By: Karen Matthews Associated Press
were unveiled Tuesday, all featuring substantial memorials to the dead
and buildings that would evoke, but not match the lost skyline of
Lower Manhattan.
"Each plan begins with a memorial acknowledging that as we rebuild,
we must remember," John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan
Development Corp., said at a morning news conference.
The proposals call for replacing the 11 million square feet of office and
retail space lost on Sept. 11 with a cluster of buildings, none of which
would rise as high as the vanished 110-story towers.
Each plan calls for the construction of a public transportation hub at
the site. They also feature retail and hotel space.
"The six plans are not final blueprints. Each of the plans represents a
package of proposed ideas. These ideas can be mixed and matched
and reconstituted based on public input," said Whitehead.
Talking specifically about a memorial for the site, Whitehead said,
"There is no need to rush." He said there would an international design
competition that would drawn on professionals and amateurs alike.
"This is the starting point for dialogue," Matthew Higgins, spokesman for
the LMDC, a city-state agency, said earlier. "The next step is to actively
engage the public through as many different forums as possible."
To emphasize the importance of honoring the 2,800 who died, each plan
uses the word "Memorial" in its title. Four of the plans preserve the "footprints"
of the towers for a memorial; two would allow commercial buildings on the
footprints, which would enable more intensive development of the site.
Among the ideas are a proposal dubbed "Memorial Plaza" that would feature
an 8-acre open space and a free-standing tower at the northwest corner of
the site. "Memorial Triangle" would create several triangular parks and triangular
building sites. "Memorial Park" would have a 6-acre park but would allow
commercial development on the footprints.
Groups representing victims' families have demanded that the ground where
the towers stood not be used for anything but a memorial.
"Where Tower 1 and Tower 2 stood is sacred ground," said Joseph Maurer,
a retired firefighter whose daughter, Jill Campbell, died in the trade center.
"It's the same as Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor."
The tallest building in any of the six plans rises 85 stories. In an attempt to echo
the lost towers, each plan contains at least one needle-like structure atop an
office tower for a total height of 1,500 feet. The trade center towers were
1,350 feet tall.
All the plans restore some of the street grid that was eliminated when the World
Trade Center was built, but any streets may wind up being only for pedestrians.
The proposals, released by the development corporation and the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land, will be on display for several
weeks in Lower Manhattan and on the development corporation's Web site,
Whitehead said.
An expected 5,000 people will discuss the plans at a town hall meeting Saturday
at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
The development corporation and the Port Authority will narrow the six land-use
proposals to three by September and one by December.
"The three plans issued in the fall might be a combination of features of the six,"
said Whitehead.
The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle. Among
the firm's better known projects was the renovation of Grand Central Terminal.
The six plans are rough drafts not detailed architectural renderings and represent
the first in a series of steps to redevelop the 16-acre site.
The preliminary plans do not name particular tenants, but there has been speculation
that the Museum of the City of New York and the New York City Opera could be
located at the site.
While none of the plans call for housing on the tract itself, they do suggest that
damaged office buildings along the periphery could be razed for housing or
converted to apartments.
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