After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the 16 acres of land often called Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, where the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center stood, passed from being the financial capital of the U.S. to a symbol of a resilient U.S. Now Tishman Construction, Turner Construction, Bovis Lend Lease, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Silverstein Properties and dozens of architects, engineers, subcontractors and suppliers are constructing a $19-billion World Trade Center replacement. The development includes a 9/11 memorial-museum, with the world’s two largest constructed pools on the sites of the twin towers’ acre-sized footprints. The memorial, most of which is scheduled to open Sept. 11, will be flanked by a multimodal transportation hub, designed by Santiago Calatrava to resemble a dove of peace. Plans also call for 500,000-sq-ft of retail; a future performing arts center; and eventually five skyscrapers, including the 1,776-ft-tall One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower). The development is helping define a new generation of more-robust and safety-conscious skyscraper construction in an age of potential terrorism. The master plan for the Lower Manhattan neighborhood also includes a new Fulton Transit Center—a subway station under construction to the east. An underground east-west pedestrian concourse will connect the transit center to the World Financial Center at Battery Park City along the Hudson River, via the World Trade Center.

Photo courtesy Tishman Construction