TIME Magazine

A New Blueprint

Posted May 8, 2006

On a cool day last September, developer Larry Silverstein walked proudly through the lobby of 7 World Trade Center, the first of six skyscrapers planned for ground zero. He ticked off a few of the building's amenities--a lobby wall featuring computerized art; a sprinkler system with twice the capacity required by code--then made his pitch: "It is going to be the safest office building in America."

Silverstein has managed to convert that claim into exactly three tenants. Despite a strong advertising push that kicked off early this year, less than 20% of 7 World Trade Center's 1.7 million sq. ft. are spoken for. But at least the building is real. Of the commercial buildings, cultural centers and memorial planned for the site (10 in all), 7 World Trade Center is the only one that exists much beyond blueprint and imagination. In the 412 years since 9/11, ground zero has been excavated, purified and turned into a place of pilgrimage. When completed, the new World Trade Center memorial will attract 10 million visitors a year, its handlers expect. Ground zero has inspired dozens of books, several documentaries and passionate calls to rebuild and reclaim the hole in the ground with something both respectful and profitable. The result? Sixteen barren acres of good intentions.

Why is it taking so long? In part, ground zero's story is quintessentially New York City. It's a battle over real estate and turf. Silverstein, a tenacious developer best known for erecting the original 7 World Trade Center, has pitted himself against a billionaire businessman mayor; an ambitious Governor; grieving, conflicted families; and a small army of politically plugged-in bureaucrats--all with their own ideas about what should be built, how much it ought to cost and who should pay for it. Even Donald Trump makes a cameo. Trump, whom Silverstein once considered a friend, unveiled a competing proposal last summer, denouncing the Freedom Tower, the 1,776-ft. centerpiece, as "the worst pile-of-crap architecture I've seen in my life."

Farce aside, there's plenty at stake downtown. The towers destroyed in the attack covered 10 million sq. ft. of space and housed 25,000 employees. In total, 2,749 people died in the attacks--some leaping from the burning upper floors of the towers. The new World Trade Center will cost more than $15 billion and anchor the country's fourth largest business district after midtown Manhattan, the Loop in Chicago and downtown Washington. Construction on the Freedom Tower finally began last month, in a symbolic groundbreaking, after Silverstein came to an agreement with state and city agencies that will divide responsibility for different parts of ground zero.

Last week Silverstein added Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki to the roster of architects designing the office towers. "Enough words. Enough talk," Silverstein said after coming to terms with the Port Authority by giving up some control of the site. "Rebuild." The results of that rebuilding could determine whether the downtown core will ever regain importance as a business center.

Nearly all the problems in the reconstitution of ground zero begin with one essential issue: Who will be in control? As the agency that helped create the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bistate-funded agency, owns the land on the WTC site, but it sold the "leaseholder" rights to the towers to Silverstein in 2001--six weeks before Sept. 11--for $3.2 billion.

That made Silverstein the landlord for the buildings (he would profit if he could increase the buildings' income). After 9/11 he became the custodian for a site of national mourning, a role that New York's politicians felt deeply uncomfortable with. "At the outset, the problem was the absence of a real leader," says Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Complicating matters, both New York Governor George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had staked political capital on carrying out their visions of ground zero. Pataki muscled Silverstein out of the initial planning, organizing a worldwide architecture competition, eventually won by Daniel Libeskind, who designed a complex, including a museum, a memorial, a performing-arts center, a transportation hub and five office towers, with what is now known as the Freedom Tower as the tallest. Bloomberg tried a bureaucratic end run, offering to swap with the Port Authority control of the city's airports for ground zero, in hopes of then removing Silverstein as developer. That effort failed, but it didn't stop Bloomberg from repeatedly calling for Silverstein to cede control. "We need this now to advance our economy and pay tribute to those who died there," Bloomberg said of the WTC rebuilding. "Not a decade and a half in the future, when it fits a developer's financial plan."

The April truce between Silverstein and the Port Authority resolves most of those turf issues. Silverstein gets to unload the Freedom Tower, widely seen as a white elephant and a money loser. Pataki can claim that construction is moving forward, in time for his expected presidential bid. Bloomberg, who has long pushed for adding residential space, will probably get that with Tower 5. There are yet some issues on the table, but the agreement was enough to clear the way for construction on the Freedom Tower to begin April 27.

Still, real estate insiders are skeptical about whether ground zero's master plan--10 million sq. ft. of office space and 600,000 sq. ft. of retail--has allowed emotion to rule over pragmatism. "The market itself doesn't have a need for this much space," says Richard Leone, president of the Century Foundation and a former chairman of the Port Authority. "[This plan] is about making beautiful buildings."

The problem, Leone and other observers say, is that, in the post--9/11 years, New York City's business community has steadily migrated to midtown Manhattan because of its easier access to the city's northern suburbs. "For the past 25 to 30 years, lower Manhattan has suffered under a handicap, compared to midtown, due to transportation," says William Wheaton, an economist who heads research at the Center for Real Estate at M.I.T. Sept. 11 only accelerated the northern shift by the law firms and investment banks that for decades had anchored Wall Street. Immediately after 9/11, many financial firms, including Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, moved their employees to other locations around the city and to nearby Jersey City, N.J. Government officials persuaded Goldman Sachs to erect a building near ground zero, but at a cost of more than $1.6 billion in Liberty Bonds--low-cost, tax-exempt bonds issued by the city and state governments. The city and state provided an additional $150 million in tax breaks.

The original World Trade Center, completed in 1973, suffered under a similar real estate climate. "The argument back then was that downtown was losing to midtown," says Susan Fainstein, professor of urban planning at Columbia University. "They thought by building this impressive complex, it would make downtown a competitor. But so much space came up at once, and there just wasn't the demand to fill it." New York State even moved some offices there to help keep the rent rolls filled. The latest plans for ground zero call for the same 10 million sq. ft. of office space as the original World Trade Center, but the site's potential as a repeat target may repel business. "People don't want to work in a building with a bull's-eye on it," says Fainstein. "It doesn't matter if it's built like Fort Knox."

Even if he does find the tenants, Silverstein's methodical plan for development--one building at a time--has maddened his critics, convincing them that he simply does not have the cash to build out the site. The April agreement gives him about 60% of the $3.3 billion in public funding made available from Liberty Bonds to finish the site. He also has a $4.6 billion insurance settlement--it was ruled that the towers were hit by two separate attacks--although that is under appeal.

The biggest remaining question mark hanging over ground zero is the fate of its controversial centerpiece. The plan for the Freedom Tower has always been more emotional response than business proposition, born out of a desire to show the world that Americans would not be cowed by terrorists. "We have a public responsibility to rebuild ground zero, and it's incumbent on us to build a tower of freedom and democracy," says Charles Gargano, vice chairman for the Port Authority. "We need a signature building. It's not just a real estate project."

The struggle for control over the Freedom Tower, which would reclaim the title of tallest building in New York City, has compounded the delays at ground zero. Silverstein repeatedly clashed with Libeskind, eventually bringing in his own architect, David Childs, who reached a messy compromise with Libeskind over the design. The relatives of the victims don't speak as one: some want development; other don't. They are more concerned about the memorial itself, which has become a separate battle. Last summer, just as construction was to begin, the blueprints had to be reworked because of safety concerns raised by the police. Sources close to Silverstein say the redesign set the project back two years. The Port Authority's push for more control over the site delayed construction even further.

The Port Authority has won that battle. But to fill the Freedom Tower's 2.6 million sq. ft. of office space, Pataki and his allies at the Port Authority may again rely on government tenants to fill the floors. In the old World Trade Center, the Port Authority occupied 13 full floors--and lost 47 civilian employees, including its chief, Neil Levin, in the attacks. But adding government space could make potential tenants even more skittish about a recurrence.

"I've never understood why the plan required a building that large," says Leone. "It's become a symbol of defiance. I understand there is a lot of emotion, but at the end of the day you're spending public money. The original World Trade Center didn't make money for 10 years. To go through that again doesn't make sense."

For now, Silverstein will move forward with construction--to the relief of a city that has grown weary of the endless bickering. But change could still be in the works. The Port Authority doesn't officially vote on the agreement with Silverstein until late September. More important, with Pataki in his final year in office, New York will get a new Governor--with ultimate authority over the site--next January. Expect the future of ground zero to be re-examined yet again. [This article contains a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] Grand Vision The planned office towers and memorial at the World Trade Center site are finally moving forward. But who will fill the buildings? 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER Not part of the WTC master plan, and the only structure already rebuilt. The developer calls it "the safest building in America," but it has attracted just three tenants so far FREEDOM TOWER Years of haggling among the power players, coupled with design revisions and security concerns, delayed the start of the architectural heart of the site. Construction is finally under way

Performing Arts Center

Cultural Center

CULTURAL BUILDINGS Political controversy over possible exhibits derailed the proposed International Freedom Center and led the Drawing Center to seek another site. Neither building has been started World Trade Center Memorial

MEMORIAL The sunken memorial, called Reflecting Absence, will echo the footprints of the twin towers and will contain a museum dedicated to the events of 9/11. It is scheduled for completion in 2011 Subway transit center Underground Concourse

Commuter-rail station

TRANSPORTATION HUBS A key to attracting businesses to the area is a rebuilt commuter-rail station and a new complex that connects 13 of the city's subway routes to the site. Preliminary work has begun on both projects

Tower 2

Tower 3

Tower 4

Tower 5

Park OFFICE TOWERS The master plan calls for 10 million sq. ft. of office space, plus more for retail, in five buildings. One tower may instead become residential TIME Graphic by Joe Lertola