NEW YORK -- Marking an important step in the rebuilding of ground zero, real-estate developer Larry Silverstein Wednesday unveiled the design for a new 7 World Trade Center, just north of where the twin towers once stood.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Mr. Silverstein's decision to rebuild 7 World Trade shows that "We will not be intimidated by the terrorists. We are just not going to let them destroy our way of life."
Messrs. Bloomberg and Silverstein joined New York Gov. George Pataki and other city and state officials in unveiling the design for the 750-foot glass tower.
The new building, scheduled to open in late 2005, has been designed with enhanced safety provisions, including sturdier fire proofing than required by the current building code and wider stairs for rapid evacuation.
Designed by architect David Childs of the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it will be narrower than its 47-story predecessor so Greenwich Street, which was formerly cut off by 7 World Trade Center, can be restored.
The first 10 stories of the 52-story, 1.6-million-square-foot office tower will be occupied by a power substation for utility Consolidated Edison Inc. Other tenants have not yet been decided.
The original 7 World Trade collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, at 5:25 p.m. -- more than eight hours after the twin towers were attacked. It housed a Con Edison substation, the mayor's Office of Emergency Management and other offices. Because it fell so late in the day, no one died in its collapse.
Mr. Silverstein, who owned 7 World Trade and leased the twin 110-story towers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, at first had hoped to start rebuilding 7 World Trade as early as last summer but yielded to community pressure to step back and redesign the building.
Copyright (c) 2002 Associated Press
