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By Matt Chaban 9/11/12 10:44am

The Neverending Story

The museum (at right) is coming back to life. (Getty)

9/11 Museum Will Be Finished as Cuomo and Bloomberg Reach Deal on Eve of Anniversary

It is one of those September 11 bright clear mornings today. Perhaps the sun is shining a little bit brighter because after nearly a year of delays, construction is set to resume at the 9/11 Museum at ground zero.

The museum was supposed to have opened today, a year after the memorial plaza on which it sits finally opened to the public, but a dispute over who owed whom millions of dollars in unpaid construction costs halted construction last fall, and the site has sat dormant ever since. For a time it looked like nothing would happen as pressure mounted going into the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but an agreement was reached this weekend between Governor Andrew Cuomo, who shares control of the Port Authority, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who oversees the 9/11 Memorial Foundation. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/10/12 6:11pm

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9 Photos

A Bathroom Break at 4 WTC

Taking the Elevator and Going to the Bathroom at 4 World Trade Center

Each year around this time, Larry Silverstein invites the foreign press (plus any local outlets interested in attending) into his World Trade Center buildings, whatever stage of construction they might be in. It serves as a useful backdrop for the flood global coverage  the 9/11 anniversary always attracts as well as an equally heartening and frustrating symbol of progress, sometimes halting, at the site. Maybe a new tenant will come out of it, too, which does not hurt. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/27/12 3:27pm

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That building in the background? Pay it no mind. (Getty)

Will We Ever Finish Rebuilding Ground Zero?

These days, a certain jolt of excitement takes hold gazing at Lower Manhattan from a far. Maybe you’re crossing Greenwich Street in the Village and look south, or corkscrewing out of the Lincolln Tunnel helix in Jersey. Even stepping off the plane at LaGuardia or JFK, 1 World Trade Center is plainly visible. It may not be the most beautiful building in the city.

Yet like its twin siblings, the tower has become an undeniable landmark, the sort of symbol of rebirth—or at the very least progress—politicians and planners had long hoped for with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.

But get too close, and the landscape quickly turns from inspiration to depredation. Still. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/15/12 5:50pm

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1WTC_Red

Why Is the World Trade Center Lit Up Red? It’s Some Kind of Salute to the Troops

We first noticed it two weeks ago, crossing the Pulaski Bridge between Long Island City and Greenpoint. There it was, monolithic on the skyline as it has been for months now. But there was something different about 1 World Trade Center. Poking up from beneath the skyline of the warehouses in the foreground and the office buildings beyond was a band of red lights. It was hard to tell from there, but maybe there were some blue ones, and it was a U.S.A theme, all be it out of order (white-red-blue) in honor of the Olympics.

Then, there it was again this Friday, almost entirely red, plainly visible up and down Sixth Avenue (above), and no doubt the rest of the city. People have started noticing, and pictures have been making the rounds on Twitter, especially this one at right, shot by Inga Sarda-Sorensen. So we asked the Port Authority—what gives? Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/08/12 8:33am

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After a huge response, no fire was found at 1 World Trade Center this morning. (Getty)

Possible Fire on 88th Floor of 1 World Trade Center, Second This Summer [Update: Or Was It 'Welding Incident'?]

After about 45 minutes this morning, dozens of firefighters got a blaze under control on the 88th floor of 1 World Trade Center. The Fire Department did not yet know the cause of the fire, which only hit the one floor. There were no injuries reported, according to an FDNY spokesman.

The fire was reported a little before 8 a.m., and 84 firefighters from 26 units responded. That is not an unusual number for a high-rise blaze, according to the spokesman. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/07/12 5:21pm

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13 Photos

1.3 WTC

In Updated Designs for 1 World Trade Center, Does the Spire Still Look Like a Spire?

After all the wrangling over the updated designs for the Durst Organization-overseen 1 World Trade Center (we’ve heard there was a list of 20 changes the developer wanted from the Port, all eventually granted), new renderings have been released for the project. They show a building that looks a little sharper, perhaps a little less striking, but something still bound to dominate the skyline, as if that were not already abundantly clear from the just-about-topped-out tower. Have a look for yourself and decide whether this is an improvement. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/02/12 2:38pm

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The final column. (AP)

Final Column at 1 World Trade Center in Place, Finally, Topping Out City’s Tallest Tower

Correction 8/3: The Port Authority has not topped out the tower but simply installed the presidential column. The installation of the final steel beam, and thus the topping out of the tower, is yet to come.

A month and a half ago, President Obama arrived at ground zero to much fanfare to inspect the towers rising there and maybe even finish them off.

There was some talk that (maybe) the hemisphere’s biggest building was set to top out, but that happened only this morning at a brief ceremony. Construction workers and police officers assembled to sign the final column of 1 World Trade Center before it was hauled more than 100 stories into place, according to a pool report. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/26/12 5:51pm

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12 Photos

Topping Off Downtown

Speeches, Spirits and BBQ as 4 World Trade Center Tops Out

The thunderstorm had just cleared over Manhattan on Monday morning as the topping out of 4 World Trade Center was about to get underway. Turning down Maiden Lane from Broadway, the 977-foot tower, looming over the space of the small street, glistened even more than usual, freshly polished by the rain.Even against a backdrop of dark clouds, the building, designed by Japanese Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki, blends in with the sky in a soothing way that almost makes the 72-story structure disappear. It is much lighter—and, in the estimation of The Observer, quite a bit nicer—than its big brother, also rising, across the 16-acre site.

“Welcome to the first tower that will open for business here at the World Trade Center site,” Janno Lieber, right-hand man to Larry Silverstein at ground zero, boomed into a microphone from the podium. It was the only note of competition throughout the festivities, even though everyone knew the smaller tower, while started three years later, had beaten its sibling to the top by at least a few days. Read More