|
NYC World Trade Center site faces fresh delays
The Freedom Tower, centerpiece of the plan to rebuild Manhattan's World Trade Center, will not be completed until 2013, well past the original target date of 2009, the landowning agency for the site said on Thursday.But the most important parts of the "heart" of the site, the memorial to the nearly 3,000 who perished in the September 11, 2001 attack, will open by the 10th anniversary, New York Gov. David Paterson told reporters. He noted that in June the completion date had slipped as far back as 2015. The memorial's plaza, waterfalls, displays of victims' names and a gathering area will be finished by 2011, although some of the site might subsequently be open only "intermittently" until it is finished, he added. Paterson took office in March and after reviewing six years of missed deadlines, ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to come up with realistic estimates, which the agency's new executive director unveiled on Thursday. The cost of the 1,776-foot (541-meter) Freedom Tower, meant to symbolize the city's revival, will rise to $3.1 billion, partly because it will now have two observation decks instead of one, Executive Director Christopher Ward said. Other parts of the project are also delayed, including the underground part of a memorial museum and a mass transit hub. Service on a subway that runs through the site will partly be suspended, said Ward, whose agency helps oversee the project. The delays are the latest hurdles in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, which has repeatedly stalled due to fights over insurance and wrangles between the major players -- state, city and federal agencies and developer Larry Silverstein, who leased it two months before it was destroyed. The worsening financial crisis has imperiled many construction projects in the city and around the country. Wall Street's troubles have also hit the city's office market. Posted by: Fred 2008-10-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=251690 |