REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: It was 5 a.m., and the sun had yet to rise over New York City as we hailed a cab and made our way down to Lower Manhattan. It was there — the World Trade Center complex — where 11 years ago on this day nearly 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
When we arrived at the new One World Trade Center, formerly called the Freedom Tower, the sky was still dark and the building was illuminated with red, white and blue lights. We grabbed coffee and a bite to eat before heading up to the ABC News broadcast location. It was tough not to wonder how many of those who died here on Sept. 11, 2001, began their day just as innocently.
Our crew and others packed into a small, open-air freight elevator on the skyscraper’s ground level. It took somewhere between 30 seconds and a minute to lift us beyond the building’s concrete foundation and up to the 22nd floor.
Significant progress has been made here since last year’s memorial, but much work remains. This building, which will become the tallest in the Western Hemisphere at the symbolic height of 1,776 feet, is still very much a construction site.
There’s no indication as to what might occupy the desolate space we’re using today. For now there is nothing here beyond a few lights, a chalky, cement floor, windows and an unfinished ceiling. It’s cold: A large fan blowing in our direction is the only means of circulation. The sound of drilling can occasionally be heard in the distance.
Out the window in front of us, we see the reflecting pools that mark the footprints of the Twin Towers — the main focal point of the 9/11 memorial. Hundreds gathered at this site even before dawn, but as the sun rose, mourners were greeted by a bright, cloudless sky, just like the one that covered New York City on this day 11 years ago.
“Sparkling in sunshine, water cascades into reflecting pools that mark the spots where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once stood,” ABC News correspondent Aaron Katersky said, describing the scene to an audience of radio listeners. “Around those pools, the names of victims are etched in bronze parapets. Relatives treat them like gravestones and take paper and pencil to make rubbings.”
Police vehicles, many with lights flashing, line the perimeter of this site. Traffic is moving at a steady pace. In the distance, boats can be seen patrolling the waters of the Hudson River.
The commemoration here is smaller than in years past, but the feeling hasn’t changed. Moments of silence were observed and bells tolled just as they always have on this day, but in a break from years past, politicians and dignitaries are here without official roles; only family members are participating in the recitation of names — a tradition that takes hours to complete.
The future of this ceremony is unclear. The city is attempting to scale back on what has become an annual gathering for mourners to remember loved ones on the very site on which they died.
President Obama marked today’s anniversary with events in and around Washington, D.C., while Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a service in Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed after passengers attempted to take control of the plane from the hijackers.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/911-anniversary-the-view-from-one-world-trade-center/
EW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Eleven years after terrorist attacks destroyed New York's World Trade Center, the replacement towers are finally taking shape and attracting new tenants -- even though most of the site's buildings are still under construction.
The most prominent -- the tower known as 1 WTC - is scheduled for completion in 2014, with 90 floors and 3 million square feet.
It will also be home to the General Services Administration, a federal agency, and the Vantone China Center, a liaison for U.S. and Chinese businesses.
Reconstruction on the 16-acre site began in November 2002, more than a year after the World Trade Center towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The one fully completed building, the 52-story 7 WTC, has leased 100% of its 1.7 million square feet, according to Dara McQuillan, spokesman for owner Silverstein Properties. The building officially opened in May 2006 and signed its final two leases last year.
"It's what you would call a home run in professional real estate speak," said Dan Fasulo, managing director for Real Capital Analytics, a commercial real estate research firm. "Larry [Silverstein, the property's developer] was able to complete a world-class building in a very short amount of time, and was able to rent out the building for what a lot of people didn't think was possible."
Related: One World Trade Center, the ultimate corner office
Silverstein Properties owns three other buildings at the World Trade Center site. It has leased 50% of 4 WTC's 2.3 million square feet, according to McQuillan, even though the 72-story building isn't scheduled to open until the fall of 2013. Meanwhile, construction is halted on 2 and 3 WTC until more tenants commit to the space, according to McQuillan.
The top floors in the World Trade Center towers are renting for $75 to $80 per square foot, according to the buildings' owners.
Jonathan Miller, chief executive officer of real estate consultant firm Miller Samuel, said the price per square foot of the WTC buildings is consistent with midtown Manhattan prices, which he called an "impressive" achievement.
"Who would have thought they could be getting those types of numbers after the tragedy occurred?" said Miller. "[Construction] took a lot longer than anybody possibly imagined, but once it got going, the [leases] have been successful."
Related: The 9/11 fund, putting a price on human lives
It took years for construction to start at what was known as Ground Zero, and the planning process for reconstruction was stymied by disputes over architectural design and insurance payouts.
Real Capital's Fasulo said getting a prominent company like Condé Nast to sign a lease for 1 WTC was "like a stamp of approval" in attracting other companies to the complex. He said the new World Trade Center buildings should have little trouble securing tenants for their yet-to-be-completed office space.
Fasulo said that since more than half of Manhattan's office buildings are over 50 years old, they lack the energy efficiency that many companies now require.
Related: Work resumes on 9/11 museum
"It's unique for tenants to occupy a 21st-century building in New York, and tenants will pay for that pleasure," he said. "The top floors will command $100 per foot eventually."
The original World Trade Center complex was dominated by its twin towers, which briefly held the record for being the tallest buildings in the world when they were completed in 1973.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/news/companies/world-trade-center-tenants/index.html
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