9/11: 20 Years Later
A transformed Lower Manhattan
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Two decades into the reconstruction
of the World Trade Center, Larry
Silverstein, the developer behind
the Lower Manhattan megaproject, still
marvels at the transformation of the site
that rose from the ashes of the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks.
“We’ve come a very long way since
those days and it’s been an extraordinary
time. It’s taken New York through some
of its most diffi cult and, interestingly, best
times,” the 90-year-old tycoon at the helm
of Silverstein Properties told amNewYork
Metro in an interview. “If you look at what
has transpired since then, what exists today,
you’ve got a different world here.”
Just six weeks before 9/11, Silverstein
signed a 99-year lease on the World Trade
Center complex for $3.2 billion from the
Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, which owns the land.
The Lower Manhattan properties were
supposed to be the crown jewel for Silverstein’s
lifetime in real estate, but those
plans were wiped out on that horrendous
The World Trade Center site.
day that killed almost 3,000 people.
“I was horrifi ed to see it, and I will tell
you that living through those days was
excruciatingly diffi cult,” said Silverstein.
In the aftermath, offi cials debated about
whether to rebuild the business complex
at all, but Silverstein was resolute that the
downtown area had to come back.
“That’s something I felt we must do if we
were ever going to live again in a vibrant
Lower Manhattan — I felt the buildings
had to go back in some form,” he said.
Rebuilding
Under the 2003 master plan by architect
Daniel Libeskind, the proposal called for
a row of fi ve towers descending in height
from 1 World Trade Center (originally
dubbed the Freedom Tower), which rises
to a symbolic height of 1,776 feet, making
it the tallest building in the Western
Hemisphere.
Half of the site is devoted to the 9/11
Memorial and Museum, which consists of
two roughly 1-acre cascading pools set in
the original footprints of the Twin Towers,
lined with bronze inscriptions of every person
who died in the terror attacks of 9/11
and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The underground museum offers visitors
a close look at both attacks, including a rich
repository of photos, building remnants,
and other artifacts.
A newly-constructed transportation and
shopping hub dubbed the Oculus, with its
airy, skeletal design by Santiago Calatrava,
connects to the Cortlandt Street subway
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
station, which was destroyed when the
towers collapsed, and New Jersey’s PATH
trains.
The redevelopment of the 16-acre site
known as Ground Zero has proved a massive
undertaking for developers, the Port
Authority, and the state’s Lower Manhattan
Development Corporation, with more
than $25 billion of public and private funds
fl owing into the project that has so far
spanned fi ve governors and three mayors.
A performing arts center is under
construction and two more buildings are
coming down the pike, including the site’s
fi rst residential tower 5 World Trade Center
as well as the fi nal offi ce tower at 2 World
Trade Center, and Silverstein is eager to
complete the campus within his lifetime.
“I want to get this done, because if I
can’t get it done in a pretty short period
of time my question is, will I get to really
fully appreciate it,” he said. “That’s one of
the things I’m really looking forward to
accomplishing, getting it done while I can
fully take part in seeing it come to fruition.
I’m looking forward to that, very important
to me.”
A changing Lower Manhattan
The area around the World Trade
Center has evolved too, as more and more
New Yorkers moved to Lower Manhattan,
reshaping the island’s southernmost
neighborhood from a mostly nine-to-fi ve
business district into a thriving mixed-use
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTORS
ART DIRECTOR
ADVERTISING
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR
The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes
or typographical errors that do not lessen the value
of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for
others errors or omissions in connection with an
advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the
advertisement in any subsequent issue.
Published by Schneps Media
One Metrotech North, 3rd floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 260-2500
Fax: (212) 229-2790
On-line: www.thevillager.com
E-mail: news@thevillager.com
© 2021 Schneps Media
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
EMILY DAVENPORT
KEVIN DUGGAN
DEAN MOSES
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
BOB KRASNER
TEQUILA MINSKY
MARCOS RAMOS
CLIFFORD LUSTER
(718) 260-2504
CLUSTER@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
GAYLE GREENBURG
JULIO TUMBACO
ELIZABETH POLLY
New York Press Association
Member of the National
Newspaper Association
Member of the
Member of the
Minority Women Business Enterprise
88 SSeepptteemmbbeerr 99,, 22002211 SScchhnneeppss MMeeddiiaa
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
