to be up in the sunlight." (New York Post)

Debate Begins on Shorter West St. Tunnel - Jan 8, 2003
The idea of building a long Downtown tunnel at West St. seems pretty much dead and buried, but a shorter, sub-pedestrian roadway adjacent to the World Trade Center site is still being actively considered by the powers that be and is being opposed by the leaders of the group that formed to sink the long tunnel. The Coalition to Save West St., a group of Battery Park City residents who organized themselves last year, released a report over the weekend criticizing the short tunnel between Vesey and Liberty Sts., the equivalent of a four-block area. (Downtown Express)

Skyscrapers Would Come Later At Ground Zero, Says Planner - Jan 7, 2003
A top lower Manhattan planner predicted last night a memorial for terror victims, a transit hub, stores and cultural institutions would be the first structures to rise from the ruins of Ground Zero. Giant office towers will only be rebuilt after the initial round of contruction has been completed, Alexander Garvin told downtown's Community Board 1. (New York Daily News)

Continued Efforts to Restore the Verizon Building, Battered on 9/11 - Jan 6, 2003
The gaping holes in the tan-brick facade of the Verizon Building, inflicted when three neighboring buildings fell around it on 9/11, are still open to the ground zero void. But the Verizon Building is very much alive. Enduring a daily chaos of cement mixers and the sparks from welders' arcs, the building at 140 West Street is again sending out dial tones to 34,000 customers. It is putting stockbrokers online. It is generating revenue. It is doing so without the 1,700 office workers who have been relocated to other buildings. (New York Times)

How Will Anyone Agree on the New Proposals for the World Trade Center Site? - Jan 6, 2003
"Architecture surely seemed to matter that morning in December at the press conference in the Winter Garden, if only because a roomful of public officials was sitting still for a three-and-a-half-hour festival of avant-garde culture," Paul Goldberger writes about the unveiling of the New Plans for Ground Zero. "But not that much has actually changed in the planning process since last summer. 'It is like putting lipstick on a hog,' said Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a civic group. 'Nothing has changed except you have a lot of fancy architects on this go-round. They are still designing the same thing, just prettier.' And the forces that have made planning at Ground Zero a process of byzantine complexity have not gone away. If anything, they have become more intense." (New Yorker)

WTC Occupants Have First Claim on Offices - Jan 3, 2003
The landlord of the World Trade Center towers has promised his former tenants first dibs on space in offices that eventually will be built at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned. Larry Silverstein, who signed a 99-year lease for the twin towers in the summer of 2001, made the promise at an informal gathering of downtown redevelopment officials on Dec. 19. (New York Daily News)

WTC Hearings To Be Simulcast - Jan 3, 2003
Participants at different locations in the city and on Long Island will be able to voice their comments on the future of the World Trade Center site at two public forums scheduled for Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, officials announced yesterday. The forums will be conducted from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night in the Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University in lower Manhattan and will be broadcast simultaneously on large screens at locations in all five boroughs and Long Island. (Newsday)

World Trade Center Designs Questioned - Jan 3, 2003
Ideas for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, presented last December amid a blaze of publicity, are being questioned by specialists. Architects were told to be bold and take risks. But for all their inventiveness and imagination, real-estate experts and those involved in the complicated planning process say that none of these super-tall towers will probably be built. (BBC News)

Architects Criticize Ground Zero Publicity - Jan 1, 2003
While architects have publicly proclaimed the World Trade Center site proposals displayed at the Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan as the greatest architecture show ever, many have privately expressed reservations about the designs' details, the handling of the competition and even the spotlight in which the contestants now stand. The development corporation has frequently said that the object of the competition, a master land-use plan, is not to "include the detailed architecture of individual structures." But many architects worry that the teams' detailed models and impressively realistic video presentations will encourage the public to perceive them as concrete plans. (New York Times)

Subway Link for AirTrain Could Be Costlier than Predicted - Dec 30, 2002
Newly discovered engineering problems could add significantly to the cost of a proposed $1.9 billion subway connection between lower Manhattan and the AirTrain commuter rail station at Jamaica, Queens. The so-called Super Shuttle proposal has been pushed by downtown landowner Brookfield Properties as a quick and relatively affordable way of creating access to lower Manhattan. (New York Post)

Trade Center Plans Exhibit Helps Retailers at Winter Garden - Dec 26, 2002
Let there be ...Christmas lights adorn the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, where World Trade Center designs are on display. The exhibit of nine new World Trade Center designs at the Winter Garden has been a holiday gift to several merchants at the World Financial Center. The plans have attracted thousands of visitors since they went on display last Thursday - bringing welcome foot traffic to the shops and restaurants that ring the Winter Garden. (New York Daily News)

WTC Grant Deadline Approaches - Dec 26, 2002
It's last call for downtown businesses looking for a shot of cash. The World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, which has handed out $437 million to 10,579 struggling downtown businesses since the Sept.11 attacks, will stop taking applications Dec. 31. There's $44 million in grant money left. (New York Daily News)

Could The World Trade Center Become The World Cultural Center? - Dec 25, 2002
When architect Rafael Viñoly unveiled the proposal for a World Cultural Center to replace the World Trade Center, he called it "a little bit extreme." On closer inspection, however, this plan developed by the THINK team (Shigeru Ban, Frederic Schwartz, Ken Smith, and Viñoly) opens new possibilities even as it opens the sky. Among the nine new designs broached for ground zero, this was the only one not focused on office space. (Village Voice)

Architects Defend Plans - Dec 25, 2002
World-renowned architects defended their Ground Zero plans yesterday against former Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he slammed them for stressing big buildings and not a memorial. "I think that Rudy's playing both ends against the middle," said architect Peter Eisenman, who submitted one of the nine new plans. (New York Post)

Wils: Bloomberg Plan Threatens Historic Districts - Dec 24, 2002
Madelyn Wils, the chairperson of Community Board 1, says that Mayor Mike Bloomberg's vision for Lower Manhattan poses a threat to historic districts in the Seaport and Tribeca. Wils told fellow C.B. 1 members that Bloomberg's plan, announced Dec. 12, includes a housing tower on the post office site in the Seaport's landmark district. "What we do not support - will not negotiate further on is the protection of our historic districts," Wils said at the full board meeting Dec. 17.        (Downtown Express)

Giuliani Criticizes WTC Plans - Dec 24, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani panned the new design proposals for Ground Zero yesterday, saying they fail to capture the profound meaning of Sept. 11. "None of them accomplished overall what I thought should be [done]," Giuliani said of the nine plans released last week. (New York Post)

Port Authority Design Engrages Silverstein - Dec 23, 2002
A fuming twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein showed Port Authority architects the door after the developer saw the agency's Ground Zero work, sources said yesterday. That's because a design by architect Stanton Eckstut would create a truck access ramp and loading docks at Greenwich St., preventing the roadway from being fully restored through the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

WTC Plan Deadline Extended - Dec 22, 2002
A final World Trade Center site plan will be chosen within two months, said a key planning official, brushing off critics worried there isn't enough time to analyze the nine plans presented Wednesday by seven teams of renowned architects. After a two-week break, a joint committee of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and Port Authority officials will meet in January to decide on a final plan, committee chairman Roland Betts said Friday. He added that if the decision isn't made by Feb. 1, it will be made by Feb. 15. (Newsday)

Foster's Design Top Among Post Readers - Dec 20, 2002
British architect Norman Foster's bold twin towers - which would be the world's tallest - emerged yesterday as a slim favorite in a Post Web poll on the new World Trade Center designs. But the survey also found there was no overwhelming favorite among the nine new designs - which could complicate matters for redevelopment officials as they seek public input. (New York Post)

New Plans Praised, Criticized - Dec 20, 2002
The nine new visions for Ground Zero were praised yesterday for their innovation and visually stunning images. But one common theme - the L-shaped formation of buildings around the so-called bathtub area, which includes the twin towers' footprints - was criticized yesterday as unimaginative. (New York Daily News)

New WTC Models On Public Display - Dec 20, 2002
Hundreds of people flocked to the Winter Garden last night to see the newest collection of plans for the World Trade Center site, in an impromptu opening before today's official public display of the exhibition featuring nine designs. (Newsday)

Experts Say Enormous Office Towers Ignore Downtown's Realities - Dec 20, 2002
The new World Trade Center designs may be eye-catching and inventive - but no one is likely to build the super-tall towers many of them propose, developers, architects and real-estate experts said yesterday. Many of the designs call for building enormous office towers that would dwarf the old World Trade Center buildings and be the tallest in the world. But critics said proposals like British architect Norman Foster's 1,764-foot "kissing" towers - taller than the original Twin Towers - ignore the realities of the real estate market. (New York Post)

Rebuilding Below Ground Zero Is at Issue - Dec 20, 2002
For months, vocal family members of the World Trade Center dead have called for the one-acre squares where the twin towers stood to be preserved for a memorial to the victims, not only on the surface but also down to the bedrock some 85 feet below street level. On Wednesday, when new plans for the site by seven groups of architects were unveiled, several drew on that sentiment. But if those plans are adopted, space reserved for a memorial below ground level could create significant challenges for officials in planning the underground elements of a rebuilt trade center site. (New York Times)

Fast-track Public Process Leaves Just Weeks for Public Input - Dec 19, 2002
Downtown planners are hoping that one or two of the design proposals for Ground Zero emerge as clear public favorites - making it easier for them to narrow their options in the hurry-up time frame they've been ordered to meet. (New York Post)

Victims' Families Preferred Designs with Most Memorial Space - Dec 19, 2002
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims showed an early preference for two of the new World Trade Center designs unveiled yesterday: the pair with the greatest area set aside for memorial space. The designs by Studio Daniel Libeskind and United Architects met with approval from family members concerned with preserving the "bathtub," the six-acre expanse bounded by retaining walls built to keep seepage from the Hudson River away from the original Twin Towers. (New York Post)

Plans Call for Millions of Square Feet of Offices - Dec 19, 2002
If you can sell it, they may come. That was the practical assessment of real-estate experts, who said yesterday that the World Trade Center rebuilding plan that excites a potential user for the office and retail space is the one that will be economically feasible. The plans presented yesterday contain millions of square feet of offices, shops and hotels that along with public spaces, cultural and transportation facilities, will cost billions of dollars to construct. (Newsday)

In Design World, A Mixed Reaction - Dec 19, 2002
The nine visions for the World Trade Center unveiled by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. yesterday left architects and urban design experts feeling excited, puzzled, irritated and overwhelmed. But some observers pointed out that, imaginative though they were, all the proposals were shaped by a narrow yet ambitious program issued by the development corporation, which required a massive scale and millions of square feet in office space. (Newsday)

Plans for Ground Zero Unveiled - Dec 19, 2002
Seven teams of architects from around the world unveiled new designs for the World Trade Center site yesterday, giving a remarkable civic tutorial on architecture and contemporary urban design aimed at mending the hole left in Lower Manhattan by the Sept. 11 attack. The designs, the subject of secrecy and speculation since the teams began work 12 weeks ago, include a broad array of elements: quiet memorial gardens and scenic plazas in the sky, soaring towers of bare scaffolding and sprawling canopies of glass. Four include what would be the tallest building in the world, and all set aside an area for a memorial to the victims of 9/11. (New York Times)

Next: Funding WTC Projects - Dec 18, 2002
Not too long after the new plans for Lower Manhattan are released Wednesday, the discussion will quickly move to a less visionary topic: money. In recent months, what amounts to a preliminary budget for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan has begun to form. Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered the most detailed public cost breakdown last week. (Newsday)

Unveiling Today for WTC Designs - Dec 18, 2002
Shallow pools of water where the twin towers once stood. A memorial museum leading to the bedrock below. Trees studded with lights honoring the 2,800 World Trade Center victims. A structure soaring nearly 1,800 feet into the sky - 500 feet taller than the fallen towers. Those are some of the ideas the public will see when lower Manhattan planners pull back the curtain on nine designs for the Trade Center site today, capping eight weeks of intense work by some of the world's best architects. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Architects Warned: No Leaking Plans - Dec 17, 2002
Hearing reports that The New York Times planned to publish photographs, drawings and other visual images that previewed rebuilding plans for the World Trade Center site, a state agency warned architects against cooperating with the paper. (Newsday)

WTC Architect Team Also Worked on Mayor's Downtown Project - Dec 17, 2002
The architects who designed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision for downtown also have a plan for the World Trade Center site. Peterson Littenberg Architects, which won a $375,000 contract to provide consulting services for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. in May, is one of seven teams presenting their trade center visions tomorrow. (Newsday)

Families, Residents Offer WTC Plan - Dec 17, 2002
The World Trade Center site should be divided into three sections, including a nine-acre memorial area containing the footprints of the Twin Towers, a coalition of residents, architects and family groups said yesterday. The proposals emerged from several meetings among members of the different interest groups over the past few months which had been often portrayed at odds in the redevelopment process. (Newsday)

City Considers Plan to Control Billions in Ground Zero Insurance Proceeds - Dec 17, 2002
City officials looking to pay for Mayor Bloomberg's vision of a revamped downtown are considering a plan that - within a year - could give them control of the billions in insurance proceeds due on the World Trade Center. Under the scenario, to which Bloomberg alluded last week when he outlined his grand scheme for lower Manhattan, the city would first have to strike a deal with the Port Authority to transfer ownership of the 16-acre site. (New York Post)

Architects Are Proud of Their WTC Plans - Dec 16, 2002
Architect Daniel Libeskind, whose firm is one of seven teams creating new schemes for the World Trade Center site, said the work that went into the designs was intensely complex - and must be treated that way. "It's not just "a project that is a pretty picture," Libeskind said of the work, which the teams had just eight weeks to develop. (New York Daily News)

9 New Towers Among WTC Plans to be Unveiled - Dec 16, 2002
From filling Ground Zero with nine office towers to seven memorial locations that extend beyond its boundaries, the new plans for the World Trade Center site show distinctly different ways of rebuilding what was lost Sept. 11. The plans by seven teams will be unveiled Wednesday and include a sphere to dominate downtown's skyline and the world's tallest building, at approximately 1,500 feet. (Newsday)

New Designs to Be Unveiled Wednesday - Dec 16, 2002
When seven teams of architects unveil their designs for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, the public will be treated to an unusual seminar on innovative design and architecture that is rarely a part of normal civic life. A news conference to introduce the designs — a three-hour presentation, to be broadcast live on local television and edited into a videotape that will be available at every public library in the city — will include discourses from the architects themselves, models of their work and drawings of views from the tops of buildings and upon emerging from the subway. (New York Times)

Architects: Judge New WTC Designs On More Than Aesthetics - Dec 15, 2002
Designs for a redeveloped Ground Zero will be unveiled Wednesday, and architects are pleading with the public - don't judge a building by its cover. A group of local architects, independent of the official redevelopment effort, are holding workshops at the South Street Seaport this weekend, developing aids for public understanding of the new designs based more on their impact to the area than aesthetics. (New York Post)

Transit Officials Study A Quick Trip to Lower Manhattan for Commuters - Dec 14, 2002
Transit officials are mulling a plan to whisk Long Island Rail Road riders and airport travelers to lower Manhattan by using a track on the J subway line, sources said yesterday. The move, being studied by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would allow LIRR commuters and Kennedy Airport passengers to take a new super-express to lower Manhattan from the Jamaica station in Queens. The express would use a third line of track on the J and Z line, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Development Corporation to Hold More Hearings on WTC Plans - Dec 13, 2002
The agency overseeing the redevelopment of lower Manhattan said yesterday it would boost public input on a new set of designs for Ground Zero to be unveiled Wednesday. Amid criticism that it wasn't allowing the public enough opportunity to weigh in, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said it would hold at least three hearings in addition to sponsoring an ongoing exhibit of the new designs. (New York Daily News)

New Designs for 9/11 Site to Be Shown to the Public - Dec 13, 2002
A sx-week public exhibit at the World Financial Center and public hearings in New York and New Jersey will be part of an effort by rebuilding officials to gather comment on the new designs for the World Trade Center site that will be unveiled next week. The plans for gathering comment on the new designs have upset the leaders of some civic groups that have been active in the public discussion on the rebuilding. (New York Times)

Development Corporation Ready for Next Step - Dec 13, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday authorized $300,000 to pay for the work of whichever teams are picked to refine their designs for the World Trade Center site. A final site plan, to be negotiated between LMDC and the Port Authority, is due Jan. 31. (Newsday)

Mayor's Proposal Envisions Lower Manhattan as an Urban Hamlet - Dec 13, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday offered his vision of the future of Lower Manhattan: a collection of neighborhoods stitched together by large parks and broad pedestrian walkways, with a direct mass transit link to Kennedy Airport via a new tunnel under the East River. Under Mr. Bloomberg's plan, Lower Manhattan would essentially be transformed from an ailing financial center with pockets of residential developments into an urban hamlet of housing, schools, libraries and movie theaters, as well as other businesses, some of which would benefit from a generous new federal tax package. (New York Times)

Mayor to Unveil His Plan for Downtown's Future - Dec 12, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg will formally weigh in today on the debate over the future of lower Manhattan and unveil his vision for the district. In a speech he will give today, Bloomberg is expected to announce an overall strategy that looks beyond the 16 acres of the World Trade Center site and attempts to articulate a future for the entire district - a sprawling area that stretches from the ritzy, almost suburban, confines of Battery Park City in the west to the gritty streets of Chinatown in the east. (Newsday)

Developer Seeks $43 Million in Liberty Bonds for Market Rate Housing - Dec 11, 2002
A developer has requested $43 million in tax-free Liberty Bonds to create 91 new apartments downtown. The project involves the renovation of 13 loft buildings and the construction of three new buildings on both sides of Front Street, between Beekman Street and Peck Slip. Nearly all the new apartments would rent at market rates. (New York Post)

Many Call for Forums on Lower Manhattan - Dec 11, 2002
Claiming that redevelopment agencies need to do more public outreach, a coalition of civic groups asked for another interactive public forum to collect ideas for downtown. The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, a coalition of more than 75 business, community and environmental groups, wants the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the Port Authority and the city to sponsor another "Listening to the City" session after the Dec. 19 release of new plans for the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Council Criticizes Tax-free, Luxury Housing Projects - Dec 11, 2002
Councilmembers and housing advocates pressed city and state officials on Monday to allocate more Liberty Bond funding for affordable housing. At a joint hearing of the City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings and the Select Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, City Councilmember Alan Gerson and others questioned officials charged with oversight of the Liberty Bonds. (Downtown Express)

A Huge Glass Room Proposed for WTC Site - Dec 10, 2002
One of the architecture teams working on designs for Ground Zero has proposed building what could be the world's biggest room - an enormous enclosed public space sitting over the footprints of the Twin Towers. The room and several other proposals from three of the seven international design teams working to reimagine Ground Zero were shown behind closed doors yesterday to officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority. (New York Post)

WTC Plans Include Designs for World's Tallest Building - Dec 10, 2002
Several new plans for Ground Zero call for erecting what would be the tallest building in the world on the disaster site - giving terror-battered lower Manhattan a new, distinctive skyline, sources said yesterday. The new skyscraper would rise about 1,500 feet, eclipsing the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, which stand 1,483 feet. (New York Daily News)

Master Plan for WTC Site Will Be Done By Jan 31 - Dec 10, 2002
Rebuilding officials said yesterday that the master plan for the World Trade Center site would be done by Jan. 31, just six weeks after proposals from seven teams of architects are presented to the public. The rapid timeline means officials will be soliciting public comment on the design teams' new ideas at the same time that the two lead rebuilding agencies are ruling out some of the ideas. (New York Times)

Many Concerned About Public Input for New WTC Plans - Dec 9, 2002
As lower Manhattan rebuilding officials move toward finalizing a new master plan for Ground Zero, concern is growing among civic leaders about how much input the public will have. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will release seven new designs for the World Trade Center site next week - and a final plan is scheduled to be selected by February. But the agency has no intention of holding a forum similar to the summer's sprawling Listening to the City event at the Javits Center. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Bid For Taxpayer-Subsidized Bonds On Hold - Dec 7, 2002
City officials have delayed a decision on World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein's bid for $400 million in taxpayer-subsidized bonds - saying they want to make sure he really needs the money. Silverstein is applying for $400 million of Liberty bonds, which are exempt from taxes. Silverstein said 7 World Trade Center, the first building to rise again at the site, would cost $700 million. He is due to receive more than $800 million in insurance for the destroyed buildings. (New York Post)

Tomson Urges Real Estate Leaders to Become More Involved Downtown - Dec 6, 2002
Concerned that a third of the commercial space near Ground Zero could become vacant by 2006, a top rebuilding official urged real estate leaders yesterday to get more involved in lower Manhattan's recovery. "If there ever was a critical time to be heard from, it's now," said Lou Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

Students Unveil Their Visions for WTC Site - Dec 4, 2002
Two weeks before the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. unveils the designs of seven teams of architects, and a week before Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces his vision for lower Manhattan, 48 architecture students at the New York Institute of Technology displayed models of what they want to see on the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Trade Center Designs Will Be Shown Dec. 18 - Dec 3, 2002
Seven potential new designs for the World Trade Center site will be unveiled in a ceremony on Dec. 18 at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center, a top rebuilding executive said yesterday, with a final development plan for the site to be selected by the end of February. The executive, Louis R. Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said the agency would gather public comments on the seven designs to help it choose which features would become part of the final master plan for the site. (New York Times)

Siverstein May Pay For Construction with Taxpayer-Subsidized Bonds - Dec 2, 2002
Developer Larry Silverstein has submitted an application to finance the new 7 World Trade Center office with $400 million in Liberty Bonds, which are exempt from federal, state and city taxes. The city turned down requests from The Post to release documents about the project - whose financing appears far less straightforward than the developer has indicated. (New York Post)

State D.O.T. Skeptical of Long West St. tunnel - Nov 27, 2002
State Transportation officials, without burying the idea explicitly, nevertheless expressed skepticism last week that a long tunnel on West Street would make economic sense. Tim Gilcrest, the state Department of Transportation's director of planning, did not say he had ruled out a tunnel under the roadway, but he cited two numbers which presumably would make it hard to convince D.O.T. to build the tunnel. One is the cost, which his agency estimates to be $3 billion, not the $2 billion some tunnel proponents cite. The second is the fact that the state estimates only 30 to 40 percent of the Downtown 9A traffic would choose the tunnel over the at-grade roadway that would be built above. (Downtown Express)

Lower Manhattan Site Picked for New High School - Nov 26, 2002
A new city high school - envisioned as part of lower Manhattan's renaissance - finally has a home near Ground Zero, sources said last night. School officials concluded their search for permanent digs for Millennium High School yesterday by getting space in a large office building at 75 Broad St., sources said. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Won't Be Part of Ground Zero Design Display - Nov 23, 2002
A lower Manhattan planner asked the Port Authority yesterday to unveil its master plan alongside other new designs for Ground Zero next month - but the bistate agency turned him down. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board member Roland Betts, head of the agency's site-planning subcommittee, told the Gotham Gazette in an online interview that he has invited the Port Authority to present the work at the Winter Garden next month, when as many as nine plans for the World Trade Center site will be unveiled. Port Authority spokesman Michael Petralia insisted the agency is working jointly with the corporation on the plan and that it simply isn't done yet. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Releasing Their Own Master Plan For Ground Zero - Nov 22, 2002
The Port Authority will release its own master plan for the World Trade Center site by February, detailing the memorial’s size and location and transportation improvements, the agency’s executive director said Thursday. The master plan, being developed by architects hired by the Port Authority, will include mass transit, vehicular and pedestrian access and the minimum and maximum square footage of the commercial space. (Newsday)

Rebuilding Official Praises Designs For World Trade Center Site - Nov 22, 2002
Seven architecture teams commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to design plans for Ground Zero have created work that is "astoundingly innovative, creative and exciting," according to Roland W. Betts, a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation director. Memorials on the tops of buildings and below ground, a formal 19th-century-style garden and the tallest building in the world are among the elements included in several new sets of plans being drawn up for the World Trade Center site, according to rebuilding officials who have seen them. (New York Times)

Planners Commit To Doubling Retail Space At Ground Zero - Nov 21, 2002
The chairman of the company that holds the rights to build retail stores at the World Trade Center site said yesterday that officials assured him that his company, which has been quiet in public discussions about the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, will now have a more active role in planning the effort. Frank Lowy, chairman of the Westfield Group, an Australian operator of shopping malls, said that in a meeting yesterday, senior officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation also committed to trying to build more than twice the amount of retail space that existed on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

Design Announced For 7 World Trade Center - Nov 21, 2002
Developer Larry Silverstein released his designs for a new 7 World Trade Center on Wednesday. The 750-foot glass and steel office tower will have reinforced concrete walls, increased amounts of structural steel, double the required fireproofing materials and wider staircases than required by code. Located across Vesey Street from the trade center site, the $700-million tower will be the first building to rise again at Ground Zero. (Newsday)

Larry Silverstein To Announce Plans for 7 World Trade Center - Nov 20, 2002
Marking an important step in the rebuilding of ground zero, developer Larry Silverstein is set to release plans on Wednesday for a new 7 World Trade Center, just north of where the twin towers stood. The 52-story lower Manhattan office tower will incorporate "cutting-edge safety and environmental features," Silverstein's spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said Tuesday. The new building will be narrower than its 47-story predecessor so that Greenwich Street, formerly cut off by 7 World Trade Center, can be restored. (Newsday)

Critics Pan Commuter Subway - Nov 19, 2002
A superfast subway train for Long Island commuters going downtown won't save enough time to be worth the multibillion-dollar price tag, critics say. The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown, a coalition of more than 75 business, community and environmental groups, voted last week to oppose the plan floated by Brookfield Financial Properties, which could take five years to build. About two-thirds of potential commuters using the so-called "supershuttle" would only save three minutes or less, according to their analysis. (Newsday)

Talks On Airport-Ground Zero Land Swap Not Progressing - Nov 19, 2002
A land swap proposal that would have given the city control of Ground Zero and a much-needed cash infusion is dead, according to the Daily News. The general outline of the deal, first floated in August, called for the city to trade Kennedy and LaGuardia airports to the Port Authority for the 16-acre World Trade Center site. But the short-lived talks never progressed far enough to involve specific financial terms, officials said. (New York Daily News)

Officials Debate How To Unveil New Ground Zero Plans - Nov 18, 2002
Ground Zero planners are grappling with how best to show the public the new round of World Trade Center designs set to be unveiled next month. The designs, replete with memorial and office spaces, will be completed before the middle of December. The possibilities for exhibiting the new designs include a live broadcast at the glass atrium Winter Garden, which overlooks the site. Each design team would be given about 20 minutes of air time to detail its work. A tape of the broadcast then could be distributed to TV outlets. (New York Daily News)

Some Victims' Families Feel Influence on 9/11 Memorial Slipping Away - Nov 16, 2002
One of the most potent political forces to rise from the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center -- the widows and other family members of those killed last year on Sept. 11 -- has found its influence over the rebuilding and memorial efforts gradually but significantly eroding. (New York Times)

Downtown Questions Olympic Plan - Nov 14, 2002
Two of the leading representatives of Lower Manhattan say they are concerned that the city's push to capture the Olympics in 2012 may divert attention from Downtown transportation and rebuilding projects. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Madelyn Wils, chairperson of Community Board 1 and a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., both said they saw potential problems with the Olympic bid, during separate telephone interviews. (Downtown Express)

Temporary PATH Hub Will Become Permanent - Nov 13, 2002
A temporary PATH station being constructed on the bedrock of Ground Zero may not be so temporary after all. A top rebuilding official revealed yesterday that the bare-bones temporary hub between Greenwich and Church Sts. will be used as the foundation for a permanent station. (New York Daily News)

Designs Unveiled for Transit Hub at Ground Zero - Nov 13, 2002
Demonstrating the speed with which planning at the World Trade Center site is taking place, Port Authority officials showed early designs for a permanent transportation hub at the site today, incorporating many elements of the temporary PATH station that is already being built. The preliminary designs include a soaring glass atrium that would allow subway and rail passengers to see skyscrapers towering overhead from several floors below ground level, enabling them to orient themselves to where they are in the downtown landscape almost as soon as they step off the trains. (New York Times)

Tall Tower Near Ground Zero Is Proposed - Nov 12, 2002
A developer who has built a dozen residential towers in the relatively safe environs of the East Side now wants to plunge into uncertain waters downtown, with a new 90-story skyscraper that would be the second-tallest building in New York City — and only a block from Ground Zero. Trevor Davis has designs for a building that would be 1,050 feet tall, 4 feet taller than the Chrysler Building, but 200 feet shorter than the Empire State Building, on a block at Broadway and Fulton Street. (New York Times)

Downtown Planners May Give FDR Drive a New Design - Nov 11, 2002
Planners overseeing lower Manhattan's comeback from the terror attacks are considering new designs for a portion of the FDR Drive south of the Brooklyn Bridge, officials said. The east waterfront access design has become a critical concern of planners -- and it is expected to be included when Mayor Bloomberg unveils his vision for lower Manhattan next month. (New York Daily News)

Growing Concern Over Public Input for WTC Site Designs - Nov 9, 2002
As lower Manhattan rebuilding officials move toward finalizing a new master plan for Ground Zero, concern is growing among civic leaders about how much input the public will have. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will release seven new designs for the World Trade Center site next week - and a final plan is scheduled to be selected by February. But the agency has no intention of holding a forum similar to the summer's sprawling Listening to the City event at the Javits Center. (New York Daily News)

New WTC Designs To Be Directly Shown to Public - Nov 8, 2002
The latest designs by Ground Zero architects will be brought directly to the public next month in two exhibits set up by curators from the Museum of Modern Art, officials said yesterday. Models and pictures of the designs will be displayed at the World Financial Center in mid-December, probably at the Winter Garden. At the same time, MoMA will display some of the same materials in its temporary space in Queens, said Terrence Riley, the chief curator for architecture and design. (New York Post)

City Says Olympic Plans Won't Hurt WTC Rebuilding Efforts - Nov 4, 2002
The city's $5-billion commitment to the 2012 Olympic Games will not overshadow its commitment to the World Trade Center site, promised government and labor leaders, who applauded the economic impact of the summer games. Rather than taking resources from the redevelopment of lower Manhattan, the bid will help the city rebuild long after the "extraordinary spirit" generated by the Sept. 11 attacks has faded, said Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who leads the downtown rebuilding effort and the Olympic bid. (Newsday)

Vocal Groups Continue to Call for Rebuilt Towers - Nov 2, 2002
Politicians and planners have repeatedly dismissed the idea of rebuilding the World Trade Center towers, saying it is not economically feasible because few people want to work 100 stories above ground, especially at ground zero. But a few vocal groups of tower supporters insist that a large segment of the public is on their side. These small groups, which say they have gathered thousands of names on petitions in support of their goal, have continued to put up billboards, manage Web sites, speak and pass out leaflets at public hearings, often generating enthusiastic responses (New York Times)

WTC Site Designers Including Much Office Space - Nov 1, 2002
Several Ground Zero architects are thinking bigger may be better - offering surprising designs that increase the office space on the site well beyond guidelines intended to trim the trade center's square footage, a development official said yesterday. (New York Post)

Port Authority Continues Plans for Underground Walkway on WTC Site - Nov 1, 2002
Port Authority planners are still considering running an underground walkway below the footprint of one of the Twin Towers - even though families of World Trade Center victims and some development officials oppose it. (New York Post)

Small Firm Figures In LMDC's Plans - Oct 31, 2002
While six teams of world-renowned architects were hired to develop new visions for the World Trade Center site to great acclaim, a seventh team is quietly developing its own plans for the site. The two-person firm of Peterson/Littenberg Architecture & Urban Design, hired in May to serve as in-house architects to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., will draw up plans using the same guidelines as its competitors. (Newsday)

City Council Issues Report on Downtown Greenmarket - Oct 31, 2002
Among the myriad ideas for how best to develop the former site of the World Trade Center and revitalize the downtown economy, add marketplace. A study issued last week examines the feasibility of several types of markets, ultimately suggesting a 42,000 square foot market hall be built as part of the WTC redevelopment project. (Downtown Express)

List of 9/11 Transit Projects Sent to Washington - Oct 29, 2002
The first batch of lower Manhattan transit projects to be paid for with post-9/11 federal aid has been quietly sent to Washington for approval, sources said yesterday. The transit wish list was compiled after months of sometimes contentious meetings among the Port Authority, Lower Manhattan Development Corp., state and city transportation officials and elected leaders, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). (New York Daily News)

Port Authority, City May Clash Over Rebuilding Office Space - Oct 28, 2002
A new set of guidelines for Ground Zero, meant to reduce square footage on the site, has set the battle lines for a potentially bitter real-estate fight between the Port Authority and the city. With pressure growing to peel office space from the trade center, the authority has insisted that any reduction below 10 million square feet be made up by allowing the agency to build elsewhere in lower Manhattan. But city officials are adamantly opposed to letting the bistate agency extend its reach beyond the 16 acres of Ground Zero. (New York Post)

Planners Urge Decisions on Downtown - Oct 24, 2002
Last night, a half-dozen chairmen and chairwomen of the New York City Planning Commission, past and present, whose experience goes back to the days before the World Trade Center was built, said that the planning process in Lower Manhattan must begin showing results soon if it is to counter the very real threat that downtown could lose the financial-service industry, its economic backbone. (New York Times)

Expert Report Disputes U.S. on Trade Center Collapse - Oct 22, 2002
Experts commissioned in a $4 billion insurance case involving the World Trade Center have come to conclusions that fundamentally contradict a federal investigation into what caused the twin towers to collapse. The new analysis, according to several experts who have examined the confidential findings, holds that the unusual engineering design of the towers did not contribute to the collapses, and that the damage caused by the planes and the resulting fires made the failures of the buildings inevitable. (New York Times)

9/11 Family Members: New Guidelines Give Back Seat to Memorial - Oct 18, 2002
Relatives of World Trade Center victims are speaking out against the new guidelines for the rebuilding of Ground Zero - fearing a memorial to their loved ones continues to take a back seat to commercial development. (New York Post)

3 Plazas Could Border WTC Site - Oct 17, 2002
Three new public spaces could be created along the edge of Ground Zero within the next five years under a preliminary concept being put together by a prominent architect hired by the Port Authority. The inviting open areas would take in 7 World Trade Center, St. Paul's Chapel and 1 Liberty Plaza, helping to reconnect the disaster site to the rest of the city. (New York Daily News)

Transit Hub Plans May Raze Broadway Buildings - Oct 17, 2002
A plan to build a new Fulton Transit Center to better connect downtown subway lines may include razing some buildings on Broadway. Merchants on a commercial stretch of Broadway near ground zero expressed their dismay last week at a transit proposal to raze their block to make room for a renovated subway complex at the Broadway/Nassau St./Fulton St. station. (Downtown Express)

Brooklyn Battery Decks Could Be Used for Apartments - Oct 15, 2002
Downtown planners may build a deck over the entrance ramp to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, reclaiming the space for apartment buildings. Decking over the tunnel entrance and exit ramps - and replacing the Battery parking garage - would make usable some three square blocks that could eventually hold more than 1,000 apartments, said sources familiar with the idea. (New York Post)

Battery Park City "Green" Building May be a Sign of Downtown's Future - Oct 15, 2002
20 River Terrace, begun early last year just a few blocks from the World Trade Center, was to be the world's most environmentally correct residential high-rise, its developers said — an air-purified, solar-paneled monument to the marriage of mother earth and technological gee-whiz. Now as construction resumes after a 10-month break during the cleanup of ground zero, the 27-story tower has become even more than the sum of its ambitions, builders and environmentalists say. (New York Times)

Debate Rages Over Transit Downtown - Oct 12, 2002
A pitched battle over the $4.55 billion set aside for transit in Lower Manhattan is already being waged behind the scenes, fueled by a debate that many say could determine the future of downtown: Should the money be spent only to improve the transit lines already there? Or should it also be used to bring in new train service, for the first time making downtown as accessible to suburban commuters as Midtown has always been? (New York Times)

Architects Get WTC Site Plans - Oct 12, 2002
Six teams of architects set off Friday on an eight-week course to plan the future layout of the World Trade Center site, as officials released a new set of program requirements, including a range of office space and a large transit station at Fulton and Greenwich Streets. The teams received a day-long briefing Friday from officials and a tour of Ground Zero. (Newsday)

New WTC Airtrain Plan - Oct 11, 2002
Travelers could hop on a train at the World Trade Center and speed to Kennedy Airport, under an ambitious and costly proposal being considered by downtown planners, rebuilding officials said yesterday. The idea, under study by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the city Planning Department, is part of a broader concept to market lower Manhattan as an "international center" that would draw companies wanting quick access to Kennedy and Newark airports. (New York Post)

WTC Site's Near Future Looks Alot Like Current Construction - Oct 10, 2002
Wrangling over long-range master planning — commercial space, commuter rail links, the memorial itself — has obscured the reality that the trade center site is being rebuilt now, without town hall meetings, architectural competitions or much public debate. The new PATH station and viewing wall being built right now will be the physical reality experienced for years by hundreds of thousands of visitors and workers in Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

LMDC: Fewer Offices, More Options in Planning for Ground Zero - Oct 10, 2002
Officials overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan agreed yesterday to give designers more flexibility in planning the future of the World Trade Center site, reducing by 40 percent the amount of the commercial space that must be included in plans for it. The new instructions are to be given tomorrow to six new teams of architects, artists and designers selected last month to work on innovative plans to rejuvenate the symbolic heart of the financial district. (New York Times)

Downtown Transit Funds Spark Battle - Oct 9, 2002
A battle over federal funds for downtown transportation projects has broken out among City Hall, the Port Authority and the MTA - stalling key decisions on transit issues considered central to reviving lower Manhattan. (New York Post)

Silverstein: Still Wants Entire WTC Office Space Rebuilt - Oct 9, 2002
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein insisted yesterday that there is "an enormous need" to rebuild every inch of office and retail space destroyed by the terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)

LMDC: Fewer Offices at Site - Oct 9, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. expects "a substantial reduction" in office space required for the World Trade Center site to allow for less density and more freedom in redesigning the site, its president said yesterday. (Newsday)

No Plans to Fix or Demolish Deutsche Bank - Oct 9, 2002
Across the street from ground zero, a 50-story, black-netted, damaged and contaminated building hovers over the site as well as the rest of the Lower Manhattan. No one has any idea what is going to happen to the building at 130 Liberty St., but executives working with the owners, Deutsche Bank, recently told Community Board 1 officials that even if the bank decides to demolish the building, it would take two years to do. (Downtown Express)

Hundreds of Downtown Residents Paid to Stay - Oct 8, 2002
Checks will go out this month to more than 300 downtown residents who were among the first to be approved for a series of federal grants aimed at keeping people in lower Manhattan, development officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

Underground Concourse Idea For Transit Hub Criticized - Oct 7, 2002
Ambitious plans for an underground concourse linking new downtown transit centers and the Hudson River have met with quiet but growing criticism that could doom what was once billed as a centerpiece of the rebuilding effort. "The glory of New York is the streets,"said Hugh Hardy, an architect who examined the concourse idea for the civic group New York New Visions. "These gruesome tunnels ought to be reimagined as public space, not just transportation connections." (New York Post)

West Street Tunnel Not As Expensive As People Think, Says One Landowner - Oct 4, 2002
A West Street tunnel could be built in lower Manhattan for far less than the $2.8 billion estimated by development officials -- making it feasible to create a grand promenade from the Battery to Ground Zero, a major downtown landowner says. Engineering consultants working for Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center across West Street from Ground Zero, said one method of building the tunnel would be faster and cost less than other plans, and West Street could be buried from the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to Murray Street in 31/2 years at a cost of $1.2 billion, a Brookfield official said Wednesday in a presentation to Community Board 1. (New York Post)

Senator Schumers Backs Away From Criticism Of Use of Transit Funds - Oct 3, 2002
Sen. Charles Schumer is backing off his wish that a pot of federal money for lower Manhattan go only to a "Grand Central Station" downtown instead of a string of other pricey projects, officials said yesterdaySchumer's apparent change-of-heart came after he met with officials overseeing rebuilding downtown, aides said. "It seems there's enough money for both," Schumer spokesman Phil Singer said. (New York Post)

Schumer And Pataki Argue Over Using Rebuilding Funds - Sep 30, 2002
A battle is shaping up between Senator Charles Schumer and Gov. George Pataki over hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to rebuild Lower Manhattan in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. Schumer is seeking to block nearly $700 million in transportation projects being considered by several agencies under the control of Pataki. Schumer said he was concerned that devoting $700 million of that aid to projects unrelated to 9/11 would shortchange the projects directly related to the attack, mainly the construction of a transit center linking the subway and PATH lines around the trade center site. (New York Times)

Architects Debate Whether Or Not To Rebuild At Forum - Sep 30, 2002
At the first Columbia University Seminar on Art and Society at the New-York Historical Society, Daniel Libeskind, the architect who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, and Sherwin B. Nuland, the author of "How We Die," argued about one question concerning the rebuilding at the World Trade Center site: Should there be something rather than nothing? Or nothing rather than something? (New York Times)

Poll Finds Many New Yorkers Would Not Work In Very Tall Buildings - Sep 29, 2002
A New York Times/CBS News Poll conducted in late August found that most New Yorkers would be unwilling to work high up in a tall structure at ground zero. In the poll, 53 percent said they would be unwilling to work high up in a new building at the site. Only 39 percent were willing. Seven percent had no opinion. Asked if the new buildings should be as tall as the twin towers, only 32 percent said yes. Fifty-nine percent said no. (New York Times)

Putting A Rush On World Trade Center Designs - Sep 28, 2002
Six teams of architects have until late November to come up with new designs for Ground Zero - and some of the builders say that's not enough time. "This is not the kind of project one would want to see rushed," said Jesse Reiser, an architect with Reiser & Umemoto in Manhattan, a member of one of the teams. "There should have been more time.""It can't be as complex as it should be in that time frame," said architect Charles Gwathmey, the designer of Morgan Stanley's Times Square headquarters and a member of one of the selected teams. (New York Daily News)

Transportation Officials Discuss Plans for Downtown Transit - Sep 28, 2002
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority official said Friday that the agency is considering plans for improvements to several downtown subway stations, including a "Rector connector" that would link two train lines. The projects are under discussion as planners weigh options for large-scale changes to the intricate transportation network in lower Manhattan, which was heavily damaged in the attack on the World Trade Center. (Associated Press)

Downtown, a Debate Over Burying West Street - Sep 28, 2002
Local opposition has begun to build against the idea of covering West Street with a tree-lined promenade. Though few so far, a growing number of Battery Park City residents have begun to lobby against a West Street tunnel, saying they fear that a decade-long construction project will further isolate their neighborhood, rather than reconnect it to the rest of Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Trade Center Leaseholder Asks for Delay in Insurance Case - Sep 27, 2002
The trial over the multibillion-dollar insurance claims at the World Trade Center is likely to be delayed until at least next spring, so that the complex's leaseholder, Larry A. Silverstein, can file an appeal of a recent ruling involving 3 of the 22 insurance companies involved in the case. (New York Times)

Details on the Finalists for Trade Center Site - Sep 27, 2002
A list of the six teams selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, with excerpts from their application. (Newsday)

Design Teams Are Selected for New Plans for 9/11 Site - Sep 27, 2002
Six teams of architects, artists and designers, including individuals and firms that have created some of the most renowned buildings and public works of the last quarter-century, were chosen yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to create new designs for the World Trade Center site. (New York Times)

The Technology Behind the Winter Garden Rebuild - Sep 26, 2002
During the yearlong, $50 million reconstruction of the Winter Garden dome, all of its audio and lighting circuits have been reinvented. Thousands of daily visitors to the Winter Garden will be unaware of the cutting-edge semiconductors, servers, digital links and custom network engineering behind the atrium's new $1.8 million digital sound and lighting system. (New York Times)

Judge John S. Martin Jr.'s Latest Opinion in Swiss Re v. WTC. - Sep 26, 2002
Full text of the court document. (Newsday)

Judge Rules for 3 Insurers on Coverage of Twin Towers - Sep 26, 2002
Larry Silverstein's $7 billion claim that the World Trade Center suffered two separate terrorist attacks was dealt a setback yesterday when a federal judge ruled that 3 of 20 insurers owed him insurance payments for only a single attack. (New York Times)

A Cyberspace Rebuilding Debate Moves to Battery Park - Sep 26, 2002
A group who took part in an online discussion about rebuilding lower Manhattan, organized by the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York as part of its Listening to the City initiative, stayed in touch by e-mail after their two-week discussion ended in early August. They were known to one another only by online aliases and argument until they met in Battery Park City last month. (New York Times)

Housing Could Boom Downtown, Report Says - Sep 24, 2002
Lower Manhattan could gain up to 8,000 new apartment units over the next 10 years, substantially increasing the size of its residential neighborhoods, according to a new development study by the independent Citizens Housing and Planning Council. Focusing on the area below Chambers Street, the report says 4,000 to 8,000 new apartments could be added through conversion of older office buildings and new construction - a substantial increase over the 12,500 units there now. (New York Post)

Construction Could Begin Soon On Battery Park City Ferry Terminal - Sep 24, 2002
Construction on a new, state-of-the-art ferry terminal at Battery Park City is expected to begin by the end of the year, the Port Authority announced yesterday. The terminal, scheduled to open in June 2004, will replace a temporary dock and two slips that currently handle 13,500 people traveling between lower Manhattan and Hoboken and Jersey City each day. (New York Post)

Ideas To Be Explored For Housing and Retail Revitalization Downtown - Sep 24, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the city Department of Planning are teaming up to study ways to build more housing in lower Manhattan and make Fulton St. a prime retail and entertainment center, officials said yesterday. The housing study will examine the market south of Houston St. Officials will emphasize the need to build more housing along the Fulton St. and John St. corridors, as well as south of Liberty St. The Fulton St. study will look at the shops, arts and entertainment offerings currently along the strip and offer ways to lure more tenants to the street, which will be extended through the disaster site. (Newsday)

Office Space Should Be Rebuilt Off The Footprints, Silverstein Says - Sep 24, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the real-estate developer who holds the lease to develop on the World Trade Center site, wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece yesterday that all the commercial space destroyed in the September 11 attacks must be rebuilt over the next decade for the "good of the city and the region." "If we do not replace the lost space," wrote Silverstein, "lower Manhattan never will regain the vibrancy it had as the world's financial center." (Wall Street Journal)

Development Corporation Faces Likely Changes - Sep 23, 2002
Sources told The Post that the city-state Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center site, will face major changes after the election - whether Gov. George Pataki or Carl McCall win the governors race. (New York Post)

N.Y.U., Fearful of Publicity, Cancels Class on Ground Zero - Sep 22, 2002
New York University course that was to have focused on the intersection of politics, finance, design and culture in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan has been canceled because of concerns about the potential political fallout from the course. (New York Times)

Experts Pan Port Authority's Transit Hub Plans - Sep 20, 2002
Architects and urban planners yesterday panned the Port Authority's design ideas for a Ground Zero transit hub, saying they are uninspiring. (New York Post)

PATH Station At Trade Center Making Progress - Sep 20, 2002
The temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center site will be completely enclosed by November of this year, with a scheduled completion date of December 2003, Port Authority chief engineer Frank Lombardi told the agency's commissioners at yesterday's board meeting. (Newsday)

WTC Architect Hire Sparks Controversy - Sep 20, 2002
The Port Authority announced yesterday that it had hired another architecture firm to help redevelop the World Trade Center, sparking confusion among some observers as to which firm will lead the rebuilding effort. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it has hired Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects to do in-house transportation planning and coordination of the various stages of development. (Newsday)

Transit Links Called Vital to a Revival of Downtown - Sep 19, 2002
The rebuilding of Lower Manhattan requires making direct transit links to Kennedy and Newark airports, burying West Street and erecting a major transportation center, a group of business and real estate officials say in a paper that is to be released today. (New York Times)

Top Architects Competing for WTC Designs - Sep 19, 2002
A long list of celebrated architects - including Richard Meier of New York, Santiago Calatrava of Spain and Daniel Libeskind of Germany - are competing for the prestigious job of rethinking the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

Winter Garden Reopens - Sep 18, 2002
The doors of the Winter Garden opened to the public on Tuesday for the first time in 371 days. For many, it was like coming home. (New York Times)

Plans for Transit Hub - Sep 18, 2002
Preliminary computer images of a plan for a dramatic transit hub at Ground Zero show a wavy atrium roof and views looking out onto a future trade-center memorial and the Winter Garden. (New York Post)

300 Firms Competing to Help Remake Downtown - Sep 18, 2002
More than 300 architecture and planning firms, including those of the notable architects Philip Johnson and Robert A. M. Stern, have answered the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call for more innovative concepts for the World Trade Center site, rebuilding officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

Plans to Raze Fulton St. Block for Transit Hub - Sep 16, 2002
Transit officials want to demolish a block of buildings on lower Broadway and replace them with a glass-enclosed, atrium-style terminal, as part of the project to reconfigure the Fulton Street subway station. Planners for the Metropolitan Transit Authority want to use the power of eminent domain to condemn and demolish all five buildings on the east side of Broadway between Fulton and John streets, officials said. (New York Post)

1 and 9 Back in Service - Sep 16, 2002
Lower Manhattan notches a major milestone on the long journey back to normalcy today when workday commuters return to the fully restored 1 and 9 subway lines as well as a newly reopened Cortlandt Street station on the N and R. (Newsday)

Port Authority Still Planning to Build New West Village PATH Exitx - Sep 15, 2002
Reversing an earlier stance on building new PATH-train exits in the West Village, the Port Authority still hopes to get $29 million in federal 9/11 relief funds to pay for the project, The Post has learned. (New York Post)

Architect and Former Politician Join Group Selecting Planning Firms For Rebuilding Downtown - Sep 13, 2002
A former congressman and the head of the Harvard Department of Architecture have been tapped to help redevelopment officials choose five new planning teams for Ground Zero. Toshiko Mori, a Manhattan architect and Harvard scholar, and Richard Swett, an architect who served two terms as a congressman from New Hampshire and was ambassador to Denmark, will be part of a seven-member review committee to begin work next week. (New York Post)

Rebuild on a Human Scale, Says Historian - Sep 12, 2002
A new dynamic is taking hold in lower Manhattan. Good-government groups that have long called for the diversification of the downtown economy, as well as the development of affordable housing and a more diverse retail environment for the people who live there, find that their voices are being heard—and heeded. (New York Observer)

Winter Garden Reopens - Sep 6, 2002
Yesterday, with a host of government officials and construction workers on hand, officials of Brookfield Properties, owner of three of the World Financial Center’s four buildings and Lower Manhattan’s biggest commercial landlord, showed off to the press the company’s $50-million reconstruction of the Winter Garden -- the soaring, glass-enclosed public space that is the jewel of the World Financial Center. (Newsday)

Lots of Progress in Rebuilding Downtown - Sep 5, 2002
Beneath the once-scarred streets of lower Manhattan, 130 miles of electric cable have been replaced. So has nearly a mile of gas pipe. Aboveground, more than 122 buildings have been cleaned of dust and grime, and almost every street has been repaved. (New York Daily News)

A View of Loss, and of Recovery - Sep 5, 2002
The silence of devastation at the Winter Garden, destroyed on Sept. 11 but now rebuilt, has been replaced by the hush of anticipation. (New York Times)

Subway Service to Resume on Routes Closed After 9/11 - Sep 5, 2002
Subway service on lines serving Brooklyn, the West Side of Manhattan and the Bronx will return to normal for the first time in a year on Sept. 15, when three of the four subway stations closed since the World Trade Center attack are to reopen, city and state officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

Architect At LMDC Sketched WTC Vision For Protetch Gallery - Sep 2, 2002
Months before renowned architect Billie Tsien joined the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., she sketched her own vision for the World Trade Center site. This week, the design by Tsien and her husband, Tod Williams - "Buildings in the Form of Trees," first drafted in January - will find a wider audience in the new catalog of the Max Protetch Gallery. (Newsday)

What To Do With Ground Zero - Sep 2, 2002
One year after the terrorist attacks, the place where the Twin Towers once loomed looks like any big-city construction site. But exactly what will be built there is still anyone’s guess. One of the many remarkable stories of the last year is how public opinion, galvanized by the tragedy, has derailed the business-as-usual development plans that called for replacing the World Trade Center’s 11 million square feet of office space. (Newsweek)

WTC Transit Plans Altered After Victims' Families' Pleas - Sep 1, 2002
Plans for an underground transportation concourse at the World Trade Center site have been altered in response to pleas from family members of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks that the concourse not run beneath the footprint of one of the destroyed towers, officials in the rebuilding effort say. (New York Times)

Thinking Big in New York, Seeking a Grand Vision of Public Works - Sep 1, 2002
Hovering above the initial debate over the World Trade Center site is a more sweeping and historically significant question: Can New York City, which for more than a century led the world in the construction of major public works only to repudiate the practice some 30 years ago, somehow learn to build on a grand scale again? (New York Times)

Silverstein: First Ground Zero Office Building Won't Open Until 2008 - Aug 31, 2002
Twin Towers developer Larry Silverstein has predicted that the first finished office building at Ground Zero won't open until 2008, according to an interview set to air today. Silverstein, who has the lease on the World Trade Center, revealed his estimate of the timetable in a CNN broadcast on the rebuilding process. (New York Post)

McGreevey Is Reported to Criticize Rebuilding - Aug 30, 2002
Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey accused Lower Manhattan Development Corporation officials of ignoring the concerns of families of New Jersey victims of the World Trade Center attack. (New York Times)

Proposals Pouring In For WTC Site - Aug 29, 2002
More than 2,000 ordinary citizens, artists and great architects have been inspired to put their ideas for the World Trade Center site on paper. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the Port Authority, and other government officials have received a wide range of proposals. Anita Contini, the corporation's memorial director, asked people to stop sending any more plans until criteria for the memorial are announced early next year. The agency won't consider any proposals already sent, said Contini, responding to questions at a GothamGazette.com online interview. (Newsday)

WTC Designers Giving Up Rights, Money - Aug 29, 2002
Responding to thousands of unsolicited proposals for the World Trade Center site, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is asking people to give up any rights to their designs or any payment for their work. (Newsday)

St. Paul's Opens To Public For First Time Since 9/11 - Aug 27, 2002
Saint Paul's Chapel in Lower Manhattan is open to the public for the first time since September 11. The chapel, once in the shadow of the World Trade Center, became a respite center for recovery workers after the terrorist attacks. Now after three months of renovation, Saint Paul’s opened to the general public on Monday. (NY1)

Rebuilt 1/9 Subway Line Almost Ready - Aug 27, 2002
The rebuilt portion of the 1 and 9 subway line will open for business on Sept. 15 - but tests with empty subway trains will begin on the tracks this weekend. (New York Post)

McGreevey Calls Trade Center Land Swap Unlikely - Aug 22, 2002
Gov. James E. McGreevey said yesterday that it was "relatively unlikely" that the land under Kennedy and La Guardia Airports would be swapped for the site of the World Trade Center. Such a proposal has been seen as a way to give New York City and State control over the rebuilding at ground zero. As governor of New Jersey, Mr. McGreevey essentially has veto power over the proposed land swap by the city and the Port Authority, which he and Gov. George Pataki of New York control. (New York Times)

Exodus of 9/11 Is Thing of Past Near Tower Site - Aug 20, 2002
After sitting nearly half empty in the wake of Sept. 11, the residential buildings that once ringed the World Trade Center are almost as full as they were before the terrorist attack, a survey of more than 7,000 units in the area by the Times has found. With deep discounts from landlords and government programs promising rebates, vacancy rates have fallen to slightly below 5 percent over all, compared with average highs of 45 percent in the months after the disaster. (New York Times)

Wider Scope in New Plans for Rebuilding - Aug 18, 2002
Plans for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, until now focused almost exclusively on the World Trade Center site, have for the first time expanded to encompass all of downtown, according to officials involved in the rebuilding process. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation hired urban planning firm Peterson Littenberg Architects & Planners last week and is working with the Bloomberg administration to plan a search for other firms to help remake neighborhoods from Chinatown to Battery Park, rebuilding officials said. (New York Times)

Trade Center Leaseholder Braces for Battle - Aug 17, 2002
The Bloomberg administration has proposed giving the Port Authority the city-owned land beneath two airports in return for the now vacant 16-acre trade center site. The next step would presumably be to remove leaseholder Larry Silverstein so that the city could plan for future development without any encumbrances. But as much as Mr. Silverstein wants to avoid the idea of his elimination, the insurance carriers with whom he is battling in court have rushed to embrace it. (New York Times)

Downtown Express - Aug 16, 2002
One year and a day after the horrific events of Sept. 11, the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center is scheduled to reopen. And right on time. Retailers are looking forward to the Sept. 12 opening. Most who have reopened in the World Financial Center say business remains down at least 25 percent. Many stores are expected to open throughout the fall months. (Downtown Express)

Top Architects May Submit Resumes - Aug 16, 2002
Rem Koolhaas, Robert A.M. Stern and several other top architects told The Post yesterday they'd like a chance at designing the future of Ground Zero, and may answer a call to submit their résumés to development officials. (New York Post)

Ground Zero housing aid now available - Aug 16, 2002
People who live near Ground Zero - or are willing to move there - can now apply for the housing grants announced in February. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. began distributing applications yesterday for the incentive money, designed to keep homeowners and renters downtown after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The program will dole out $281 million in federal funds through two-year grants and one-time payments. (New York Daily News)

Council Proposes Public Market on Site of Towers - Aug 16, 2002
If the City Council has its way, the World Trade Center site will become home to a public market, like Pike Place in Seattle, with organic produce vendors, fishmongers, artisans and performers.The market idea was part of the Council's report on recommendations for redeveloping Lower Manhattan, released yesterday. (New York Times)

Role Seen for Newark Airport in Land Swap - Aug 15, 2002
Newark International Airport should be included in a proposal to swap ownership of the World Trade Center property for the land at La Guardia and Kennedy Airports, Gov. James E. McGreevey said in remarks published today. (Associated Press)

Worldwide Competition Launched to Redesign Downtown - Aug 15, 2002
The agency overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan announced yesterday that it would conduct "a worldwide design competition" to hire as many as five licensed architecture or planning firms to offer new ideas for the site of the World Trade Center. To incorporate the new ideas as well as expected changes in how much office, retail, residential and cultural space will be included on the site, the officials extended the schedule for the process, allowing three new designs to be completed by the end of the year and a final design selected in the first half of 2003. (New York Times)

Seeking Firms to Pitch New WTC ideas - Aug 14, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is launching a worldwide search for five more firms to produce new designs for rebuilding at Ground Zero, sources said last night. Each of the new firms picked will be given specific criteria to meet, but many of the rigid constraints put on the first six designs will be gone. (New York Daily News)

Palms Return to Winter Garden - Aug 13, 2002
Palm trees stood tall in the Winter Garden once again yesterday. And for the first time in 11 months, it seemed that life itself had returned to the celebrated 10-story glass dome. As tourists ascend the newly restored grand marble steps after the planned reopening in September, the Winter Garden will become an unofficial public viewing balcony for the trade center site. (New York Times)

Poll Backs Lower Manhattan Cultural Sites - Aug 13, 2002
Most people who live and work in Lower Manhattan say they would be likely to go to any new museums and other cultural and entertainment attractions in the area, according to a new poll. The random survey found that 9 out of 10 residents south of Chambers Street and 8 out of 10 people who work in the area favored such attractions. The 800 respondents were surveyed from July 29 to Aug. 2 for Wall Street Rising, a nonprofit group working to rejuvenate the financial district. (New York Times)

Money for Just Some of a Transit Wish List - Aug 13, 2002
Federal, state and city officials gathered at the rim of ground zero yesterday to celebrate their cooperation in securing $4.55 billion in federal money to overhaul and update the tangle of subway stations, commuter terminals and other transportation outlets in Lower Manhattan. But the money still falls short of the $7.5 billion that officials overseeing the rebuilding have long said would be needed to complete crucial transportation projects, leaving questions about which projects might be scrapped or scaled back as the rebuilding effort progresses. (New York Times)

Families Concerned About Transit Plans - Aug 12, 2002
Nearly a year after Sept. 11, victims' relatives and observers are concerned that plans for creating the Ground Zero memorial are in limbo - with transit projects beneath the site driving the process. The transit issue is one of many concerns related to the permanent memorial that 9/11 relatives detailed during meetings with Gov. Pataki and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani last week. (New York Post)

WTC Families Leery of Bloomberg, Port Authority - Aug 12, 2002
Whom do you trust more: the Port Authority or City Hall? The answer isn't easy for the families of those killed in the World Trade Center attacks. With the Bloomberg administration pursuing a deal to swap city land beneath Kennedy and LaGuardia airports for the Port Authority-owned Trade Center site, victims' kin differ on who should control the fate of Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

$4.5B to Be Used for a Ground Zero Rail Hub - Aug 12, 2002
Billions of dollars in federal money will be used to build a new transit hub near Ground Zero, linking the PATH with subway lines in lower Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg is set to announce today. The federal government has agreed to give the city $4.5 billion for the rail center. (New York Daily News)

Groups Support Plan to Cut Office Space at Site - Aug 12, 2002
Sept. 11 survivors' groups and Lower Manhattan residents cheered reports yesterday that the amount of office space slated to be built at Ground Zero could be cut by as much as a third. (Newsday)

No Sept 11 Funds For Path Exits in Village - Aug 11, 2002
The Port Authority won't get federal Sept. 11 relief money to build two new PATH train exits in the West Village. The authority has given up its behind-the-scenes efforts to get $29.6 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the Christopher Street exits - a plan that outraged the neighborhood. (New York Post)

Proposals Could Expand Memorial Site - Aug 11, 2002
Officials are discussing options that would reduce by nearly one-third the amount of office space that would have to be built at ground zero. Among the possibilities being considered is the purchase of the severely damaged Deutsche Bank building by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

Plans for WTC Site in Disarray - Aug 11, 2002
As the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy approaches, plans for the World Trade Center site are in disarray, tainted by criticism that they're boring and small-minded. The negative feedback, especially from the loved ones of survivors, has the attention of state and city officials, who say they will pursue more creative alternatives to plans put together by the prestigious architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle. (Associated Press)

Settlement Offers Fail to End Trade Center Insurance Battle - Aug 9, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the developer, and Swiss Re, a major insurer of the World Trade Center, submitted settlement offers to a federal judge yesterday and then resumed their battle over insurance coverage of the trade center. According to people on both sides of the dispute, the offer from Swiss Re was $1.8 billion, after depreciation and other deductions. That was nearly $4 billion less than the $5.7 billion offer from Mr. Silverstein. The two sides are so far apart that neither one expected the court-ordered settlement effort to be successful. So they are girding for a jury trial, which is scheduled for November and will determine how much money Mr. Silverstein will get for the trade center. (New York Times)

City Won't Let Airports Go - Aug 9, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that the city should not relinquish total control of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports as part of a proposed land swap for the World Trade Center site. He stressed the importance of the airports to the city's long-term financial health as his administration officially entered into talks about trading city land beneath JFK and LaGuardia to the Port Authority for Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

Civic Coalition Calls for New WTC plans - Aug 8, 2002
The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, the coalition of civic groups that held a citywide forum at which WTC rebuilding proposals were widely criticized called yesterday for the designs to be scrapped and for planners to start from scratch. (New York Daily News)

City Wants Large Compensation in Land Swap - Aug 8, 2002
City Hall is looking for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in a one-shot payment from the Port Authority as part of any land swap for the Trade Center site. Facing a $3.7 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year, the Bloomberg administration may ask the Port Authority for retroactive rent payments from the authority's leases for managing Kennedy and La Guardia airports, sources said. (New York Post)

Doubts Arise in Trade Center Land Swap - Aug 8, 2002
Despite public expressions of enthusiasm about the plan to trade World Trade Center land for city-owned land beneath two airports by various officials since it first came to light, a small number of officials and urban planners are beginning to question the economic wisdom of trading 5,610 acres beneath the airports in Queens for the 16-acre trade center site in Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

WTC/Airport Landswap Creates Economic Development Conflict - Aug 8, 2002
The deal to swap Ground Zero land for the two airports—proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s city development czar, Daniel Doctoroff—is being greeted with cautious optimism from Albany to the New York Times editorial desk. But behind the scenes, the swap proposal has raised the stakes in a rapidly escalating battle between Mr. Doctoroff and Port Authority Vice Chairman Charles Gargano over who will control development at Ground Zero and beyond. (New York Observer)

State 9/11 Bonds Fund Luxury Apartments Near Ground Zero - Aug 8, 2002
In a meeting called on just 24-hour public notice, the board of the state Housing Finance Agency yesterday formally approved $300 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds for the construction of three luxury apartment buildings in lower Manhattan. (Newsday)

Settlement Offers Are Due on Trade Center Losses - Aug 7, 2002
In the most significant moment yet in the insurance battle over the World Trade Center, lawyers for Larry A. Silverstein, the developer, and Swiss Re, the lead insurer, are to make settlement offers to a federal judge in Manhattan tomorrow. If they agree on an amount, it will determine how much money Mr. Silverstein will have to rebuild the trade center and, more broadly, how much influence he will have over the future of the site and the character of much of Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Fight Over World Trade Center Insurance Continues - Aug 6, 2002
The two sides in the World Trade Center insurance battle appear to remain far apart as efforts continue to resolve the dispute out of court. Larry Silverstein, who owns the 99-year lease on the demolished Twin Towers, has submitted expert reports, which he contends back his claim that he's entitled to $7.1 billion in insurance proceeds. Silverstein claims that the terrorist attacks represented two separate incidents, and, as such, entitle him to two separate payments of $3.55 billion for a total of $7.1 billion. Insurers insist the incidents were a single event coordinated by terrorists, thereby limiting the maximum payout to $3.55 billion. The bottom line, says one of the insurers, is that they only insured the towers for $3.5 billion - and that includes both the cash value of the destroyed towers and business interruption payments. (Newsday)

Land Swap Proposal Offers Much To Consider - Aug 6, 2002
On one level, the city looks like a winner in the Bloomberg administration's proposal to swap the city-owned land under two big airports for the World Trade Center site. By taking over the trade center site, the city would gain access to the $120 million in annual rents paid by Silverstein Properties at the center. But the warm reception given the idea by the Port Authority and, yesterday, by the governor of New Jersey, makes it appear that the benefit would at least be mutual, with the authority able to own land that pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue. In the end, the land swap might cost the city a bundle, depending mostly on what the city plans to do with the site - retain the commercial space of Silverstein that brings in revenue, or building something with less office space but more popular among the public. (New York Times)

Skyscrapers of New York: A Special Report - Aug 5, 2002
When they toppled the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, terrorists also threatened to rob New York of its century-long passion for tall buildings. Would anyone want to live or work in a skyscraper again? New York still may be in a state of semi-shock following the September attack, and there is no way of knowing what would happen to the high-rise market if another tall building took a hit. But as early worries ease, the future of the skyscraper seems assured. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Likes Idea Of WTC Land Swap - Aug 5, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday said a land-swap deal with the Port Authority, which would give the city control of the World Trade Center site and the Port Authority the land at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, is an innovative idea in its early stages that makes sense. (Newsday)

Swap Plan Emerges As Rebuilding Process is in Flux - Aug 5, 2002
City Hall's decision to dangle a potential land swap for Ground Zero in front of the Port Authority raises questions about what would happen to the rebuilding process while a deal is discussed. The Bloomberg administration's idea of trading the city's airports for the entire World Trade Center site surfaced as the rebuilding process is in flux. (New York Post)

Leaseholder Would Consider Proposal to Let City Own Trade Center Site - Aug 5, 2002
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who holds the World Trade Center lease, has an open mind about the city's tentative plan to take over ownership of the site, his spokesman said on Sunday. The spokesman, Howard J. Rubenstein, said that Mr. Silverstein had not yet received any details about the city's tentative proposal, but added that "he's certainly open to a discussion." (New York Times)

City's Swap Shaky - Aug 4, 2002
As quickly as it was floated, a trial-balloon notion of the city surrendering its Queens airports for control of the World Trade Center site may be getting shot down, insiders said yesterday. Under a plan initiated within the Bloomberg administration by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, the city would let the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey own the land under LaGuardia and Kennedy airports in exchange for the control of the lower Manhattan site. (Newsday)

Port Authority Says It Would Consider Land Swap - Aug 4, 2002
A proposal that would give New York City and New York State control of the rebuilding process in Lower Manhattan deserves serious consideration, officials of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said yesterday. Under the proposal, put forward by city officials, the Port Authority would give the city ownership of the 16-acre World Trade Center site in exchange for the land beneath La Guardia and Kennedy Airports. (New York Times)

City Proposes Swapping Land to Control Trade Center Site - Aug 3, 2002
New York City officials have proposed a swap in which the city would take over the World Trade Center site in exchange for giving the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey the land beneath La Guardia and Kennedy Airports, an official involved in the rebuilding effort said yesterday. (New York Times)

State Could Take Over Land Around Trade Center Site - Jul 31, 2002
Gov. Pataki yesterday said planners could consider using the state's sweeping "eminent domain" powers to take over land around Ground Zero to expand the site. It was the first time Pataki, who has tremendous influence over the process, has raised eminent domain, where the state would condemn the land and then pay to take it over. (New York Post)

Condemnation Powers Could Change WTC Rebuild - Jul 31, 2002
The state or federal governments, as well as the Port Authority, could eliminate Larry Silverstein's ability to rebuild the World Trade Center. Silverstein's 99-year lease contains a provision saying his right to rebuild would end if the property is condemned. Exercising a right to condemn the property could change the entire course of rebuilding Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

More Designers Might Be Invited to Submit Ideas on Ground Zero - Jul 30, 2002
Responding to criticism of the plans to rebuild Lower Manhattan, officials said yesterday that they wanted to open up the design effort to more architects, including smaller design firms and foreign teams.Many such groups were excluded from consideration for the first design contract because of their relative lack of experience working on big projects in New York. (New York Times)

Silverstein Still Planning to Rebuild - Jul 29, 2002
Public pressure to reduce the size of the new World Trade Center could affect the amount of insurance won by lease-holder Larry Silverstein. Silverstein wants $7 billion from insurance companies to rebuild. His lease requires him to build exactly what was lost - 11 million square feet. (New York Post)

At Trade Center Site, a Wealth of Ideas - Jul 28, 2002
A tangle of interests is at work in lower Manhattan, seeking to influence the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and, more broadly, the structure and methods of the downtown economy. The political, aesthetic and commercial interests that are involved in the effort bring with them such a dizzying array of positions and agendas that it is often quite difficult to keep track of who wants what. (New York Times)

Pataki Suggests Broadening Scope of Lower Manhattan - Jul 27, 2002
Answering criticism that proposals for redeveloping the World Trade Center site are small-minded and unimaginative, Gov. George Pataki said Friday that plans should be expanded beyond ground zero. Pataki urged government planners "to look beyond just the 16 acres" of the trade center complex. (Associated Press)

Two of the Six Plans Were Switched at Last Minute - Jul 26, 2002
Two of the six World Trade Center site plans unveiled last week were included over the strenuous objections of key planning officials and had been voted down by a rebuilding task force. Several officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. were "furious" about the changes, sources said. (New York Post)

Federal Hall Exhibit Opens - Jul 25, 2002
They didn't like most of what they saw, but hundreds of people opted for an up-front look yesterday at the six Ground Zero land-use options that went on display at Federal Hall. (New York Post)

WTC Plans Flexible - Jul 25, 2002
The World Trade Center site could be redeveloped with or without leaseholder Larry Silverstein, while the Dec. 1 deadline for choosing a site plan could be delayed by three months, Charles Gargano, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board member said Wednesday. Participating in an Internet chat held by Gotham Gazette.com, Lower Manhattan Development Corp. president Lou Tomson said he too would like a one-to-three-month extension. (Newsday)

WTC Subway Tunnel To Open Ahead of Schedule - Jul 25, 2002
The subway tunnel destroyed by the World Trade Center attacks is being rebuilt ahead of schedule and will reopen by mid-September. When the tunnel directly through Ground Zero is reopened, the 1, 2, 3, and 9 trains will return to their old routes. (New York Post)

Downtown "Grand Central Station" Is Already Derailed - Jul 25, 2002
Ground Zero planners have been calling for a "Grand Central Station South," even saying it’s an essential element of any program to rebuild lower Manhattan. But when the transportation-planning firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, charged by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation with developing plans for a new downtown transportation network, makes its proposals public later this summer, they are likely to shed light on a competing network of interests, agencies, advocates and organizations as tangled as the connection from the IRT to the IND in the Fulton Street subway station. (New York Observer)

WTC Developer Willing to Make Concessions - Jul 25, 2002
The leaseholder of New York's destroyed World Trade Center said on Wednesday he was willing to make concessions in areas that are holding up redevelopment of the devastated site. Larry Silverstein, the property magnate who took control of the twin towers a year ago on Wednesday, said in an interview he wanted to restore all the office space he previously controlled. But he acknowledged growing public concern that plans for the site were overly commercial. "In the end, we'll do what is best for New York." (Financial Times)

PA is Talking Flexibility on WTC Land Use - Jul 24, 2002
A top Port Authority official conceded yesterday that the agency may not be able to rebuild all 11 million square feet of office space lost in the World Trade Center attacks. And if that means the PA will get less than the $124 million in rents it collects annually at the Trade Center site, then so be it, PA Chairman Jack Sinagra said. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Won't Go - Jul 24, 2002
World Trade Center real-estate mogul Larry Silverstein won't give up the lease that gives him the right to rebuild the destroyed office complex, his spokesman said yesterday. "Larry has no intention of backing out of this," said Howard Rubenstein. (New York Post)

WTC Lease Could Be Cancelled, But Not Without Silverstein's Consent - Jul 23, 2002
Under fire for its design plans, the Port Authority has said it will have to negotiate a new lease agreement to allow for less than the 11 million square feet of office space it wanted to replace. Changing priorities for rebuilding Ground Zero could lead to canceling the property lease held by Larry Silverstein -- creating an opening for other developers to enter the project, Port Authority officials said yesterday. But officials stressed that the lease could be cancelled only with Silverstein's consent. (New York Post)

WTC Designer Says Concerns Deserve Attention - Jul 23, 2002
A top architect hired to reimagine the World Trade Center site said yesterday the much-criticized rebuilding plans could be overhauled as victims' families vowed to work separately on alternative ideas. John Beyer, whose firm Beyer Blinder Belle prepared the initial plans under a tight deadline, said the reaction to the six designs at a Saturday forum deserves great attention. (New York Daily News)

Even Critics Say Some Designs for Downtown Aren't So Bad - Jul 23, 2002
Even as the six initial designs for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site have come under fire in the past week as unimaginative, certain design elements appear to have captured the imagination of a diverse public audience. The idea of a memorial promenade stretching to Battery Park, providing impressive views throughout its length of those other American landmarks, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, was widely admired. (New York Times)

3,000 To Attend Today's Meeting on WTC Plans - Jul 22, 2002
Another town hall meeting will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center today for people to express their opinions on rebuilding lower Manhattan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The meeting, which is expected to draw 3,000 people, comes on the heels of a similar gathering on Saturday at the Javits Center during which officials -- stung by criticism about the initial six proposals for redeveloping the World Trade Center -- said they might extend the timeline for producing a final plan. (Newsday)

Less of a Jersey Tilt on Plans for WTC - Jul 22, 2002
Since rebuilding talks began, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, stocked with New York state and city appointees -- has been responsive to the demands of the Port Authority, an agency controlled equally by the Empire and Garden states. Many officials on this side of the Hudson River have feared that New Jersey's financial interests were playing too large a role in what rises in lower Manhattan. It looks like the power balance has now tipped firmly in New York's favor. (New York Daily News)

Fresh Visions of Ground Zero Could Delay Lower Manhattan's Recovery - Jul 22, 2002
Officials charged with overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan said this weekend that the public's call for a slower planning process and less commercial space on the World Trade Center site could delay plans for an expanded transportation center connecting the subway and commuter rail lines downtown. (New York Times)

Forum on WTC Designs: Try Again - Jul 21, 2002
If there was an overarching message sent by an estimated 5,000 people attending the ambitious town hall meeting yesterday on the future of the World Trade Center site, it was this: Get back to the drawing board. (Newsday)

Officials Rethink Building Proposal for Ground Zero - Jul 21, 2002
Officials charged with rebuilding Lower Manhattan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center said yesterday that they would consider new options for the site, including scaling back the amount of commercial space.The changes, the officials said, were in response to a broad array of criticism of the six initial designs for rebuilding the trade center site, including unfavorable appraisals at a town hall meeting in Manhattan yesterday. (New York Times)

Head of Stock Exchange Boycotting Rebuild Panel - Jul 20, 2002
The head of the New York Stock Exchange has skipped nearly every meeting of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. since February because he's miffed at City Hall for scuttling plans for a new stock exchange headquarters, sources told The Post. (New York Post)

Mayor: More Housing at WTC Site - Jul 20, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said he'd like to see more housing -- and less office space -- at Ground Zero, after six designs for site called for massive commercial buildings. (New York Post)

A Forum on Rebuilding Lower Manhattan - Jul 20, 2002
When more than 5,000 people gather today at the Javits Convention Center to talk about the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, plenty of people, Gov. George E. Pataki among them, are likely to be listening closely. Since Tuesday, when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released six initial proposals for the redesign of the World Trade Center site, a wave of negative commentary has flowed from architects, urban designers, politicians and journalists. (New York Times)

9/11 Families Coalition Waiting to Comment - Jul 19, 2002
A coalition of 9/11 victims' relatives has decided to wait until after a major public forum tomorrow before commenting on the six Ground Zero designs. Lee Ielpi, a retired firefighter who lost his son Jonathan, said coalition members decided to listen to feedback from other people at the "Listening to the City" event at the Javits Convention Center tomorrow. (New York Post)

WTC Public Hearing Set Tomorrow - Jul 19, 2002
More than 5,000 people, including at least 300 relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, will converge on the Javits Center tomorrow to comment on lower Manhattan redevelopment proposals at a high-tech town hall meeting. "Listening to the City," an all-day event, will feature 10- to 12-person roundtable groups that will use wireless technology to vote on what they'd like to see in a memorial and rebuilding at Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

Memorial Promenade is Favorite Among Post Readers - Jul 18, 2002
New York Post readers overwhelmingly voted for the Memorial Promenade as their favorite among the six proposals for Ground Zero. The plan includes a pair of buildings with tall spires, evoking the Twin Towers. (New York Post)

WTC Designs Site Logs 40 Million Visitors - Jul 18, 2002
The official Web site featuring the six World Trade Center designs got roughly 40 million visits within its first three hours, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

Senator Clinton Calls For Account of Sept. 11 FEMA Funds - Jul 18, 2002
The Federal Emergency Management Agency should keep a scorecard of money it's spending to help New York recover from the Sept. 11 attacks, Sen. Hillary Clinton said yesterday. About one-third of the $6 billion in FEMA aid earmarked for the city has been parceled out. (New York Daily News)

LIRR Seen for Downtown Hub - Jul 18, 2002
A new Long Island Rail Road station underneath Liberty St. could be part of the massive transportation hub envisioned for lower Manhattan, officials said yesterday. The LIRR expansion and a plan for a new ferry terminal are expected to be included in a broad set of transportation proposals set for release next month by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp (New York Daily News)

Development Corporation Architect Issues Challenge to Profession - Jul 18, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board's lone architect, Billie Tsien, yesterday challenged her profession to examine every detail of the six proposals for the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Has Own Ideas - Jul 18, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg's strong comments about the Ground Zero plans mark one of the few times he has used the bully pulpit to drive the agenda on a major issue. Beginning Saturday and continuing yesterday, Bloomberg has made it clear he wasn't thrilled by any of the six designs, and that he had his own ideas (New York Post)

Critics See Plans as Dull and Tinged With Greed - Jul 18, 2002
Dreary, dense, listless and just plain greedy. Those are some of the comments being used to bludgeon the six redevelopment proposals for the World Trade Center site. Yet the criticism didn't seem to bother the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. at a meeting yesterday. (New York Daily News)

WTC Plans Put Homes in Jeopardy - Jul 18, 2002
Tenants of two buildings on the south edge of Ground Zero said they were shocked when they examined World Trade Center site redevelopment plans and found their homes were not part of the picture. The 11-story buildings at 125 Cedar St. and 114 Liberty St., next door to the Engine 10/Ladder 10 firehouse, were depicted within a larger area marked for new apartment buildings or a museum in the site plans released Tuesday. (Newsday)

City Split on Redeveloping 'Sacred Ground' - Jul 18, 2002
New Yorkers are evenly divided over whether it is appropriate to build on the "footprints" of the Twin Towers--an area that some have called sacred ground, according to a poll released yesterday. (New York Post)

Designs for Trade Center Raise Financing Questions - Jul 18, 2002
The proposals unveiled Tuesday to rebuild Lower Manhattan include a number of high-cost projects, including the burying of West Street and the creation of a new subway and commuter rail hub. But how those projects--which will require the investment of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars--will be paid for remains unclear. (New York Times)

From Ashes and Loss, Firehouse 10 Will Return - Jul 17, 2002
City and federal officials announced yesterday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would grant $1.45 million to restore and reopen 10 House, the Liberty Street firehouse that was home to the fire units stationed closest to the World Trade Center. It was severely damaged on Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Giuliani: Don't Build on the Footprints - Jul 17, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday gave a thumbs-down to those Ground Zero plans that call for building on the Twin Towers' footprints, saying the swaths of land are a "burial ground" that should be kept intact. (New York Post)

Commercial Space Mix Could Affect Revenues and Race for Governor - Jul 17, 2002
John C. Whitehead, chairman of the group overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, brought a long-simmering backroom debate into the open yesterday when he said the group might scrap the six plans for the World Trade Center site, and with them, the Port Authority's demand for dense commercial development. (New York Times)

Plans for WTC Site Include Memorial, Offices, Hotel and Retail Space - Jul 17, 2002
The plans show the skyline of lower Manhattan restored, spires higher than the Twin Towers, parks and memorials -- and many office buildings of varying sizes and shapes. They envision transportation improvements and include new housing, but they ignore surrounding neighborhoods. (Newsday)

Six Plans for Ground Zero, All Seen as a Starting Point - Jul 17, 2002
On the day that six proposals for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site were unveiled, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said yesterday that the public could consider a seventh possibility, a new design without some of the requirements for office and retail space that shaped the initial proposals. (New York Times)

Flap Erupts Over Downtown Shelter Plans - Jul 16, 2002
A not-in-my-backyard flap has erupted over the decision by a leading homeless advocacy group to relocate closer to the heart of the lower Manhattan rebuilding zone. The Coalition for the Homeless bought the five-story building at 129 Fulton St. from Collegiate Reformed Church for $10.5 million. It plans to move there next year. But a Community Board 1 subcommittee voted to oppose the plan at a July 9 meeting. (Newsday)

Execs Say 10M Square Feet for Offices Not Needed Downtown - Jul 16, 2002
Even before today's release of six plans for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, real estate industry executives say they're concerned that the various proposals leaked to the press call for building 10 million square feet of office space in an area choking on empty space. (Newsday)

Skyscraper in WTC Plans - Jul 16, 2002
A towering skyscraper, a "memorial pavilion" over the spot where one of the Twin Towers once stood, and a museum atop a covered-over West Street are among the elements in the Ground Zero plans to be released today, sources said. (New York Post)

Preliminary Trade Center Plans Scheduled To Be Released Today - Jul 16, 2002
In what will be the beginning of a process of debate and refinement lasting at least through the end of the year, the six designs, developed by planners for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are scheduled to be released to the public today at a news conference at the Federal Hall National Memorial, the landmark building on Wall Street. The designs have undergone several stages of revision even as they have been reviewed with public officials and others in recent days, people involved in the process say (New York Times)

PATH Project Halted - Jul 14, 2002
The Port Authority's controversial plan to build two new exits at PATH train stations in the West Village may be over. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has stopped the project for at least three months, saying it's unclear whether the $29.6 million construction job is a wise use of Sept. 11 relief funds. (New York Post)

WTC Site: Mayor Has Own Ideas - Jul 14, 2002
After reviewing the six preliminary plans for the World Trade Center site, Mayor Bloomberg declined to embrace any of them, and pledged yesterday to submit his own redevelopment ideas. (New York Daily News)

Half of New Yorkers Want to Rebuild the Twin Towers - Jul 14, 2002
A New York Post survey of 609 people in the five boroughs revealed that 48 percent are in favor of rebuilding the World Trade Center towers, while 50 percent oppose it. Two percent were undecided. Sizable majorities in Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx were against rebuilding, as were residents of the West Side. But there was strong support on the East Side, in Midtown and in Brooklyn. Downtown and Chinatown were almost evenly split. (New York Post)

Port Authority Says Money Isn't Its Main Motivation in Rebuilding - Jul 14, 2002
With an array of stake-holders ready to square off this week over design options for a rebuilt World Trade Center, Port Authority officials say there is room for compromise on planning goals, but not without a cost to the agency's other programs. Port Authority officials have said that financial constraints are pushing the agency to restore its income from the trade center, which was about 10 percent of the agency's operating cash flow. (New York Post)

6 Plans for Ground Zero Share Striking Similarities - Jul 11, 2002
The six official proposals for rebuilding the World Trade Center site, which will be released next Tuesday, all took as a given the need for office space, a hotel, and retail shopping. None of the plans, which will be released to the public next Tuesday, include residential apartments. Although all of the designs set aside space for a memorial, four of them call for construction on the site of the south tower, which goes against the wishes of many family victims groups and Governor George Pataki. (New York Times)

Bank of New York Returns To Its Downtown Home - Jul 10, 2002
It's been taking place with little fanfare for weeks: employees of the Bank of New York trickling back to 101 Barclay St., just north of the World Trade Center site. Already, 2,500 of the approximately 4,000 operations and technical staffers at the bank, one of the nation's largest, have returned to a building that was badly damaged Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Critics Say "Different" WTC Plans All Alike - Jul 10, 2002
A week before officials unveil a series of design proposals for a rebuilt World Trade Center, the plans are already drawing heat from critics who complain they're too much alike: with each restoring all of the office and retail space lost Sept. 11. (New York Post)

Revised Rebuild Plan Calls for Housing, Parks - Jul 9, 2002
Revised rebuilding guidelines for lower Manhattan call for the creation of a magnificent neighborhood that will be "a symbol of New York City recognized around the world." The updated plans, released yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., generally adhere to the original blueprint unveiled in April. But there are significant changes, including proposals to build more housing, parks, hospitals, and schools. (New York Daily News)

Federal Hall to Show Exhibit of Plans for Trade Center Site - Jul 7, 2002
As many as six preliminary land-use plans for the World Trade Center site are to be announced in a news conference at Federal Hall early next week. The plans will be shown in the Federal Hall National Memorial at Wall and Nassau Streets, a crossroads of history since the 18th century and no stranger to the devastation of Sept. 11., from July 22 through the first week of September. (New York Times)

Executive to Handle 9/11 Memorial Construction - Jul 2, 2002
A Merrill Lynch executive long involved in downtown cultural events will oversee the building of a memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. Anita Contini, 58, will be named vice president and director for memorial cultural and civic programs today by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

Schumer Proposes Lower Manhattan Park - Jun 29, 2002
Senator Charles E. Schumer called yesterday for a waterfront park to be built with some of the money set aside by the federal government for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. He proposed an apron of parkland that would stretch from Canal Street on the West Side to Pier 42 on the East Side, where it would meet East River Park. (New York Times)

Port Authority Eyes Record $1B Construction Tab - Jun 28, 2002
As the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to take back control of the World Trade Center site early next month, agency officials say they expect to award or spend a record $1 billion in construction projects around the region this year. Work at Ground Zero had a large role in increasing the authority's planned construction spending by $100 million more than originally projected for this year, Lombardi told the Port Authority board yesterday. (Newsday)

A Patriotic Theme Park Near Ground Zero? - Jun 27, 2002
Developers are seeking the city's help in creating a multimedia tourist attraction for the edge of Ground Zero that would be called "America's Hall of Fame." At the proposed $30 million facility, an animatronic Abe Lincoln would greet tourists who pay $19.50 to stroll through a series of exhibits dedicated to great Americans, including athletes, scientists, performers, politicians and the heroes of Sept. 11, according to a funding proposal. (New York Post)

Report Shows Ground Zero Visions - Jun 25, 2002
A series of site plans drawn up by the civic group New York New Visions provides a preview of what New Yorkers may see next month when public officials unveil development options for Ground Zero (New York Post)

Victims' Kin to Speak at 9/11 Safety Hearing - Jun 24, 2002
Fire safety experts, engineers and families of victims killed in the World Trade Center will call today for stricter building and fire codes and better evacuation procedures in high-rises at a day-long hearing on the collapse of the twin towers sponsored by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology. (New York Daily News)

New York City History Museum Proposed for Downtown - Jun 23, 2002
New York City historians have proposed to erect a museum dedicated to the city's 400-year history that would complement a memorial and provide context to Sept. 11. The proposal has generated interest from city officials, but it faces several obstacles. (New York Times)

Residents Protest PATH Train Plans - Jun 23, 2002
A tense showdown between Gov. Pataki and West Village residents over a plan to build two new PATH-station exits on historic Christopher Street is coming to a head. The Port Authority, which runs the PATH rail line between New Jersey and Manhattan, says second stairways at the Christopher Street and Ninth Street stops, both of which at present have only one exit, are needed to evacuate passengers more quickly in case of fire or terrorist attack. Many residents have joined the fight against the $29 million project, which they say will forever change the neighborhood. (New York Post)

Rebuilding May Expand Beyond Site - Jun 20, 2002
The agencies overseeing the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site have begun to look beyond the 16 acres where the twin towers stood for locations for some of the office and retail space that was lost at the site, officials said yesterday. The additional land might be needed because as much as half of the site would probably be used for a memorial to victims of the attack, and any new office buildings there would probably be no taller than 60 stories, said Lou Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

Housing Seen in WTC Plans - Jun 20, 2002
Apartment buildings may be included in redevelopment plans for Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority, which owns the Trade Center parcel, cannot legally build housing. But that would not prevent buildings around the Ground Zero area from being converted into apartments, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Some Neighbors Seek Greater Voice on Plans for Sept. 11 Memorial - Jun 19, 2002
Downtown residents and civic groups say they are worried that the early planning for a memorial is being left behind or closed to public input. Meanwhile, the official rebuilding effort is hurtling toward a master plan for the site. Downtown residents and civic groups say they are worried that the early planning for a memorial is being left behind or closed to public input. (New York Times)

At Landfill, World Trade Center Work Winds Down - Jun 14, 2002
Two weeks after the Ground Zero recovery effort was declared over, the sifting of debris at the Fresh Kills landfill continues. But here, too, the process is near complete. Barges once hauled as much as 18,000 tons of warped steel and other World Trade Center debris daily, but deliveries have now slowed to a trickle. The site could shut down in as little as four to six weeks. (Newsday)

Mayor: Memorial's Size a Concern - Jun 13, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that the size of the memorial to honor victims of the World Trade Center attack should not overshadow the needs of downtown residents and businesses. The mayor's spokesperson later said that his comments were in response to concerns expressed to him by Battery Park residents (Newsday)

Downtown Transportation Hub Winning Support - Jun 13, 2002
Construction of a lower Manhattan transit hub and an expanded South Ferry subway station have risen to the top of a list of downtown transportation projects vying for $1.8 billion in federal aid. (New York Daily News)

At Tower Site Vast Top Seen As Memorial - Jun 13, 2002
For months now, Larry Silverstein and his house architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have been quietly drafting plans for a massive office building on the World Trade Center site that would equal the former Twin Towers in height, but with one significant difference: The top would be an uninhabited "memorial" structure that would fade into the clouds, suggesting a height beyond conventional measure. (New York Observer)

Rebuilding the Winter Garden - Jun 12, 2002
Marble craftsmen are working in the first building construction at the World Trade Center void, reviving the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center. Early this year, engineers deemed that all the atrium's tricolor marble flooring would have to be replaced. Brookfield Financial Properties, the owner, has spent $5.8 million for the new marble, part of the $50 million in reconstruction costs for the Winter Garden. (New York Times)

Traffic Likely in WTC Rebuild - Jun 12, 2002
The head of the rebuilding effort yesterday sketched out the most "likely" layout for the World Trade Center site. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. chairman John Whitehead said the land will probably be cut into quadrants by two heavily trafficked vehicular streets with office towers rising above them. (New York Post)

WTC Planners Eye Tourism - Jun 12, 2002
A lead architect hired by redevelopment officials to reimagine the World Trade Center site said yesterday his firm is not looking at lower Manhattan solely as a financial hub. Tourism will play a "tremendous force" in the planning, said John Belle, a partner with architects Beyer Blinder Belle. He noted that about 10 million people have come to Ground Zero since Sept. 11. (New York Daily News)

Idea For Transit Hub Downtown Could Mean Tearing Down A Block Of Buildings - Jun 10, 2002
Officials planning a new downtown transit hub are considering a radical proposal to raze a square block off lower Broadway for an ambitious aboveground terminal topped by office towers. The Port Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have discussed various versions of the plan - and it is now being explored by Parsons Brinckerhoff, the engineering firm hired to rethink the downtown transit map, said sources familiar with the proposal. The buildings on the block bordered by Fulton and John streets and Broadway and Nassau Street would be condemned and razed and the confusing maze of subway connections at the station would be "rationalized," the sources said. A new terminal - akin to a downtown Grand Central - would be built over the site. (New York Post)

Imagine New York Workshops Produce Many Ideas In New Report - Jun 9, 2002
Memorials, not only at ground zero but also throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. A cultural and performing arts center and more green space downtown. Better waterfront access, and greater security and public safety measures. And an open, democratic process to decide the post-9/11 future of Lower Manhattan. These are among the themes that have emerged from more than 250 workshops and public hearings, involving nearly 4,000 people from three states, sponsored over the last four months by the Municipal Art Society. The arts society whittled down the 19,000 ideas generated during the workshops to a set of 49 visions, which are contained in a report to be released tomorrow. (New York Times)

WTC Proposal Aiming High - Jun 7, 2002
The architect hired by World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has created plans for an office building on the site that would rise as high as the 110-story Twin Towers that once stood there. David Childs, a partner at the Manhattan architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has built a model of a building about 1,300 feet tall. (Newsday)

McCall Urges Upstate Voice in 9/11 Recovery Agency - Jun 6, 2002
H. Carl McCall, a Democratic candidate for governor, said yesterday that upstate and suburban New Yorkers should have a direct say in planning the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan, and that the state agency overseeing the rebuilding effort should be enlarged to include members from outside New York City. He also said he would revamp the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the 16-member agency created by Gov. George E. Pataki to help New York recover from the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)

Low Offices Are Suggested for Towers Site - Jun 6, 2002
A plan for low office buildings that could be enlarged at a later date is under consideration for the World Trade Center site, the top planner for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Alexander Garvin, said yesterday. Mr. Garvin termed the strategy one possible way to resolve questions about rebuilding the site when there is a glut of office space downtown. (New York Times)

Public Hearing Exposes Divide Between More Affluent and Working Class Downtown - Jun 5, 2002
At last week's public hearing convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, many of those who spoke expressed anger that hundreds of millions of dollars had been set aside for large corporations and the well-off residents of Battery Park City and TriBeCa, at the expense, they said, of small businesses and the more needy residents of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. (New York Times)

Schumer Sees Excess Cleanup Aid Paying for Rail Links to New Hub - May 31, 2002
Senator Charles E. Schumer said yesterday that he believed that the federal money allocated for rebuilding Lower Manhattan included enough to pay for the extension of the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter lines into a new downtown transportation hub. (New York Times)

Infrastructure Repair Before Memorial, Says Bloomberg - May 30, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that Lower Manhattan's most immediate need was infrastructure repair, and that a memorial and rebuilt office space would come later, after some wounds had healed. (New York Times)

The Battle For Ground Zero - May 28, 2002
Time Magazine provides a general survey of the rebuilding process, detailing the different sides involved and the roles the different government agencies have played up till now. The piece also discusses the architectural challenge of rebuilding, as designers struggle to come up with an appropriate solution. (Time)

President of Redevelopment Group Sees Consensus Emerging on Memorial, Overall Plan - May 27, 2002
Louis Tomson, president of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency charged with rebuilding the World Trade Center site, said that a broad consensus is emerging to develop the site as a cultural, business and transportation hub, including a "reverential" memorial that could take up almost half of the 16-acre site. (Newsday)

Hundreds Attend Public Hearing On Future of World Trade Center Site - May 24, 2002
A crowd of more than 800 people packed a downtown auditorium last night to sound off and listen to a multitude of plans and ideas for rebuilding the World Trade Center site and its surroundings. Many complained that the LMDC, which is charged with overseeing the redevelopment of downtown, had not given enough consideration to the revitalization of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, affordable housing and assistance for displaced workers. Many speakers called for constructing buildings as high or higher than the Twin Towers, while some described ideas for memorial designs and held up drawings of their designs. (Newsday)

Design Firm Chosen to Oversee Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan - May 23, 2002
Beyer Blinder Belle, the design firm that oversaw the restoration of Grand Central Terminal and converted Ellis Island into the National Museum of Immigration, was chosen yesterday by the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation as the urban planning consultant to oversee the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. Beyer Blinder will be assisted in the project by Parsons Brinckerhoff, a transportation consulting firm, and 11 other specialty design and engineering firms. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Officials Emphasizing Fast Paced Schedule In Selection Of Design Group - May 23, 2002
Sources told the New York Post that officials from the Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation focused heavily on the fast-track schedule in approving a planner for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. "They were quite interested in how the team was organized and how it would manage itself. These are big teams and a very tight time frame," said Graham Wyatt, a partner at the Robert A.M. Stern architectural firm, one of six finalists interviewed for the design post. (New York Post)

Two Firms Now Finalists To Develop World Trade Center Site - May 22, 2002
The architectural firm that renovated Grand Central Terminal and the designers of downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech development are the two finalists to plan the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, sources told the Daily News yesterday. A committee from the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. reviewed 15 proposals and narrowed its search to Manhattan firms Beyer Blinder Belle and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn, the sources said. (New York Daily News)

A Subway Interrupted Awaits Its Imminent Resurgence - May 21, 2002
For more than two months, a few hundred workers have been rebuilding the 1 and 9 subway lines damaged on Sept. 11. When the workers are done at the end of September and trains with passengers are rumbling through the tunnels once again by November, it will be very hard to tell where old meets new, exactly where it was that 1,300 feet of subway tunnel were crushed and pierced by falling skyscrapers and then rebuilt in little more than seven months. (New York Times)

Kin Uniting on Memorial - May 21, 2002
A broad consensus is emerging for the first time among families of those killed Sept. 11 on how much of the World Trade Center site should be used for a permanent memorial. The families recently presented a proposal that calls for the memorial to consist of the footprints of the twin towers and the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel, as well as the land inside the site's retaining wall. (New York Daily News)

Selection of Consultant in Rebuilding is Questioned - May 21, 2002
A committee working on the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center site has recommended that a prominent architectural firm, Beyer Blinder Belle, be selected as the urban planning consultant to work with state and city officials on the redevelopment, officials involved in the planning process said yesterday. The officials also said questions had been raised about the scoring by one of the six committee members involved in the selection, Alexander Garvin, a vice president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

Decision On Group For Redeveloping Downtown Coming This Week - May 20, 2002
As recovery efforts are wrapping up, officials overseeing the site will decide this week which group of consultants will help shape plans for the 16-acre former World Trade Center site. The Port Authority, which owns the site, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. - the city-state agency charged with revitalizing the area - spent last week interviewing the six finalists, sources told the New York Post. (New York Post)

Developer of 7 World Trade Center Argues With Port Authority About Rent - May 17, 2002
Mr. Silverstein is squabbling with a potential tenant for his proposed 52-story glass tower: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land the building would sit on. Mr. Silverstein wants to charge the agency $42 a square foot, or about $14 million a year more than the Port Authority wants to pay. (New York Times)

Public Hearing Announced For Rebuilding - May 16, 2002
For the first time this year, officials overseeing rebuilding at Ground Zero will hold a major public hearing at which people can speak out about what should replace the former World Trade Center. The hearing - organized by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority, and planned for next Thursday, May 23 at Pace University at 6 p.m., is the first opportunity the public will have to speak directly to the rebuilding planners. (New York Post)

Housing Subsidies To Extend To Chinatown - May 15, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is expected to announce today that families who commit to living in Chinatown for at least a year can get a one-shot $750 bonus from a federal pot of cash earmarked to help lower Manhattan. (New York Post)

Plan For 7 World Trade Center Unveiled - May 14, 2002
Architects for Larry A. Silverstein yesterday provided the first public glimpse of plans to replace the destroyed 7 World Trade Center. The new building would be 52 stories tall (five stories taller than the one it is replacing), a transparent, "light-emanating shaft" designed as a gateway to the planned World Trade Center memorial. The building is scheduled for completion at the end of 2005. (New York Times)

Arts Festival Planned To Revitalize Downtown - May 13, 2002
A new $7.6 million arts festival, created to help spark the renaissance of Lower Manhattan, will seek to attract more than a million visitors to nearly 500 events at 20 locations over the next five months, and will feature performances by 300 artists including Sheryl Crow and Wynton Marsalis. The mostly free festival, billed as the city's largest in terms of the number of events and projected eventgoers, will be called Downtown N.Y.C. River-to-River Festival 2002, and it will begin later this month. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Infrastructure and Wiring Downtown Is A Huge Undertaking - May 12, 2002
In this feature from the New York Times Magazine, author Robert Sullivan explores the mammoth effort of rewiring Lower Manhattan after September 11 by taking a look at one particular street. The article discusses the intricacies of wiring underground among decades-old structures and the efforts of Verizon and other communications companies to make sure one of the world's busiest telecommunications areas stays connected. (New York Times)

Debate Surrounds Building A Transmission Tower In The City - May 9, 2002
Three decades have passed since New York was the home of the world's tallest anything. Now plans are being contemplated by the 11-station Metropolitan Television Alliance for a transmission tower that, at 2,000 feet, would be as tall as a structure can go before the Federal Aviation Administration considers it a hazard to air navigation. Possible sites for this new tower include Governors Island, Red Hook in Brooklyn, Jersey City and Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Construction Underway For New 7 World Trade Center - May 8, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the developer who owned the World Trade Center before its destruction, yesterday began the first step in erecting a new skyscraper on the site where 7 World Trade Center once stood. Workers erected a construction fence around the site, on the north side of Vesey Street, not long after Silverstein learned that the company insuring that building would not contest his $851 million claim. (New York Times)

Excavation at 7 World Trade Center Beginning Today - May 8, 2002
In the first rebuilding effort at the site of America's worst terrorist attack, workers will begin excavation at the Seven World Trade Center site today, said John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Newsday has a diagram of where the excavation for the foundation will be in relation to the rest of the site. (Newsday)

Thirteen Groups Submit Proposals For Rebuilding World Trade Center Site - May 7, 2002
When the deadline to apply for one of the most crucial urban design jobs in city history expired yesterday, a total of 13 groups had submitted applications to the Port Authority to craft a development plan for the World Trade Center site. Because no single company has all the expertise needed for the vast job, the proposals came from teams of firms that pulled together to vie for the contract. The applications include more than 50 urban design, architecture and transportation planning firms, said officials from the Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. No comprehensive master plans were submitted. Instead, the teams offered development outlines, listed their qualifications and pegged their fees. (New York Daily News)

Blueprint for Ground Zero Beginning To Take Shape - May 4, 2002
Although public deliberations have only recently begun over the future of the site known as ground zero, crucial components of what will occur there appear to have already been settled upon by city and state officials. No 100-story office towers are likely to grace the former site of the World Trade Center. Nor is it probable that the entire 16-acre parcel will be set aside for a memorial to victims of the attack on Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Subway Stations Near World Trade Center Site To Reopen By November - Apr 30, 2002
A subway station on the eastern edge of Ground Zero is expected to reopen by November, a top transit official said. The N and R Cortlandt St. station was closed because entrances in the World Trade Center complex were destroyed Sept. 11. The Transit Authority also hopes to reopen the Rector St. and South Ferry stations on the 1 and 9 line by Nov. 1. A new tunnel is under construction. (New York Daily News)

Underground World Trade Center Shopping Mall Can Be Rebuilt - Apr 27, 2002
The entire shopping mall that was lost in the World Trade Center attack can be rebuilt below the site, a top Port Authority official said yesterday. The 460,000 square-foot retail mall that was beneath the trade center complex can be rebuilt as part of the "grand concourse" that the Port Authority, which owns the land, is looking at - with most of the shops in the area between Church Street and Greenwich Street. (New York Post)

One-Stop Commuting For Lower Manhattan Is Key, Says Member of Rebuilding Agency - Apr 26, 2002
A one-stop commuter ride to lower Manhattan will guarantee the neighborhood's future, according to one board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, while downtown's success would serve as the "ultimate retort" to the terroists who destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Memorial May Need Two Years For A Design - Apr 25, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday it could take as long as two years to come up with a fitting design for a World Trade Center memorial. Bloomberg made his comments a day after development officials said they hoped to have a master plan for the disaster site by Dec. 1 -- but conceded it could take longer to design a permanent memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Daily News)

Timeline Set For Development Of World Trade Center Site - Apr 24, 2002
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is overseeing much of the downtown redevelopment, jointly issued a request for proposals for a design for the site, including space for offices, a hotel, retail stores and services, and an analysis of transportation projects. A deadline of July 1 was set for initial plans, and a final proposal for the development of the site is due by Sept. 1, according to the timetable laid out yesterday. Final transportation plans and an urban design for the broader downtown area are to be completed by Dec. 1, the agencies said. Would-be planners must apply by May 6, less than two weeks away. (New York Times)

Footbridge Over West Street Reopened - Apr 21, 2002
A bridge over West St. that once allowed pedestrians to walk from the World Financial Center to a spot just across from the World Trade Center was reopened yesterday after being repaired and extended. Formerly called the South Bridge, the covered walkway from Battery Park City was closed after it was damaged by cascading debris from the twin towers on Sept. 11. It has been renamed the Liberty St. Bridge. (New York Daily News)

$7.4 Billion Cost For Rebuilding Transportation Downtown - Apr 20, 2002
Rebuilding lower Manhattan's shattered transportation network will cost about $7.4 billion, the city-state agency leading the effort has revealed. Lou Tomson, executive director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., unveiled the rough price tag Thursday for the first time during meetings with several key lawmakers in Washington, sources said yesterday. The delegation estimated it would cost $2 billion to sink West St. from Chambers St. to the Battery Tunnel; $2 billion for a new PATH terminal with airport-style moving sidewalks to nearby subways; $1.3 billion for security improvements in subways; $750 million for a new transit hub at Fulton St., and $400 million to expand the antiquated South Ferry subway station. (New York Daily News)

Greenwich Street May Be Extended - Apr 18, 2002
The state and city plan to condemn land near the 7 World Trade Center site to preserve the possibility of extending Greenwich Street, sources close to the process said yesterday. The condemnation would allow for a 60-foot wide Greenwich Street and reconstruction of 7 World Trade's Class-A office space and the Con Edison substation that had been housed on eight floors of the old building. (Newsday)

Ads Push New Yorkers to Have Say in Rebuilding - Apr 16, 2002
Celebrity New Yorkers are asking city residents to “imagine” the future of the city and to do something about it. In a public service announcement that hit the TV airwaves recently, local stars such as Kevin Bacon, Bebe Neuwirth, Harvey Keitel and Yoko Ono recite lines from John Lennon’s song “Imagine.” The campaign is sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society and aims to get the public involved in the process of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. (Newsday)

Rebuilding By Autocracy Less Likely For Downtown Than In The Past - Apr 14, 2002
Today, it is less likely that a plan for rebuilding downtown will emerge by autocratic fiat, as might have been the case a generation or two ago, when master builders like Robert Moses presented the fruits of their wisdom with little room or patience for criticism. The master builder is out. Consensus and process are in. (New York Times)

Mapping Ground Zero's Future - Apr 10, 2002
The Daily News presents a visual representation of the ideas presented yesterday in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's blueprint and principles for rebuilding. (New York Daily News)

Plans for a Makeover of Lower Manhattan in a Blueprint of Downtown - Apr 10, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday made public a blueprint for a commercial and cultural makeover of downtown Manhattan, an outline that includes a new Freedom Park with memorial and museum, and a transit hub connecting subway, commuter rail and ferry lines. While the outline issued yesterday was only a general document, with few specifics or timetables, John C. Whitehead, chairman of the development corporation, said the proposals should serve as evidence that the rebuilding process has begun. (New York Times)

Mayor Will Not Name A Relative of September 11th Victim To Board of Rebuilding Authority - Apr 9, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg angered families of Sept. 11 attack victims last night by refusing to budge on his decision to not appoint any of them to the agency charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan. John Whitehead, head of the development corporation, tried to reassure the families by promising them more involvement in the agency's work. But many are increasingly concerned that they will be shut of the process — particularly the planning of a permanent memorial. (New York Daily News)

South Ferry Station To Be Rebuilt - Apr 9, 2002
The cramped, century-old South Ferry subway station is on track for a major renovation to be paid for mostly with federal dollars, sources said yesterday. The proposed $400 million makeover of the station could include new connections to the Whitehall St. stop of the N and R lines, as well as nearby ferry terminals, sources said. Officials said they expect to receive as much as $300 million in federal money for the project, money which will come from the $1.8 billion in federal aid the state got last month to rebuild transit lines damaged by the terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)

City-State Rebuilding Agency Approves Preliminary Blueprint For Redevelopment - Apr 9, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on Tuesday morning approved a preliminary blueprint for rebuilding lower Manhattan. The board -- charged with distributing roughly $2 billion in federal aid and with overseeing downtown rebuilding -- approved a redevelopment plan that includes proposals for “a museum of freedom and remembrance” near the World Trade Center site and a redesign of the downtown street grid to improve pedestrian access and link neighborhoods. (Associated Press)

Mayor Appoints Four Members To Board of City-State Rebuilding Authority - Apr 9, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg announced today four of his appointees to the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Two of Bloomberg's appointees are women, including an Asian-American (architect Billie Tsien) and a Latin-American (attorney Sally Hernandez-Piñero). E. Stanley O'Neal, President and COO of Merrill Lynch, will be the second African-American on the Board. Bloomberg also named Carl Weisbrod, President of the Alliance for Downtown New York. Their appointments signal a response to criticisms of the Board's lack of gender and ethnic diversity. (Gotham Gazette)

Five More Appointees Will Balance City and State Power In Rebuilding Authority - Apr 8, 2002
The board of the state-city agency charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan will expand this week by five people -- two more than had been expected, a source said yesterday. Mayor Bloomberg will name four new members to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and Gov. Pataki will add one, a source close to the decision said, giving the city and state an even share of appointees on the board. At least one of the new appointees is expected to be a victim's family member. (New York Daily News)

Transportation Hub Could Be One of First Approved Projects For Downtown - Apr 8, 2002
A gleaming new transit hub connecting PATH and subway trains and ferry terminals is likely to be the first multibillion-dollar project approved for a rebuilt downtown. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. says a transit hub will be the subject of the agency's first set of concrete proposals, to be issued in May. (New York Post)

Questions Linger About Paying For Rebuilding - Apr 8, 2002
A vast array of costly projects has been proposed for an extensive makeover of lower Manhattan - but very little has been said about who'll pay for a massive rebuilding that reaches far beyond the World Trade Center site. With insurance payouts and federal aid added together, there is an initial rebuilding pot of $11 to $18 billion. However, other than $1.8 billion in funds designated for a possible transit hub in the federal aid package, virtually no money is directly earmarked for long-term rebuilding. $9 billion allocated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has disbursed $965 million so far, can only be used to restore things as they were, not for new building. There are hopes that some of this money will be diverted, however, for longer-term rebuilding. (New York Post)

Celebrities To Promote Imagine New York - Apr 4, 2002
Harvey Keitel, Kevin Bacon, Bebe Neuwirth and Yoko Ono will appear in public service announcements touting "Imagine New York," a Municipal Art Society campaign to solicit comment in the next few weeks on what should be done with the 16-acre parcel. (New York Daily News)

Websites Cover Rebuilding - Apr 2, 2002
Whether you use www.renewnyc.org or www.renewnyc.com, both addresses will take you to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s new Web site. Other nonprofit groups have already launched downtown oriented Web sites, including the Alliance for Downtown New York, the area's business improvement district. Their site can be found at www.downtownny.com. The Citizens Union Foundation's Gotham Gazette provides information about various redevelopment plans and coalitions. (Newsday)

West Street and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Reopened - Mar 30, 2002
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and West Street fully reopened for the first time since Sept. 11. Mayor Bloomberg said the city's ban on single-occupancy cars between 6 and 10 a.m. will be in effect for the tunnel - as well as a new, high-occupancy vehicle lane for Manhattan-bound drivers, stretching from the Verrazano Bridge to the Gowanus Expressway into the tunnel. (New York Post)

Engineering Organization Suggests Building Skyscrapers Shorter - Mar 28, 2002
Whatever is rebuilt on the World Trade Center site should be no more than 50 or 60 stories tall, according to a new study by the nation's leading engineering organization. The study, by the Construction Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also recommends that all buildings at the site be designed to accommodate mass evacuations. In addition,biological and chemical attacks top the list of threats that the new buildings must protect against. (New York Times)

A Wave Of New Yorkers Make Downtown Their New Home - Mar 28, 2002
Just six months ago, residents of the area surrounding the World Trade Center evacuated apartments that were without water, electricity or telephone service. The occupancy rate in the Battery Park City complex, which has 6,400 apartments, fell to 60 percent, from near capacity. But now a new cohort of New Yorkers is starting to move in. Some are drawn by the promise of bargain apartments, others by the gaping wound left by the attacks. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Head John Whitehead Speaks At Business Forum - Mar 26, 2002
Speaking at a Crain's New York Business breakfast forum on Tuesday, Mr. Whitehead gave an update on rebuilding. He acknowledged that the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center should begin as soon as possible, because construction must start this year on a Con Ed substation on the lower floors of the building to ensure that lower Manhattan has enough power in the summer of 2003. He also said that he expects his agency to have the major components of a plan for rebuilding downtown completed in June. (Crain's New York Business)

University Groups Propose Developing Biotech Industry in Lower Manhattan - Mar 26, 2002
Nine university executives sent a letter to Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Chairman John Whitehead last month, asking for help in attracting biotech firms to the World Trade Center area in a bid to help boost the downtown economy. The city's numerous universities and medical schools give it an edge in attracting and spawning biotech businesses, said the group. (New York Post)

First Day of Expanded Ferry Service Encourages Increase in Ridership - Mar 26, 2002
More-frequent ferry trips from New Jersey, meant to attract thousands of new commuters, drew about 500 more riders yesterday morning in the first day of the expanded service. (New York Post)

Rebuilding Head John Whitehead Says Consensus Emerging, Supports Biotech Downtown - Mar 26, 2002
Speaking Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, head of the rebuilding authority John Whitehead said there is general agreement that the two 110-story towers destroyed on Sept. 11 should not be duplicated but should be replaced by smaller, mixed-use buildings. However, Whitehead would not answer specific questions about plans for the site. The head of Lower Manhattan’s rebuilding effort also threw his support behind a downtown bio-technology hub proposed by the New York City Partnership and a coalition of the city’s leading medical institutions. (Newsday)

Rebuilding of Winter Garden Near Ground Zero Begins - Mar 22, 2002
The $50 million renovation of the 10-story Winter Garden, in particular its shattered clear dome, has begun. Everything from the entire floor to the 2,000 skylight panes is being replaced. (New York Times)

While Some Civic Groups Seek Streamlined Environmental Review, Others Wary of Speed - Mar 19, 2002
A leading civic group seeking to give the public a voice in the rebuilding process, the Civic Alliance, is on the verge of supporting fast-track redevelopment via accelerating the pace of legal appeals. But reactions from urban planners, lawyers and other community-oriented members of the Civic Alliance range from anxious to furious. Many are concerned about the dangerous precedent for decreased public input and glossing over environmental review. (City Limits)

Chapel Near Ground Zero To Be Cleaned for Reopening - Mar 17, 2002
St. Paul's Chapel, which has served as a 24-hour sanctuary for World Trade Center rescue workers since Sept. 11, will be temporarily shut so it can be thoroughly cleaned and then reopened to the public, church officials said yesterday. The cleanup will begin after Easter, according to the church's Web site. St. Paul's expects to resume daily prayer services for the public in May. (New York Daily News)

More Ferry Service Announced For Downtown - Mar 15, 2002
Ferry service between Manhattan and New Jersey will be expanded later this month, state and local officials announced yesterday, citing increased demand stemming from the loss of PATH service downtown since Sept. 11. Extra ferries will run until PATH service is restored to Lower Manhattan, scheduled for late next year, and could serve about 63,000 passengers a day. (New York Times)

Utilities Set For A Big Dig Downtown To Repair Infrastructure - Mar 14, 2002
In what may very well be the largest utility reconstruction project in history, workers from Con Edison, Verizon and several additional utilities are digging up 26 miles of roadway to repair the infrastructure beneath street level downtown. They are removing rocks and other debris, some from the trade center and some from more than 100 years of accumulation, checking out the systems, making repairs and then installing new conduits and piping. (New York Times)

Imagine New York Workshops To Begin Involving Average Citizens in Rebuilding This Week - Mar 14, 2002
“Imagine New York,” an innovative project that could give all New Yorkers a chance to speak their minds about the rebuilding of downtown, kicks off with their first workshop this Thursday. Leaders hope that through written and artistic activities in the small sessions, common themes will begin to emerge. Those ideas can then be forwarded to decision makers. (Newsday)

Guidelines for Downtown Rebuilding To Come Next Month - Mar 13, 2002
The group overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan expects to issue guidelines for the redevelopment project next month and offer detailed plans about many of its proposed projects by June, the group's chairman said yesterday. While not giving details, John Whitehead did acknowledge that there is an "emerging consensus" about several ideas, including restoring at least part of the street grid through the World Trade Center site, converting West Street to a tunnel, and building a transportation hub in Lower Manhattan that might include extensions of the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad. (New York Times)

Head of Rebuilding Authority Pushes for Quick Start for 7 World Trade Center - Mar 13, 2002
A new 7 World Trade Center should rise from Ground Zero as soon as possible now that major differences that threatened the project have been overcome, lower Manhattan's rebuilding czar John Whitehead said yesterday. Whitehead said speed is a concern with 7 WTC because the building will house an electrical substation needed to ensure adequate power supplies by the summer of 2003. (New York Post)

Ferry Service To Expand, Says State Top Economic Official - Mar 13, 2002
City and state officials will announce a plan this week to stimulate redevelopment in downtown Manhattan by increasing ferry service, said Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, on Tuesday. Eventually, Gargano said, the rebirth of Lower Manhattan could be boosted by a tenfold increase in ferry service. (Newsday)

Silverstein Seeking Deal With Port Authority In Exchange For Smaller Building - Mar 8, 2002
Developer Larry Silverstein is negotiating with the Port Authority over changes in his lease for 7 World Trade Center, including the possibility of lower payments in exchange for erecting a smaller building that allows Greenwich Street to pass through the site. Silverstein is seeking some form of compensation for concessions he made in the design of 7 WTC to meet the demands of downtown residents and planners, sources told The New York Post. (New York Post)

Rebuilding Will Take 10 Years, Says Head of Rebuilding Authority - Mar 8, 2002
It will take at least a decade to rebuild the World Trade Center site, the head of the agency overseeing the redevelopment of lower Manhattan said yesterday. John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., also said his agency will issue broad guidelines next month on how the devastated 16-acre parcel should be revitalized. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Gives Six-Month Update On Lower Manhattan - Mar 7, 2002
All across lower Manhattan, roads are being repaved. Phone service is 90% restored. Seven out of 11 damaged subway stations have rumbled back to life. And perhaps most remarkably, the massive, seemingly endless pile of rubble that was once Ground Zero is now 83% gone. Nearly six months after terrorists ripped a hole in lower Manhattan, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg outlined the city's recovery in a presentation yesterday clearly intended to underscore cooperation between different levels of government. (New York Daily News)

Rebuilding Authority To Hold Closed Door Meeting With Wall Street Execs - Mar 7, 2002
An advisory committee of executives from top Wall Street corporations will meet in secret today with the state-city agency in charge of redeveloping lower Manhattan - drawing fire from downtown residents and good-government advocates alike. "It needs to be a more open process. I don't see what they have to hide," said Sudhir Jain, president of the Lower Manhattan Tenants Coalition. (New York Post)

Governor Pataki To Share Power With Mayor on Rebuilding Authority - Mar 6, 2002
Gov. George E. Pataki said yesterday that he was ceding to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg equal control of the agency created last fall to oversee the rebuilding of downtown Manhattan. Bloomberg will be able to appoint three new members of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, bringing the total number to fourteen - seven appointed by Pataki, the other seven appointed by Giuliani and Bloomberg. (New York Times)

Mayor and Governor Back Idea of Burying West Street Near Ground Zero - Feb 28, 2002
Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg strongly endorsed a proposal to bury West St. along the World Trade Center site yesterday, helping to bridge the divide between Battery Park City and the rest of lower Manhattan. Supporters said a tunnel would help make downtown a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week neighborhood — an area even more vibrant than it was before the Sept. 11 attacks. With vehicles traveling underneath, the area would be transformed into a pedestrian promenade or park. (New York Daily News)

Century 21 and P.S. 89 Reopen - Feb 28, 2002
Century 21 -- the famed retailer of discounted designer goods -- today reopened its flagship store, just steps from the devastation of Ground Zero. Nearby businesses are hopeful that the return of Century 21 will bring more people into the area and give their establishments a boost as well. Students at P.S. 89 also returned to their classrooms for the first time since the school was evacuated the morning of Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Bloomberg and Pataki Say Rebuilding of Downtown Should Wait for Overall Plan - Feb 27, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor George E. Pataki suggested yesterday that a Manhattan developer should not go ahead with construction at 7 World Trade Center until completion of an overall development plan for Lower Manhattan. The remarks contrast with recent signals from state and city officials on the pace of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Downtown Coalition Presents Rebuilding Recommendations - Feb 27, 2002
Rebuild Downtown Our Town, R.DOT for short, yesterday presented its initial recommendations for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. The coalition of Lower Manhattan residents, businesses and professionals, advocates a mixed-use, mixed-income district, with connections to local and regional transportation and state-of-the-art communications systems. In many respects, its proposals are similar to those previously made by New York New Visions, a coalition of architects, planners and designers. (Gotham Gazette)

Developer Silverstein Presses To Begin Construction On 7 WTC In June - Feb 23, 2002
Larry A. Silverstein, who controls the lease for the 16-acre World Trade Center site, has a new proposal for rebuilding his office tower just to the north of the site, at 7 World Trade Center, that he hopes will finally address all the objections from local residents and downtown officials. But even as Mr. Silverstein presses to begin construction in June, some top state officials, civic organizations and community groups say they are considering whether to scuttle Mr. Silverstein's development rights on the larger and adjacent trade center site and prevent him from taking part in the broader reconstruction project, which promises to be one of the most ambitious urban development programs in the country. (New York Times)

Feds Offer $220 M For Residents Near Ground Zero - Feb 21, 2002
Anyone living near the World Trade Center site, or about to move there, will be eligible to share $220 million in federal aid to be used for rent, maintenance or mortgage payments. (New York Daily News)

Conflict Between Silverstein, Development Authority Over Rebuilding - Feb 18, 2002
In response to residents' and critics' concerns about Larry Silverstein's intentions to begin rebuilding 7 World Trade Center starting this summer, several Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board members have been arguing that rebuilding 7 WTC should be part of an overall plan for the area. "I know how important the redevelopment of WTC 7 is, [but Silverstein] can't have it the way he wants it: in Greenwich Street," said LMDC board member Paul Crotty at a meeting last week. "It will bottle up the planning on the rest of lower Manhattan." Silverstein's fast-track pace has irked some on the LMDC. Sources said Silverstein met with new LMDC master planner Alexander Garvin late last week to start solving the design problem. LMDC executive director Lou Tomson said the board will come up with a set of goals by late May, and its newly hired master planner, Garvin, will then "translate those goals into various plans." (New York Daily News)

Silverstein To Get $365 Million From Insurers - Feb 16, 2002
World Trade Center landlord Larry Silverstein settled with two insurance companies yesterday, conceding that under their policies the twin towers' collapse marked one occurrence, not two. Ace Bermuda and XL will pay Silverstein $365 million, the settlement amount, within the next month. "The money is going to go into an escrow account initially. Ultimately, we expect that the money will be used to rebuild the World Trade Center," said Silverstein attorney Eric Roth. (New York Daily News)

MTA Awards Contract For Reconstruction Of 1 And 9 Subway Lines - Feb 15, 2002
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Thursday it has awarded a contract for the reconstruction of the 1 and 9 subway lines into lower Manhattan, which were badly damaged in the World Trade Center attacks. The $92 million contract was awarded to a partnership of Tully Construction and Pegno Construction. The MTA says it is saving millions of dollars because those construction companies are already working on rebuilding a PATH station in the same area. (NY1)

Con Edison Racing To Build New Substation - Feb 13, 2002
Consolidated Edison executives say that they are in a race against time to build a new electrical substation in New York City before the summer, when air-conditioning use is expected to increase to levels that could overload the electrical grid in Lower Manhattan. Officials say that they have to complete the project by the summer, which means finishing it in about half the time it normally takes. If a new substation is not built by June, the handful of substations that have been distributing electricity to customers who lost power on Sept. 11 could overload, resulting in blackouts. (New York Times)

Port Authority May Still Overrule City-State Development Authority - Feb 13, 2002
Paul Crotty, one of the 11 board members of the newly-formed Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said that when it comes to land owned by the Port Authority, which includes the World Trade Center complex, it's still unclear who has the final say. Though the LMDC has been given sweeping powers by Gov. Pataki, the Port Authority does not fall under its direct jurisdiction because it is an agency governed by both New York and New Jersey. (New York Daily News)

Focus Of Recovery Shifts To 45 Damaged Buildings Near Ground Zero - Feb 12, 2002
Five months after the World Trade Center attack, the focus of the recovery effort is moving outward from ground zero to another trauma zone: a ring of battered skyscrapers and other buildings that once held 10 million square feet of floor space, slightly more than the twin towers.These wounded buildings, which somehow remained standing, are no ordinary structures: two are landmarks, one is a key communication center and another held classrooms that served thousands of college students each day. (New York Times)

Planner Appointed for Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Feb 11, 2002
Alexander Garvin, an urban planner, city planning commissioner, and teacher at Yale University, was appointed this weekend to be in charge of coming up with such a development plan. His title will be vice president for planning, design and development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. "The revitalization of lower Manhattan presents many complex challenges," Garvin said. "We need to develop an appropriate way to honor those who perished on Sept. 11. The residents, business and property owners of lower Manhattan expect to get back to normal as quickly as possible." (Crain's New York Business)

State Approves June Rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center - Feb 8, 2002
Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., which oversees the agency in charge of downtown redevelopment, gave a resounding thumbs-up yesterday to starting to rebuild 7 World Trade Center as early as June, despite concerns by some that the timetable is too fast. Larry Silverstein, who built the original 47-story skyscraper on the block between Vesey and Barclay Sts. in 1987, has said he believes he needs only the approval of the Port Authority, which owns the land. Among the concerns of those who worry about the quick rebuilding are how to reorient the building so it does not block Greenwich St., and where to place Con Edison substations and Port Authority cargo bays. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Lays Out Vision for Downtown - Feb 6, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg vowed yesterday to rebuild lower Manhattan as a bustling 24-hour community. The mayor, speaking at an Association for a Better New York breakfast, said improving downtown transportation is imperative. Bloomberg cited several steps his administration has taken to improve lower Manhattan, including "working aggressively" to reopen the entire Battery Tunnel to all traffic — passenger cars are still banned from entering Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 8p.m. — and the West Side Highway. The city also has formed an emergency task force "to dramatically expand" ferry service in lower Manhattan. Bloomberg also ordered the City Planning Department to evaluate "creative zoning" to permit greater residential, cultural and retail use. The city also will look for sites that offer new housing opportunities. (New York Daily News)

New Wall To Keep Out Hudson Must Be Built, Says Head Engineer - Feb 6, 2002
According to George Tamaro, the engineer who directed the original construction of the World Trade Center, the "bathtub” which keeps out the Hudson River suffered so much damage on Sept. 11 that a new wall will have to be added before permanent rebuilding can occur. Tamaro, a partner at Mueser-Rutledge Consulting Engineers, believes that a second interior wall -- or "liner wall” -- must be constructed to augment the original "bathtub.” The project would cost $15 million to $20 million, he estimated. Such a project will add an unspecified amount of time to the overall reconstruction of the site. (Newsday)

World Financial Center Reopens Some Shops - Feb 5, 2002
Several shops and restaurants reopened in the World Financial Center today. Pedestrian access to the area will also be eased with the opening of a makeshift plywood and iron walkway between the lobby of 2 World Financial Center and to a courtyard between 3 and 4 World Financial Center. (New York Times)

Does New York Need Another Moses? - Feb 4, 2002
Robert Moses, the domineering master builder from a less democratic era in the city's history, comes to mind increasingly as New Yorkers look to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Many wonder how it will ever be accomplished, given clashing agendas and a large and ever- growing cast of characters, not one of them a leader with the kind of power and authority it will take to bring order to fragmentation, vision to necessity. A few New Yorkers are asking if there is something halfway between a willful master builder and decision (or indecision) by committee. (New York Times)

Advisory Boards Named for Rebuilding Authority - Feb 1, 2002
The commission charged with overseeing the rebuilding of lower Manhattan announced yesterday a long-awaited list of committees for "public input" - but gave scant details on what role they will play or how they will operate. Four citizens' committees with a total of 72 members were created. The so-called advisory councils "will provide valuable public input" as the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. works to form an overall plan for post-Sept. 11 recovery, the agency said in a statement. A General Advisory Committee was also created, composed of 13 state and local politicians and civic leaders, and headed by LMDC's own chairman, John Whitehead. Click here for a list of members of the panels. (New York Times)

Developer's Pace at 7 World Trade Center Upsets Some - Jan 31, 2002
Larry Silverstein, who bought control of the trade center complex two months before the attack, said he hoped to begin construction at 7 World Trade Center by June, with the proceeds of an $861 million insurance policy. Silverstein's plans to begin rebuilding so soon are seen by some as a sign of renewal downtown, and by others as a rush to get into the ground before civic groups, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the families of victims and survivors of the attack can impose an overall development plan. But the developer, state officials and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say that Mr. Silverstein has a legal right to rebuild and, ultimately, he needs only the approval of the Port Authority, which owns the land. (New York Times)

PATH Rebuild Plan On The Fast Track - Jan 30, 2002
Port Authority officials will meet tomorrow to award a $300 million contract for the reconstruction of the ruined World Trade Center PATH station. Work will begin within a week on the tunnels, while engineers and architects finalize plans for the station - which is envisioned as a temporary facility that will be used until officials agree upon overall plans for the makeover of the downtown transit map. Gargano said PA officials hope to have trains running again in 18-24 months. (New York Post)

Race To Build At Ground Zero - Jan 29, 2002
Powerful developers Larry Silverstein and Edward J. Minskoff are racing head-to-head to find tenants for two giant office towers they plan at or near Ground Zero. But there's a big difference between the schemes: Silverstein can build without tenants, but Minskoff can't. Silverstein plans to rebuild 7 WTC without pre-leasing, a luxury he can afford thanks to insurance payments from the destruction of the Twin Towers. Minskoff is wasting no time promoting 270 Greenwich, even though he doesn't have the land yet. (New York Post)

World Trade Center Stop On E Line Reopens - Jan 28, 2002
The E subway line resumed service to the World Trade Center stop Monday morning. The station is on the edge of the World Trade Center complex but was not damaged in the September 11 attack. It has remained closed - with E trains terminating at Canal Street - to avoid interference with the recovery and cleanup efforts at the site. Two exits at the station are still closed: the stairwell at Vesey Street and the old entrance to the World Trade Center mall. For now, the name of the station remains "Chambers/World Trade Center," but the MTA expects there will be a push to change it. (NY1)

Many Voices, but Little Dialogue on Memorial for Trade Center Site - Jan 26, 2002
The rebuilding of Lower Manhattan has the makings of a bitter New York struggle, a dialogue of disparate views of grief, money, power, politics and design, inflamed by differing passions, but with no framework to reconcile them. In all likelihood, that struggle will begin with a memorial. Absent any official guidance, hundreds of people in roughly a dozen ad hoc groups have already started gathering in small numbers and discussing plans for a memorial. But many of the participants say that until their efforts are coordinated… little progress is likely to be made. This contrasts sharply with what happened after the Oklahoma City bombing (New York Times)

WTC Advisory Groups To Be Announced - Jan 26, 2002
On Monday, the group will announce the members of four advisory councils - for the families of victims, downtown residents, restaurants and retailers, and arts, education and tourism - which will make recommendations to the corporation's board by March 15. Beyond the initial four advisory councils, others dealing with a range of downtown industries will be added, each with about 15 members, said John Whitehead, the corporation's chairman. To help the group develop those plans, Whitehead plans to hire a full-time staff of 10 to 20 people, he said. He also said the corporation would sublease office space in One Liberty Plaza, facing Ground Zero. Whitehead made it clear he thought that some of the site should be saved for commercial development, rather than saving it all for a memorial. (New York Daily News)

E Train to Stop at WTC Soon - Jan 24, 2002
The E train stop at the World Trade Center will be reopened as soon as Monday. It is possible that the stop will ultimately be renamed in the future. To keep straphangers away from Ground Zero, access to the station will be via underground passageways between the E station and nearby Chambers St. and Park Place subway stops. (New York Daily News)

September 11 Kin To Meet Bush - Jan 21, 2002
A group of families of World Trade Center victims will be traveling to the White House tomorrow to witness President George Bush's signing of the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act. In an effort to get the federal government on their side, they reportedly will urge the president to set aside the entire World Trade Center site for a memorial. (New York Post)

Gallery Shows WTC Design Proposals - Jan 18, 2002
At an exhibition in a Chelsea art gallery, about 50 architects and artists are showcasing their proposed designs for what to build on the site of the World Trade Center. "This is what I could do to help," said Max Protech, the owner of the gallery. The designs vary in size, shape, and range. A few called for making the entire 16-acre space into a memorial, and others focused more on the conceptual and abstract. There were also proposals for smaller-scale buildings and mixed development of residential and office buildings, including an interactive display where people could create up to 81 potential designs for the area. The show will likely run for about a month, after which it will tour the country. (Associated Press)

$1M-a-Day Fix for WTC Subway - Jan 16, 2002
The fastest-paced project in the history of the subway system will begin on March 1, as the MTA, with the blessing of Governor Pataki, approved a plan to begin reconstruction of the 1/9 subway line below Chambers Street (graphic available). With a one million dollar a day price tag, the Transit Authority will be able to complete a job that would normally take three to four years and finish it by November. Plans currently do not call for the hard-hit Cortlandt Street station, which will have its platforms and entrances sealed off. (graphic available) (New York Daily News)

WTC Owner Sets Aside Tower Footprints For Memorial Site - Jan 15, 2002
Sources say that Larry Silverstein has instructed architects he has commissioned for the rebuilding of the site of his former World Trade Center to make space for a memorial in their plans. The space set aside would be at the "footprints" of the former Twin Towers.

Meanwhile, September's Mission, a group of relatives of World Trade Center victims, will hold a meeting with designers and architects tomorrow to come up with their own proposals for a memorial covering the entire WTC area. (New York Daily News)

Plan to Start 7 WTC Rebuild 9/11/02 - Jan 14, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the destroyed World Trade Center complex, has expressed a desire to begin rebuilding a new 7 World Trade Center building on September 11, 2002. His intentions have been met with opposition from the victims' families, all in full support of a memorial, and by groups who wish to see a rebuilding effort more integrated with the rest of the site. (New York Daily News)

Mike: Hold Contest For Tribute At Ground Zero - Jan 11, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg supports holding a competition to choose the designer of the memorial tribute to the World Trade Center victims that will be built at ground zero, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

From parks to twisted towers, designs for WTC memorial multiply - Jan 11, 2002
There is no shortage of design ideas for the World Trade Center site, from a 70-story sundial to two towers spiraling down to a 35-foot deep pit. One firm has contemplated a design consisting of 440 evergreens and a below-street waterfall. This initial burst of ideas has been described as therapeutic by some but banal and overly sentimental by others. (Wall Street Journal)

Big Transit Ideas Downtown - Jan 8, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation is looking into plans to create a downtown transit hub around the World Trade Center site. Proposals include an underground mega-hub with retail space and connections to the PATH and 14 subway lines. While short-term needs of resuming PATH and subway service will be addressed quickly, long-term plans could include the construction of a major transportation center and renovation of the nearby Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stations. (New York Daily News)

Agency Has $2B, No Plans - Jan 8, 2002
Despite having $2 billion earmarked for the group by Congress, the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation still has no plans for what to do with the money. "I think we are the only organization in history," said Chairman John Whitehead, "to get $2 billion that we never even asked for." The $2 billion is part of an $11 billion aid package proposed by Congress for emergency aid for the city. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Panel Still Listening - Jan 8, 2002
The head of the ground zero redevelopment panel yesterday said the group won't make decisions about rebuilding for at least "a month or two." At the group's second meeting since the state-city panel was created in November, Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. Chairman John Whitehead also said the search for an executive director should come to an end in about a week. Whitehead said the 11-member board will be in "listening mode" for the next four to eight weeks. (New York Post)

Dozens of Ideas are Floated For WTC Development - Jan 8, 2002
Designers, planners and architects along with politicians and the relatives of the victims of Sept. 11 have offered up a number of ideas for what to develop at the World Trade Center site. Ideas range from permanent memorials to mixed use of commercial and memorial space. In the next ten days, a number of design proposals will be made public at a Chelsea gallery and from the Institute of Urban Design. Ultimately the process will go through the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, most planners agree. (Newsday)

Cleanup's Pace Outstrips Plans for Attack Site - Jan 7, 2002
With the cleanup at the World Trade Center site proceeding faster than previously imagined possible, plans for rebuilding the area must now try to keep up. Officials concede that by the beginning of the summer, a sixteen-acre hole will occupy the site. Public hearings organized by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation could begin in six weeks, with a final long-term plan emerging possibly in three months and an interim memorial finished by the end of the year. (New York Times)

Subway Line in Attack May Reopen Much Earlier - Jan 4, 2002
Transit officials said yesterday that two of the three stations for the 1 and 9 subway lines that were damaged in the World Trade Center attacks may reopen as early as November, more than a year earlier than originally planned. However, rather than rerouting the line to increase convenience for Battery Park City residents, the subway will be rebuilt mostly to its state before September 11. (New York Times)

Bloomberg Vision for Ground Zero: Memorial and More - Jan 4, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and John Whitehead, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, want the former World Trade Center site to be used for more than just a memorial. After a meeting, Bloomberg and Whitehead supported the use of the site for office space, as a memorial to the victims, and possibly retail space as well. (New York Times)

Pitched Battle at Ground Zero - Jan 3, 2002
Larry Silverstein is facing increased opposition to his plans to develop the World Trade Center site. Former Mayor Giul,iani and relatives of some of those who died at the Trade Center are arguing against economic development. But the real threat to Silverstein's plans may come from his fellow real estate developers, some of whom say that new buildings on the site could further depress real estate and actually hinder lower Manhattan's recovery. (New York Observer)

Winter Garden Reopens - Jan 1, 2002
Yesterday, with a host of government officials and construction workers on hand, Brookfield Properties officials showed off to the press the $50-million reconstruction of the Winter Garden -- the soaring, glass-enclosed public space that is the jewel of the World Financial Center. (Newsday)

Tomson Urges Real Estate Leaders To Get More Involved Downtown - Jan 1, 2002
Concerned that a third of the commercial space near Ground Zero could become vacant by 2006, a top rebuilding official urged real estate leaders yesterday to get more involved in lower Manhattan's recovery. "If there ever was a critical time to be heard from, it's now," said Lou Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

Interim Wtc Park Will Be Built First - Dec 20, 2001
John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., said a temporary memorial, featuring a park, will be built at Ground Zero until the permanent memorial built . (New York Post)

Many Visions for WTC Site - Dec 17, 2001
A number of groups with different interests and visions are fighting to control what will be built on the World Trade Center site. Among those vying for a say are Larry Silverstein and shopping mall giant Westfield, who hold a 99-year lease on the land; the Port Authority, which owns the land and wants to rebuild its damaged PATH lines below it; Mayor Giuliani and Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg; Governor Pataki; the Empire State Development Corp. and its new subsidiary, the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., and people who lost family members on Sept. 11. The job of trying to forge a consensus among these groups could fall to John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., the new agency charged with rebuilding downtown. Whitehead says he will appoint advisory boards, each representing one of the constituencies that want a say in determining what will become of what is now ground zero. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Approves New PATH Station for Lower Manhattan - Dec 14, 2001
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday authorized spending $544 million to build a temporary PATH station in Lower Manhattan beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center. The temporary terminal could be completed within two years, said officials of the agency. It would help directly reconnect downtown to the rest of the PATH system for the more than 65,000 commuters who used the Lower Manhattan station before the Sept. 11 attack, which destroyed the trade center and the underground network of train tunnels and shopping concourses there. In addition, the agency's board of commissioners allotted $10 million yesterday to plan an ambitious, permanent PATH terminal in the area - one that would establish better and more connections to city subways, buses and ferry terminals. (New York Times)

Silverstein Sees Mixed Use At WTC Site - Dec 12, 2001
Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease on the World Trade Center site, told
Newsday that he is now considering building several office buildings, a
museum, a performing arts center and a memorial on the site. In an interview with Newsday he said the buildings would be from 50 to 65 stories high. The performing arts center and museum, he said, would improve the quality of life for families who live in lower Manhattan. The developer, who is currently battling with insurers over how much compensation he will receive for the destruction of the trade center, said he hopes to begin construction next year and finish by 2005.
(Newsday)

Coalitions work to create plans for WTC site - Dec 10, 2001
At least four separate ad hoc groups are drawing up plans to guide the
rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, and expect to funnel their
proposals to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., the new state agency
created to oversee the rebuilding of the 16-acre trade center site.
The New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce has created NYC
REBUILD, an infrastructure task force.

The American Institute of Architects has put together NEW YORK NEW VISIONS,
an umbrella group of 18 organizations to ensure that the planning and design
community have a voice.

The Regional Plan Association has organized THE CIVIC ALLIANCE FOR
REBUILDING LOWER MANHATTAN, made up of civic, advocacy and environmental
groups.

Rebuild Downtown Our Town, known as the R.DOT COALITION, is made up of
residents, businesses and planners in Lower Manhattan who are eager to have
a say in how their neighborhoods are rebuilt.

The coalitions are hoping that their ideas will give the agency a head start
on its deliberations and pave the way for wide public support for its
eventual decisions. They have begun talks among themselves on collaborations
in an effort to reach a consensus on rebuilding.

"What you want to do is shape a program leading to a master plan," says Bob
Yaro, executive director of the Regional Plan Association, who is involved
with several of the groups.

But given the broad-based nature of the organizations, conflicting agendas
could easily emerge, making it more difficult for the state agency to win
public backing for its reconstruction plans. The agency also must contend
with the plans of Larry Silverstein, the developer who holds the lease for
the World Trade Center buildings, and the many groups of victims' families
that have formed to lobby for a memorial on the site.
"I'm concerned that we end up with deadlock like we had at Columbus Circle
or Times Square, where we had development sites sitting for decades or
longer," Mr. Yaro says. (Crain's New York Business)

NYSE’s Chairman Unplugs His Plans For a New Exchange - Dec 3, 2001
Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, has essentially abandoned his idea of constructing a 900-foot skyscraper over the new stock exchange to help defray the costs of the project. Instead, Grasso is reportedly considering abandoning the location at 33 Wall Street in favor of the World Trade Center site. This would be a major setback for the Giuliani administration which has committed the city to buying property at 33 Wall. A $950 million bond deal to finance the project has been postponed indefinitely. (New York Observer)

New NYSE Plan Looks Less Lofty - Dec 3, 2001
City officials expect to go ahead with a new $1.1 billion building for the New York Stock Exchange, but a grand vision - which included a 900-foot skyscraper - will likely be scaled down. "The New York Stock Exchange and the city are going to revise that plan. I'm very confident that the stock exchange will remain [in the same area]," Mayor Giuliani said yesterday. (New York Post)

New Apts. at Ground Zero? - Nov 30, 2001
When the World Trade Center site is eventually redeveloped, apartment buildings - and not exclusively office towers - could be part of the answer, Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. Bloomberg noted there's a dearth of affordable housing and a glut of office space in the city. "The first step," he said, "is to say, 'What does this city need?'" (New York Daily News)

Ex-Banker Will Lead Rebuilding Effort - Nov 29, 2001
Governor Pataki will announce members of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. at a news conference today. John Whitehead, a 79-year-old former investment banker and deputy secretary of state with strong ties to the Republican Party, is expected to be named to head the 11-member panel. Sources said that New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso, former National Association of Securities Dealers chairman Frank Zarb, labor leader Ed Malloy and real estate developer Roland Betts are also likely to be appointed. (New York Daily News)

Developer Briefs Bloomberg on Plans to Rebuild Towers - Nov 21, 2001
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who holds the lease on the World Trade Center, met with Mayor-elect Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday and said afterward that he would go ahead with plans to rebuild at the site, probably with new towers reaching about half as high as the ones destroyed on Sept. 11. He also said groundbreaking at 7 World Trade Center would begin in 2002.Mr. Silverstein, who is developing plans for a memorial to those who died in the attack, said he expected the buildings to attract businesses because they would be "first class" and affordable. The new towers should be up in five or six years, he said.After the briefing, Mr. Bloomberg emphasized that the rebuilding would be privately financed, and he spoke of the need to consider the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan in connection with development and transit needs in the rest of the city.Just how much private money the developer would have at his disposal is still an open question. (New York Times)

Since Sept. 11, Vacant Offices and Lost Vigor - Nov 19, 2001
A lack of demand for downtown office space, despite the destruction of the World Trade Center complex, is spurring debate about what can be done to make the area more attractive to tourists and residential and commercial tenants. Some experts believe transportation is key, while others are focusing on culture, arts, restaurants and retailing.
(New York Times)