WTC redesign announced, but questions still remain

NEW YORK -- A spire that would rise hundreds of feet higher than the World Trade Center was officially chosen Thursday to fill the yawning hole in the city's skyline, opening a complex new phase in the rebuilding of Ground Zero.

The plan by architect Daniel Libeskind will restore "lower Manhattan to its rightful place in the world," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The design calls for a cluster of glassy, angled buildings and a 1,776-foot spire filled with gardens instead of office space. It would preserve part of the pit that was the foundation of the twin towers for an as-yet undesigned memorial to the nearly 2,800 people who died there Sept. 11.

"The plan succeeds both when it rises into the sky and when it descends into the ground. In doing so, it captures the soaring optimism of our city and honors the eternal spirit of our fallen heroes," said John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

Libeskind's spire, at 1,776 feet, is meant to evoke the year of America's independence. It would rise far above Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest building in the world. The trade center towers were 1,350 feet tall.

Officials praised Libeskind for trying to create a bustling, vibrant streetscape around the site, complete with a five-star hotel, a transportation hub, a memorial museum and a sky-high restaurant that recalls the trade center's Windows on the World.

Despite enthusiasm for the design, questions remain about almost everything else surrounding the project, including how Libeskind's design will be paid for. A separate design competition for the memorial is scheduled to begin this spring, but how it will be funded is uncertain.

The insurance held on the trade center complex by developer Larry Silverstein is expected to help finance redevelopment, but he said earlier this month he was not satisfied with either plan. He did not speak at Thursday's ceremony.

There is also the question of who takes the lead now. The development corporation was created to oversee the rebuilding, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the site and Silverstein holds the lease.

"That's a question we've been asking both the governor and the mayor. You've got to give us direction here," said Roland Betts, who heads the development corporation's site planning committee.

Anthony Gardner, who lost his brother in the attack, criticized the decision to raise the floor of ground zero from 70 feet to 30 feet. "The site is a hallowed battleground, and it needs to be treated with reverence," he said.

The 57-year-old Libeskind, who grew up in the Bronx, said that decision was made to stabilize the immense slurry walls holding back the Hudson River that were laid bare when the towers collapsed.

Libeskind likened the walls' strength to the strength of democracy.

"Truly a wall of freedom," he said. "Freedom really etched in this wall."

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On the Net:

LMDC: http://www.renewnyc.org

Port Authority: http://www.panynj.gov