Work to rebuild lower Manhattan after Sept. 11 continues

Global Business

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Home to the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and many financial firms, the area has now been redeveloped at a cost of tens of billions of dollars in both taxpayer funds and private investment.

CCTV America’s Karina Huber has more on the transformation.
Follow Karina Huber on Twitter @kkat31

After 9/11, lower Manhattan was a tangled mess of steel, concrete and human remains. 15 years later, the site where the towers once stood has been replaced by a memorial to the nearly 3000 people who died that day in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The area also has a new transportation hub, worth $4 billion, capped by a prominent public work called “Oculus” by famous architect Santiago Calatrava. There are new shopping malls, hotels and high-end restaurants.

The workforce has also changed. According to the state comptroller, 56 percent of private sector workers in lower Manhattan were employed by the finance industry in 2001. Today it’s 34 percent. Now more people are working in tech, advertising and media. Publishing giants like Conde Nast and Time Inc. have moved to the area, drawn, in part, by more affordable leases.

Lynne Sagalyn, author of the recently published book “Power at Ground Zero” says the changes are remarkable given how difficult it was to develop the area. Despite the many tensions and hurdles, Sagalyn says the area is now bigger and better.

Lower Manhattan has come a long way since the devastation to the area 15 years ago, but the rebuilding effort isn’t over yet. Another tower will be built in the area and a performing arts center is scheduled to open in 2020.


Oculus mall rises from the ashes of Ground Zero

The day after the 9/11 tragedy then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani encouraged New Yorkers to keep calm and try to live a normal life, even go shopping.

And now, 15 years later, a huge shopping mall has risen quite literally from the ashes.

CCTV America’s Michelle Makori reports.
Follow Michelle Makori on Twitter @MichelleMakori

The Oculus is the center piece of the new $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub which replaces the one destroyed in the attacks.

Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, it’s the third largest transport center in New York City. Adjacent to it there is a newly opened mall, in its pristine, marbled glory.

The shopping center operated by Westfield Corporation currently has more than 100 stores, ranging from Apple to Hugo Boss with some 32,000 square meters dedicated to retail.

And it’s the emphasis on retail that has offended some who contend there’s very little to indicate that it’s built on sacred ground. Most, on the other hand, see it is a symbol of renewal.

The impressive glass and steel structure was intended to look like a dove in flight but that seems open to interpretation.

There is no debate, however, that it is indeed spectacular in the truest sense of the word.


John Allison discusses economic impact of Sept. 11

For more on the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and economic impact of terrorism attacks, CCTV America’s Michelle Makori spoke to John Allison, CEO of Union Capital.