1 World Trade Center Opening Highlights Rebirth, Renewal Following 9/11 Attacks
It's finally done.
Thirteen years after the Twin Towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, the new centerpiece skyscraper at the World Trade Center opens this morning.
The path to this day was anything but easy or clear. Battles began
almost as soon as the debris was hauled away in 2002 and, since then,
there have been fights over cost, design, security and even the
structure’s name. But still, the tower – a technological marvel sitting
on piles driven more than 100 feet below the Hudson River – rose
steadily out of the northwest corner of the WTC site.
Today, the storied Conde Nast magazine empire, with titles like Vogue,
GQ and Vanity Fair, moves in with 2,300 employees spread among 24
floors. In so many ways, this day marks the final piece of the rebirth
and renewal of a Lower Manhattan devastated when two hijacked jets
slammed into the Twin Towers that bright morning.
On Sept. 11, 2011, the 9/11 Memorial opened. Six months ago, the 9/11
Museum opened. Both were built to commemorate what was lost.
One World Trade is a monument to the future.
“It’s a fantastic milestone,” said Steve Plate, who has overseen WTC
construction since the beginning. “I was there that fateful day. And to
see from where we started to where we are today, it’s truly a miracle.”
“It truly is the eighth wonder of the world,” Plate said. “And the building itself is truly iconic.”
The new 1 WTC
tower and the 16-acre site it anchors are owned by the Port Authority, a
massive government agency controlled by the governors of New York and
New Jersey.
Plate was supposed to be in his office on the 82nd floor of the North
Tower when the attacks began 13 years ago. He wasn’t because he drove
his son to school and then missed his usual train. Since then, it has
been his mission to rebuild the site into something that would make New
York City proud.
“I’m an engineer and I can add numbers and tell you ‘tallest, strongest’
and all this stuff,’ Plate said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the
most beautiful building in the most beautiful city in the most beautiful
region in the world.”
Standing at 1,776 feet (which includes its landmark spire), 1 WTC is the
tallest building in the country and the western hemisphere. It is 104
stories tall and has a three-floor observatory that is to open this
spring.
Much like the tower itself, its price tag rose steadily since
construction began. By the time the first Conde Nast employee walks in
today, the final dollar figure will be around $3.9 billion – or double
the original estimate.
The problems and battles that preceded today are going to fade into the
background, according to the building’s boosters, as 1 WTC takes its
place in the fabric of New York.
“There’s so many people who have done so much to bring it where it is,”
said Dave Checketts, the CEO of Legends, the company operating the
observatory on floors 100-102, told ABC News Anchor Dan Harris. “I give
them all a lot of credit for staying with the fight because the finished
product is going to be something inspirational to people and
comforting.”
Checketts said there’s just one message in the reality that the new
skyscraper is built and reclaiming its place near the southern tip of
the New York skyline.
“It’s a brute fact. We did come back,” Checketts said looking out from
near the tower’s top. “We brought it back; we built it even higher than
it was before.”
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