Rebuilding at World Trade Center remains unfinished 20 years later
NEW YORK — Two decades after its destruction in the Sept. 11 attacks, the work to rebuild the World Trade Center complex remains incomplete.
Two skyscrapers, a performing arts center and a church are still unfinished at the site, which plays host Saturday to the annual ceremony honoring nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks.
The memorial plaza with its twin reflecting pools opened in 2011. One World Trade Center — the spire originally known as the Freedom Tower — opened in 2014, as did the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. An underground transit hub and shopping mall opened in 2016. Three other glassy towers built to replace those lost in the attack are open.
Here is a look at the unfinished work:
2 World Trade Center
Planned as the second tallest skyscraper at the site, 2 World Trade Center, might someday reach 80 stories. But for now, just a low stump of a building exists as a placeholder, covered with colorful graffiti-style murals at the northeast corner of the Trade Center site.
Developer Larry Silverstein has said he wants to sign an anchor tenant for the tower before starting construction.
“At the end of the day, my goal is to put the shovel in the ground as soon as possible, and complete the rebuilding project we started 20 years ago,” Silverstein said in an emailed statement.
Performing Arts Center
After years of delays, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center is scheduled to open in 2023.
While a performance center was part of World Trade Center’s original scheme, disputes over its budget and design threatened its viability.
Once finished, the arts center’s top floor will house a flexible set of spaces that can be configured into one, two or three theaters for drama, dance, film and music. Free performances will take place on a small stage on the lobby level.
Greek Orthodox Church
The long-delayed construction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, replacing the only house of worship destroyed in the attacks, is proceeding briskly after years of delays.
Slated for completion next year, the church is surrounded by a small public park and features a Byzantine-style dome.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America plans a lighting ceremony Friday at the unfinished building.
5 World Trade Center
Construction has yet to begin on the tower that will replace an office building damaged and contaminated by debris from the collapsing twin towers.
The LMDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chose a partnership led by Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties to develop a 900-foot tower with office and retail space in addition to 1,325 apartments.
Plans call for 25 percent of the apartments to be rented at belowmarket rates. But some neighborhood residents say that all of the apartments should be affordable.
“The universal demand was always that there be affordable housing,” said Todd Fine, a lower Manhattan preservation advocate.