World Trade Center (2001–present)
The World Trade Center is a complex of buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, replacing the original seven buildings on the same site that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks of 2001. The area is currently being redeveloped with up to six skyscrapers, four of which have been finished as of 2026; a memorial and museum is at the new plaza; which is the elevated Liberty Park adjacent to the site, containing the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Vehicular Security Center; the Perelman Performing Arts Center; and a transportation hub. The 104-story One World Trade Center, being the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is the lead building for the new complex.
The buildings are among many created by the World Trade Centers Association. The original World Trade Center including the Twin Towers, were opened in 1973 and were the tallest buildings in the world at the time of their completion. They were destroyed on the morning of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda members hijacked two Boeing 767 jets and flew them into the towers in a coordinated act of terrorism, killing 2,753 people. The resulting collapse of the World Trade Center caused structural failure in the surrounding buildings as well. The process of cleaning up and recovery at the World Trade Center site took eight months, after which site redevelopment commenced.
After years of delay and controversy, reconstruction at the World Trade Center site started in 2004. The new complex includes One World Trade Center, 3 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, and one other high-rise office building being planned at 2 World Trade Center. The new World Trade Center complex also includes a museum and memorial, and a transportation hub building that is similar in size to Grand Central Terminal. 7 World Trade Center, which was not included in the site's master plan, opened on May 23, 2006, making it the first of the skyscrapers to have been completed in the World Trade Center complex. 4 World Trade Center, the first building completed as part of the site's master plan, opened on November 12, 2013. The National September 11 Memorial opened on September 11, 2011, while the Museum opened on May 21, 2014. One World Trade Center was opened on November 3, 2014. The World Trade Center Transportation Hub opened to the public on March 4, 2016, and 3 World Trade Center opened on June 11, 2018. 2 World Trade Center's full construction was placed on hold in 2012.
Original complex and the September 11 attacks
The original World Trade Center contained the Twin Towers, which were the tallest buildings in the world after they opened on April 4, 1973. The other buildings in the complex included the Marriott World Trade Center, as well as 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. Despite high financial expectations for the original complex, it did not become profitable until the 1980s. On July 24, 2001, the Port Authority finalized an agreement that leased the complex to Larry Silverstein, who already owned 7 WTC. For $3.2 billion, Silverstein received the legal right to operate the complex and site for 99 years. At the time, the World Trade Center only had a few notable tenants, and Silverstein wanted to improve the complex to make it more attractive to potential tenants.These plans for improvement were never realized. On the morning of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda-affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets into the Twin Towers in a coordinated act of terrorism. At 8:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, a team of five hijackers intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower. At 9:03 a.m. EDT, a second team of five hijackers intentionally crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the southern facade of the South Tower. After burning for 56 minutes, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed, after burning for 102 minutes. The attacks on the World Trade Center killed 2,753 people. The resulting collapse caused structural failure in many of the surrounding buildings as well, and the entire complex was soon destroyed.
The process of cleaning up and recovery at the World Trade Center site continued 24 hours a day over a period of eight months. Debris was transported from the World Trade Center site to Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, where it was further sifted. Mayor Rudy Giuliani was tasked with coordinating the cleanup and recovery effort. On, 2002, a ceremony was held to officially mark the end of the cleanup efforts.
In 2002, ground was broken on construction of a new 7 World Trade Center building located just to the north of the main World Trade Center site. Since it was not part of the site master plan, the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center was allowed to proceed without delay, but Silverstein and Con Edison recognized that the rebuilding of the tower would have to be consistent with the master plan anyway. It called for reopening several streets that had been eliminated in the original complex, so the new 7 World Trade Center was designed so Greenwich Street, which had been blocked by the original 7 World Trade Center, could be continuous through the new complex. A temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center opened in, which was replaced by a permanent station designed by Santiago Calatrava, which opened in 2016.
Planning
In the months following the events of the September 11 attacks, architects and urban planning experts held meetings and forums to discuss ideas for rebuilding the site. Outgoing Mayor Giuliani advocated for a "soaring memorial" to be the only thing at the World Trade Center site during his final speech as mayor. Meanwhile, Larry Silverstein wanted to construct a new World Trade Center as soon as possible: the insurance documents for his lease on the old World Trade Center had not been finalized at the time of the attacks, so he could not receive insurance benefits from the attacks unless he rebuilt all the office space that had been destroyed. George Pataki, the then-Governor of New York, controlled the Port Authority alongside the Governor of New Jersey and so was entitled to make the final decision regarding the site. He wished to balance the desires of people like Giuliani, who did not want any future development on the site, with those of people like Silverstein, who wanted a new World Trade Center as soon as possible. In January 2002, New York City art dealer Max Protetch solicited 50 concepts and renderings from artists and architects, which were put on exhibit in his art gallery in Chelsea.With the World Trade Center site, numerous stakeholders were involved, including Silverstein and the Port Authority. In addition, the victims' families, people in the surrounding neighborhoods, and others wanted to provide input. In November 2001, Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process. In order to bypass the approval of the New York State Assembly, Pataki left out Sheldon Silver, the State Assemblyman for the area, from the decision-making process regarding the LMDC. The LMDC coordinated federal assistance in the rebuilding process and was tasked with working with the Port Authority, Larry Silverstein, and whoever was selected as the site's architects. The corporation also handled communication with the local community, businesses, the city of New York, and relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks. A 16-member board of directors, half appointed by the governor and half by the mayor of New York, governed the LMDC. The LMDC had questionable legal status regarding the restoration of the World Trade Center site, because the Port Authority owned most of the property and Larry Silverstein had the legal right to redevelop the World Trade Center. However, the LMDC, in an April 2002 articulation of its principles for action, asserted its role in revitalizing lower Manhattan.
In April 2002, the LMDC sent out requests for proposals to redesign the World Trade Center site to 24 Manhattan architecture firms, but then soon withdrew them. The following month, the LMDC selected Beyer Blinder Belle as planner for the redesign of the World Trade Center site. The new 7 World Trade Center, which was not part of the new plan, began construction on May 7, 2002. On July 16, 2002, Beyer Blinder Belle unveiled six concepts for redesigning the World Trade Center site. The roughly 5,000 New Yorkers that submitted feedback deemed all six designs to be "poor", so the LDMC announced a new international, open-design study. In an August 2002 press release, the LMDC announced a design study for the World Trade Center site. The following month, the LMDC, along with New York New Visions—a coalition of 21 architecture, engineering, planning, landscape architecture and design organizations—announced seven semifinalists. These architecture firms were then invited to compete to be the master plan architect for the World Trade Center: Foster and Partners ; Studio Daniel Libeskind ; Meier Eisenman Gwathmey Holl, sometimes known as "The Dream Team"; Peterson Littenberg; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; THINK Team ; and United Architects
File:WTC Building Arrangement in preliminary site plan.svg|thumb|left|Preliminary site plans for the World Trade Center's reconstruction. .
Peterson Littenberg, a small New York architecture firm, had been enlisted by the LMDC earlier that summer as a consultant, and was invited to participate as the seventh semifinalist. The seven semifinalists presented their entries to the public on December 18, 2002, at the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center. Due to large public interest, NY1 broadcast the presentations on live TV. In the following weeks, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill withdrew its entry from the competition.
Days before the announcement of the two finalists in February 2003, Larry Silverstein wrote to LMDC Chair John Whitehead to express his disapproval of all of the semifinalists' designs. As the Twin Towers' insurance money recipient, Silverstein claimed that he had the sole right to decide what would be built. He announced that he had already picked Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as his master planner for the site. On February 1, 2003, the LMDC selected two finalists, the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind, and planned on picking a single winner by the end of the month. Rafael Viñoly of the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind presented their designs to the LMDC, which selected the former design. Earlier the same day, however, Roland Betts, a member of the LMDC, had called a meeting and the corporation had agreed to vote for the THINK design before hearing the final presentations. Governor Pataki, who had originally commissioned the LMDC, intervened and overruled the LMDC's decision. On February 27, 2003, Studio Daniel Libeskind officially won the competition to be the master planner for the World Trade Center redesign.
Libeskind's original proposal, titled Memory Foundations, underwent extensive revisions during collaboration with Larry Silverstein as well as from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, whom Silverstein hired. The plan was anchored by the One World Trade Center and featured a memorial and a number of other office towers. Out of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, a design by Michael Arad and Peter Walker titled Reflecting Absence was selected in.
Though Libeskind designed the site, the individual buildings have been designed by different architects. While not all of Libeskind's ideas were incorporated into the final design, his design and the public support it garnered solidified the principle that the original footprints of the Twin Towers should be turned into a memorial and not be used for commercial purposes. As a result, Silverstein’s lawyers at the New York firm of Wachtell Lipton embarked on the multi-year negotiation process to frame a master plan for the rebuilding. The first step in this process, completed in 2003, was the "swap" in which Silverstein gave up his rights to the footprints of the Twin Towers so that they could become a memorial, and in exchange received the right to build five new office towers around the memorial. The "swap" and the ensuing negotiations, which lasted for many years, have been referred to as the most complex real estate transaction in human history because of the complexity of the issues involved, the many stakeholders, and the difficulty of reaching consensus. A key factor in enabling rebuilding to proceed was the effective formation of a public-private partnership between Silverstein and the Port Authority, which aligned incentives and allocated responsibility among the stakeholders.