By Kit Dillon 12/12/12 2:19pm

The Neverending Story

Round and round she goes. (Kit Dillon)

A Spire! After 11 Years, 1 World Trade Center Gets to the Point

Crane-lifts up the side of any building are a delicate affair, let alone up the side of 104-story glassy tower with sloping sides at the center of the most-watched construction site in the world. That is why it seemed like the Port Authority was taking its time this morning as its construction workers carefully hoisted up the first crowning piece of 1 World Trade Center’s spire. After all, the media, as always, were watching.

A small cohort of workers in high-vis jackets went about the work of checking the heavy lift sling and talking back and forth through the crackle of radio static. There was a quick speech for the cameras, and then without much more ceremony than that, honeycombed steel circle edged up into the air. Nothing more complicated than any of the tens of thousands of lifts the north crane has made in the construction of this building, if only important now in its symbolism: the final pieces. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/05/12 4:29pm

The Neverending Story

Weathergin the storm. (Reeve Jolliffe/Flickr)

Ground Zero Again: Construction Resumes at World Trade Center

After the Hudson flooded into the World Trade Center during Hurricane Sandy, it was remarkable that the site had been pumped out and work had resumed within days rather than weeks. Now, construction has recommenced in earnest, as some 750 construction workers returned to the site to finish the work of building 1 World Trade Center, the Vehicle Screening Center, the PATH station and other pieces of the 16-acre site.

Governor Cuomo announced the return of workers earlier today, as well as the fact that 95 percent of the World Trade Center site was now dry. Damage to the site, and the storms impact to the construction time table, is still being assessed. The resumption of work means cranes are in operation yet again on the site. Read More

By The Editors 9/11/12 6:51pm

Editorials

Justice for 9/11 Heroes

As the city paused to remember that terrible Tuesday morning 11 years ago, the federal government has done right by the families of men and women who worked the toxic pile at Ground Zero. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced on Sept. 10 that cancer victims will be compensated through the Victim Compensation Fund set up two years ago. Read More

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

The Neverending Story

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

The Neverending Story

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