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The World Trade Center site, also known as ''' Ground Zero ''' is the 16- Acre (6.47 Hectare ) plot of land on which the World Trade Center complex of New York City stood until the September 11, 2001 Attacks . The lease for the site and control of its rebuilding is held by Silverstein Properties Inc. whose CEO is Larry Silverstein . Silverstein obtained the lease for the then-standing towers from the Port Authority Of New York And New Jersey in July 2001 for $3.2 billion. RECONSTRUCTION PLANS 2002 Six land-use plans, created under Port Authority guidelines, were released in July 2002 to great public scorn. The guidelines demanded that all commercial space destroyed had to be replaced even while streets were opened through the site, greatly limiting the possible designs. However one of the most popular options, rebuilding the Twin Towers, was ignored by authorities, partly at the insistence of WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein. He is not comfortable with new office buildings taller than 70 floors and dreads the short-to-medium term vacancy risk of rebuilding the giant Twin Towers. His chief architect, David Childs of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill , publicly denounced the original Twin Towers and the superblock as out of place and lacking in street activity or aesthetics. The July 2002 designs met with near-universal disapproval, forcing the government to restart the design process nearly from scratch but with the same guidelines. A popular element from the designs was an open parkway connecting the site to Battery Park , with line of sight to The Statue Of Liberty . Seven new designs were presented and winnowed to two candidates, one from Studio Daniel Libeskind , and one from the THINK architectural group, led by Rafael Viñoly , Shigeru Ban , Frederic Schwartz , and Ken Smith. While Libeskind's proposal (which largely repeated the July 2002 "Memorial Plaza" plan with more unusually-shaped buildings) was not accepted by the public, Michael Bloomberg and George Pataki preferred both the design and Libeskind's approach to dealing with the necessities of the project to the THINK group. The THINK proposal was championed by '' The New York Times '' architecture critic Herbert Muschamp . A public poll sponsored by the official planners saw the choice of "Neither" win comfortably over the THINK plan, with the Libeskind plan last. after the attack.]] 2003 On ; shadow analysis has cast great doubt on this. Also the footprint of the towers will be largely preserved amid a huge sunken pit. Planning review continues, with many citizen groups of many angles strongly opposed to proceeding with this plan for various reasons. Freedom Tower See Also: Freedom Tower The Libeskind proposal includes a 541 M - 1776-foot high tower. The chosen height in Feet is a reference to 1776, the year that the United States Declaration Of Independence was signed. In July, Larry Silverstein, whose real estate company was given the lease to the WTC two months before the September 11 attacks, convinced Libeskind to hire David Childs of Skidmore Owings & Merrill as a co-architect of the proposed 1,776-foot tower, which Governor Pataki calls the ' Freedom Tower '. A draft design for the tower released December 19, 2003 has already encountered stiff criticism and as of January 2005 it was still unclear that building the spire according to the Libeskind design was even possible {Link without Title} . In May 2005 a thorough redesign of the tower was ordered after safety concerns raised by the police department. Reflecting Absence See Also: Reflecting Absence The permanent Memorial , known as Reflecting Absence , is being built on the site. Reflecting Absence, designed by Michael Arad , was the winning memorial of a design competition. Memorial Museum On October 12 , 2004 the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced the selection of Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta as architects for the Performing Arts complex and the Museum complex. The International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center were proposed for the World Trade Center site. On September 28 , 2005, Governor Pataki withdrew support for them in response to criticism from victims' families and others. In January 2006, Snøhetta redesigned the cultural center at Fulton and Greenwich Streets. The new plans remove the Drawing Center and International Freedom Center museum, reducing the size of the building. The musuem associated with the memorial "will retell the events of the day, display powerful artifacts, and celebrate the lives of those who died." {Link without Title} Transportation hub A temporary PATH Station reopened at the World Trade Center site on November 23 , 2003 , restoring service to New Jersey and providing connections to the New York City Subway . The temporary station will be replaced by a permanent transportation hub, designed by Santiago Calatrava , which will be connected to the Fulton Street Transit Center and have underground passageways to the World Financial Center , where there is a Ferry access. Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Transportation planning Other buildings at the site The site master plan as of September 2005 includes buildings designated as the Performing Arts Center and the Cultural Center in addition to the four office towers, memorial, and PATH station. Detailed plans for them have not been made public. {Link without Title} LEGAL DISPUTES Cost estimates for rebuilding the WTC site range from $10 to $12 billion. This was a major motivation behind Larry Silverstein's ongoing insurance trial. During the court proceedings, he insisted that the collapse of the Twin Towers were two separate attacks, thus entitling him to $6.8 billion, double the payment he made when he bought insurance for the complex in July 2001. His insurers disagreed, saying that the attacks were a single event, entitling Silverstein to half that amount. Silverstein was defeated in a court trial where the jury found most of the insurers limited to a single payout. With this Verdict , which was read in May 2004, Silverstein lost $2.4 billion in insurance money. The dispute over $1.1 billion held by the remaining insurance companies was resolved by a jury in December 2004, when it was decided that the September 11, 2001 attacks constituted two separate attacks. Currently, the World Trade Center site is accessible by Subway and PATH trains at the new—and temporary—World Trade Center station. Much to some survivors' and victims' families' chagrin, the new PATH station uses the same track alignment as the old, meaning that the tracks pass through the south tower's footprint. {Link without Title} It is unlikely that this will change when the permanent PATH World Trade Center station is completed. OTHER PROPOSALS Donald Trump briefly raised eyebrows in May 2005 when he endorsed rebuilding the site with the Twin Towers 2 alternative rebuilding plan, and in June 2005 was one of the first to sign its petition to encourage Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, Larry Silverstein, and the Port Authority to re-think the Freedom Tower design and consider rebuilding the towers. WTC 9/11 MEMORIALS
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