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Work is finally back on track at New York’s World Trade Center, with long-stalled construction resuming on the 9/11 Museum and new progress reported on the office building and transportation hub.
Core installations continue atop the 104-story One World Trade Center, and the Santiago Calatrava-designed transportation hub is also taking shape, according to a dramatic new video by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that captures the work at dizzying heights.
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Images: Port Authority of NY and NJ |
| Work at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan is moving forward. |
Meanwhile, a long-awaited agreement on the 9/11 Museum has broken the year-long logjam on that project, officials say.
All buildings at the site are scheduled to be completed by 2016 or 2017, according to developers.
More than 3,500 men and women from more than 60 union trades work on the site.
Video Highlights
The Port Authority video highlights important progress at the site. Most of the video details construction underway at One World Trade Center, led by Tishman Construction.
The multibillion-dollar building will rise 1,776 feet to the top of its spire, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the Port Authority said. Opening is set for 2014.
Core installation, preparations for the spire, glass curtain wall installation, and concrete installation on the 93rd floor are all shown in the video.
The video also shows rebar installation at the new transportation hub, slated to open in 2015.
The hub was designed by Calatrava, a renowned Spanish architect, and will serve more than 200,000 daily commuters. The Port Authority says the hub will seamlessly fuse state-of-the-art transportation and retail facilities through its iconic design.
Museum Construction to Resume
While most of the eight-acre memorial site was opened to the public in September 2011, construction on the 9/11 Museum was halted last fall over a funding dispute.
The dispute pitted the Port Authority, controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey, against the September 11 Memorial & Museum Foundation, led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
However, on the eve of the tragedy’s 11th anniversary, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Bloomberg announced an agreement to facilitate completion of the project.
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| This updated rendering of One World Trade Center was released in August. |
The agreement should put the museum project—originally scheduled for opening in 2009 and, later, in 2012—back on track, officials said.
“I’m very gratified that on the eve of this important anniversary we are able to announce an agreement that will ensure the completion of the 9/11 Museum,” Bloomberg said in a statement. Construction “will be restarted very soon and will not stop until the museum is completed.”
No completion date was announced, but Memorial officials said it would take “more than a year to finish the job.”
The agreement says that the memorial foundation will spring for additional cash payments for construction costs and calls for closer collaboration between the parties.
An advisory committee will be formed to resolve any future disputes, according to the agreement.
Other Ground Zero Updates
Elsewhere at the site:
• 4 World Trade Center, the future headquarters of the Port Authority, has reached its full height and is scheduled to open in October 2013.
• 3 World Trade Center has some 72 stories to go, as the developer (Silverstein Properties) is required to lease 400,000 square feet of space before completion, according to reports, which project completion in 2015 or 2016.
• Construction on 2 World Trade Center, planned as an 88-story office building, has been stalled until the commercial real estate market gains traction. The construction has made it only to street level.
• A board of directors has been named and charged with raising funds to build a performing arts center planned for the site.
• The Vehicle Security Center and Tour Bus Parking Facility will open in 2013, reports say.
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