WTC Site Redevelopment

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1 STREET WTC Site Redevelopment The Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey The states of ew York and ew Jersey formed The Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey in 1921 to strengthen regional commerce and transportation. The agency is governed by a 12-member Board of Commissioners, six of whom are appointed by each Governor. The Port Authority built the World Trade Center and operated it from 1970 until July 2001, when it was leased to private operators. The Port Authority continues to own the World Trade Center site, and had its headquarters in 1 World Trade Center until September 11, Seventy-five Port Authority employees died in the attacks, including 38 civilians and 37 Port Authority Police officers. Many were killed as they assisted in the evacuation of the buildings. The Port Authority is committed to working with the LMDC and many others to create a fitting memorial, to redevelop the World Trade Center site, and to improve the transportation system that serves Lower Manhattan and links the area with ew Jersey. While advancing these goals, the Port Authority continues to operate and provide security for airports, bridges and tunnels and other critical transportation links throughout the region. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) was created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 by Governor George Pataki and then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The LMDC is a joint state-city corporation whose mission is to oversee and coordinate the revitalization of Lower Manhattan south of Houston Street, the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and most importantly, the creation of a permanent memorial honoring those who were lost on September 11, The LMDC works with Governor Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and many partners in the private and public sectors, including the Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey, to ensure that Lower Manhattan emerges from this tragedy as a vibrant, mixed-used community. The LMDC is committed to fulfilling its mission through an open, inclusive and transparent public process. The LMDC consults with a broad spectrum of individuals including the families of those lost on September 11th, business owners and downtown residents. The general public is also playing a central role in helping to shape the future of Lower Manhattan by participating in public forums and submitting thousands of comments to the LMDC. For more information please visit the LMDC web-site at Listening to the City, citizen summit at the Javits Center, July 20, 2002 LMDC & Port Authority Public Hearing in Lower Manhattan at Pace University s Michael Schimmel Auditorium, May 23, 2002

2 STREET Restoring WTC Transportation Restoring PATH and Subway Service to Lower Manhattan The Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey is working tirelessly to restore transportation services to the World Trade Center (WTC) site on PATH, the agency s rail transit subsidiary. The Port Authority, recognizing the vital importance of regional transportation, has made reestablishment of PATH service to Lower Manhattan its top priority project. In order to restore PATH service to Lower Manhattan following the destruction of the WTC on September 11, 2001, the Exchange Place Station in Jersey City, ew Jersey, must be upgraded, the tunnels connecting Exchange Place with ew York must be restored, and a temporary terminal must be constructed at the WTC site. Here at the WTC site, the PATH tracks and platforms must be rebuilt and a series of stairs, escalators, and circulation areas must be constructed to connect the train platforms to the street level. Computer-Generated Aerial View of PATH Terminal Computer-Generated View of PATH Platform Upon completion of the emergency operations and debris removal by the YC Department of Design and Construction, The Port Authority began work on rebuilding the PATH station on July 1, 2002, with anticipated completion scheduled for December, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) realized early on the importance of restoring subway service to Lower Manhattan as quickly as possible. The MTA began to stabilize and rebuild some portions of the 1/9 line in January 2002, and completed designs for the entire effort by February. Contracts were awarded in March, specifying a September 30, 2002 completion. Construction crews worked around the clock to rebuild damaged portions of the 1/9 line. All were reopened in September 2002 except the Cortlandt Street station, which was at the center of the WTC complex. Its reconstruction depends on the final plan for the site. Initial Framing for the Tunnel - Winter 2002 Interior of Tunnel - Spring 2002

3 STREET The Buildings The World Trade Center was developed and constructed by the Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey, a bi-state public agency, principally between 1962 and Seven buildings occupied the twenty-acre site. By far the most prominent were 1 WTC and 2 WTC, the orth and South towers. At 110 stories and 1368 and 1362 feet tall, respectively, the Twin Towers were, at the time of their completion in 1971 and 1973, the two tallest buildings in the world. Creating the edges of the site were lowrise structures, a suite of seven-story buildings known as 4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC (the U. S. Customs House). These buildings were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki to harmonize with the Twin Towers and frame the central plaza. The building with the address 3 WTC, the Marriott Vista Hotel on the southwest corner of the plaza on West Street, was envisioned in the Yamasaki site plan, but was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in Added in 1987, the forty-seven story 7 WTC, designed by Emery Roth & Sons, rose on the north side of Vesey Street. The building was connected directly to the WTC complex on the plaza level by an enclosed pedestrian bridge.

4 VESEY STREET BATTERY PARK CITY HALL ST PAUL'S WHITEHALL FERRY TERMIAL FULTO ST SOUTH STREET SEAPORT STREET The Sphere In 1971 the Port Authority of ew York and ew Jersey commissioned sculptor Fritz Koenig to create The Sphere as a monument to fostering world peace through trade. Forged out of bronze and steel, and weighing approximately 45,000 pounds, the 25-foot high sculpture rested atop a granite fountain that was once the centerpiece of the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza. On September 11, 2001, The Sphere sustained a large gash thorough its center, but remained structurally intact. It was one of the few public art treasures recovered from the World Trade Center site. On March 11, 2002, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation joined Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to unveil The Sphere in Battery Park as an interim memorial to those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center. Today, The Sphere endures as a symbol of strength, hope and resilience. The site plan of the WTC complex shows the footprints of the towers and low-rise buildings framing the central plaza with its fountain and Sphere sculpture. WEST STREET STREET FULTO ST BROOKLY BRIDGE It now has a different beauty, one I could never imagine, it now has its own life - different from the one I gave to it. -Fritz Koenig, March 2002 WEST ST BROADWAY WALL ST WATER ST Image by Charles esbit and Richard ash Gould A project of John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard ash Gould, Julian Laverdiere, Paul Marantz, Paul Myoda, The Municipal Art Society, Creative Time

5 STREET Urban Scale The scale of the World Trade Center was unprecedented. The Twin Towers were not just the tallest buildings in the world at their completion, they were also the largest in terms of floor area. At 209 feet on a side, their floorplates covered about an acre, and each building exceeded four million square feet, with around eleven million square feet for the complex. At the time, this was more than the total downtown office space of Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or Boston. WEST ST CITY HALL ST PAUL'S FULTO ST BROOKLY BRIDGE FULTO ST SOUTH STREET SEAPORT The population of workers was approximately 50,000 and 150,000 people passed through the complex on a daily basis including PATH and subway commuters and business visitors. Tourists to the World Trade Center observation deck topped two million a year. WEST ST BROADWAY WALL ST WATER ST The size of the site is hard to fathom. At twenty acres, it equals almost nineteen football fields. In terms of typical midtown blocks, the area compares to the original Rockefeller Center, which covers three full blocks between Fifth and Sixth avenues. 1 FOOTBALL FIELD BATTERY PARK WHITEHALL FERRY TERMIAL The oversized, abstract character of the superblock plan presented a striking contrast to the densely developed blocks in the historic core on Broadway and around Wall Street. In the 1980s, the World Financial Center extended the giant scale of the full-acre footprints in an expansion of the commercial zone across West Street. The ensemble of Postmodern skyscrapers designed by Cesar Pelli make reference to the setback forms of the 1920s, but rise less than half the height of the Twin Towers.

6 STREET Tribute in Light The Tribute in Light was created as a result of the collaborative efforts of the Municipal Art Society, other civic organizations, and talented artists from a broad range of disciplines, to remember and honor those heroes who lost their lives at the World Trade Center on September 11, The Tribute in Light, which rose from a site adjacent to ground zero, consisted of two banks of forty-four spotlights, whose light projected about a mile high into the night sky. Powered by 7,000- watt xenon bulbs, the focused rays were said to equal the power of two million light bulbs. Under certain conditions the Tribute in Light could be seen from up to 25 miles away in any direction. Many people felt the Tribute in Light reflected the same spirit as was present during the candlelight vigils that took place around the nation and around the world following September 11, On March 11, 2002, six months after the attack, Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg dedicated the Tribute in Light to those lost that tragic day and to celebrate the city s spirit of resolve, resilience and renewal. The lighting of the Tribute in Light was one Image by Charles esbit and Richard ash Gould A project of John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard ash Gould, Julian Laverdiere, Paul Marantz, Paul Myoda, The Municipal Art Society, Creative Time of the many ceremonies held across the United States. Illuminating the night sky for thirty-two days from dusk to 11 p.m., the Tribute in Light served as an enduring symbol of hope, uniting the families of those who lost loved ones, ew Yorkers, the nation, and the world.

7 STREET The WTC Site Superblock is the term of the 1960s used to describe the radical redesign of the old street pattern on the site of the World Trade Center. Fourteen city blocks were combined into a single parcel and streets were eliminated to create a zone free of vehicles. Surrounding streets were widened threefold. The almost-square site was extended on the north to include two blocks for an electrical substation which in the 1980s was incorporated into the 7 WTC building. Set off from the dense collage of buildings of the surrounding city, the World Trade Center organized around an elevated central plaza entered from Church Street. Architect Minoru Yamasaki called the great open space a paved garden and compared it to grand civic plazas of Europe such as the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. WEST WEST STREET STREET 6 WTC 1 WTC 7 WTC VESEY STREET 5 WTC 3 WTC 2 WTC 4 WTC STREET STREET The 5-acre public plaza functioned successfully as an area for public events or lunchtime seating, including concerts and other performances that were well attended day and evening. The granite paved plaza also served as a podium that dramatized the soaring verticals of the Twin Towers. From the plaza, visitors entered the towers at the mezzanine level while from the city streets or the retail concourse, they would enter the main lobby. Most pedestrian activity at the WTC took place under the plaza in the concourse, known as The Mall at the WTC. This retail concourse also interconnected the PATH and subways, the various buildings and the perimeter streets. The Mall at the WTC (approximately 427,000 square feet with 80 stores) had become one of the most successful shopping centers in the United States.