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Mark Lennihan/AP
Construction at World Trade Center Site Delayed
by
Josh Katz
The construction at the site of the World Trade Center will take three years longer to complete and the price tag will be $1 billion to $3 billion more than expected.
30-Second Summary
The Wall Street Journal reports that the delays would push the completion of the Sept. 11 Memorial past Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. But the foundation in control of the project is still set on finishing the memorial by the anniversary. The problems with the construction primarily involve the transit hub and the memorial, which have proven difficult to construct under the current budget.
The delay may also make it more difficult to find tenants and investors to purchase space in the new buildings. Merrill Lynch has expressed interest in Tower 3, but a deal seems far from certain right now.
The site of the World Trade Center is slated to include “the memorial, five office towers, a transit hub providing access to underground rail lines, and a performing arts center,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
N.Y. Gov. David Paterson and N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine called for a report on the status of the development on June 11, marking June 30 as the deadline. Paterson had asked for a schedule and timeline mapping the construction process, but the report is supposedly not going to include that information.
Felix Salmon of Portfolio.com says there are too many players involved: “the WTC rebuilding project has been run by a set of teams which seem incapable of working together, ultimately answerable to a rotating cast of governors: not just Pataki, Spitzer, and Paterson in New York, but also DiFrancesco, Bennett, Codey (twice), McGreevey, and Corzine in New Jersey.”
The delay may also make it more difficult to find tenants and investors to purchase space in the new buildings. Merrill Lynch has expressed interest in Tower 3, but a deal seems far from certain right now.
The site of the World Trade Center is slated to include “the memorial, five office towers, a transit hub providing access to underground rail lines, and a performing arts center,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
N.Y. Gov. David Paterson and N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine called for a report on the status of the development on June 11, marking June 30 as the deadline. Paterson had asked for a schedule and timeline mapping the construction process, but the report is supposedly not going to include that information.
Felix Salmon of Portfolio.com says there are too many players involved: “the WTC rebuilding project has been run by a set of teams which seem incapable of working together, ultimately answerable to a rotating cast of governors: not just Pataki, Spitzer, and Paterson in New York, but also DiFrancesco, Bennett, Codey (twice), McGreevey, and Corzine in New Jersey.”
Headline Link: ‘Trade Center Rebuilding Faces Big Setback’
“The rebuilding of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, won't be completed until the middle of the next decade, and will cost as much as $3 billion more than planned, according to people familiar with the matter,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Background: Problems with the construction process
On June 28, the New York Daily News reported that Port Authority officials did not heed warnings a year ago from The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that the Sept. 11 memorial would not be completed before the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks. According to the newspaper, “All along, the Port Authority has repeatedly insisted in public comments everything was on schedule.”
Source: New York Daily News
“A highly anticipated progress report on construction at ground zero is expected to focus on a scaled-back redesign of the PATH transit hub, demolition of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St., and difficulties involving work on the no. 1 subway line,” The New York Sun reports. The Sun also provides a video explaining where the new structures will be situated and what construction work occurs at the Ground Zero site each day.
Source: The New York Sun
Opinion & Analysis: The handling of the site development
Felix Salmon of Portfolio.com writes: “The Port Authority has clearly shown itself to be utterly incompetent in running this show, and it’s becoming ever more obvious that the worst day in the history of the rebuilding was the day when the land-swap idea died.” In other words, Salmon argues that the city should have taken control of the WTC site, while the Port Authority should have obtained authority over the airports.
Source: Portfolio.com
Evan Mantyk laments the Port Authority’s delay of the World Trade Center site development. “What would really be great is if our government would use our tax money to get something meaningful done and fix the gaping hole in the Financial District.”
Source: The Epoch Times
Reference: The new towers
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation describes the planned development of the site of the former World Trade Center, including the Freedom Tower and Towers Two, Three and Four.
Source: Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
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