The 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is less than two weeks away, and there is new and noticeable progress that has been made on the construction of the World Trade Center.
The pieces of the new World Trade Center are finally falling into place. In March, the main concourse of the Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center Transportation Hub, also known as the Oculus, opened. In June, Liberty Park opened and 3 World Trade Center topped out. Last week, the Westfield-operated mall at the Oculus, complete with an Apple Store, opened to the public. And now, it appears demolition is about to begin on the temporary PATH station, paving the way for the new Performing Arts Center to begin construction.
News broke this week that billionaire Ron Perelman committed $75 million to financing the World Trade Center’s Performing Arts Center, which will provide the complex with a much-needed cultural amenity. But with 175 Greenwich (3 World Trade Center) nearly complete and the remaining puzzle pieces now falling into place, it is YIMBY’s opinion that it is also time to reconsider the design changes proposed for 2 World Trade Center. With Fox failing to commit to BIG’s proposal for the site, it makes much more sense to return to Norman Foster’s far more attractive design for the tower, which was shelved last year.
Billionaire Ronald Perelman has pledged to donate $75 million to resurrect plans for the World Trade Center‘s Performing Arts Center, to be located at 70 Vesey Street in the Financial District. That’s the patch of land bound by Vesey, Greenwich, and Fulton streets, once home of the WTC’s temporary PATH station. The three-to four-story, 80,000-square-foot complex, now dubbed the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, will eventually boast three theaters. They will each seat 499, 299, and 100 people, but will have the ability to be reconfigured into a single 1,200-seat theater, according to the New York Times. Brooklyn-based REX Associates is responsible for the design. Perelman’s donation will be combined with $100 million already awarded by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). The project is reportedly expected to cost $240 million in total, although the the LMDC said last year it will cost no more than $200 million. Groundbreaking is set for 2018.
The World Trade Center’s Liberty Park is now receiving its finishing touches for its grand opening today. The Financial District’s new, one-acre public park is 25 feet above street level and measures 336 feet along Liberty Street between West and Greenwich streets. It will feature 19 planters, a half-dozen species of plants, seating made out of recycled teak, and a 300-foot-long “Living Wall” of greenery along its northern base. Pictures of it ahead of its opening can be seen in a New York Times report. It will be open to all from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. Aecom’s Joseph E. Brown is the landscape architect, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is behind the project. The Santiago Calatrava-designed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church can also be seen taking shape on the site’s eastern end. That portion of the project is expected to be complete in 2017. YIMBY last brought you an update on Liberty Park when construction was in its final phases in May.
