Large Swath of Space Set Aside for Retail in Lower Manhattan

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The New York Sun

A day after the International Freedom Center was erased from the plans for ground zero, Governor Pataki’s downtown tsar announced yesterday that the state is seeking to accelerate the construction of half a million square feet of retail space in Lower Manhattan.


John Cahill, the official Mr. Pataki appointed to oversee construction in Lower Manhattan after the state was criticized for the slow pace of redevelopment, said that retail space would be created as part of a new transportation hub at ground zero and elsewhere along Church Street.


Plans for retail development will be guided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.


A spokesman for the Port Authority, Steven Coleman, said yesterday that the agency had determined there was a great need for additional retail space in Lower Manhattan.


“We have done studies on demand, and most show that the business community in the area wants retail and the residential community wants retail,” Mr. Coleman said. “Studies have shown the area can accommodate upward of 1 million square feet.”


No details were released on which retailers will rent space at the site.


Mr. Coleman added that no retail space would be located in the memorial quadrant. Previously, some family members of September 11 victims complained that retail outlets near the memorial would desecrate the site.


Yesterday, Mr. Pataki quashed plans for a museum dedicated to freedom in that memorial quadrant. The International Freedom Center quickly responded by ending its mission.


Mr. Cahill addressed the freedom center, which he said “threatened to divide us where once our commitment to this great tribute united us all.”


Looking forward, Mr. Cahill said that building a memorial at ground zero is his most important task. He said construction will begin next year on a memorial museum occupying more than 100,000 square feet that aims to “chronicle the lives of those we lost” and “convey the fateful events.”


It is conceivable that officials will consider moving the memorial museum into the building specifically designed to house the freedom center and the Drawing Center, a SoHo art gallery that dropped its plans to move to ground zero after family members complained that its content was offensive.


The 200,000- to 300,000-square-foot cultural center was designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta and is estimated to cost between $200 and $300 million. Plans said that the freedom center and the Drawing Center were to provide most of the costs of construction.


A director of Snohetta, Kjetil Thorsen, said from his cell phone in Norway that the firm was still under contract with the state, but they had not yet discussed other possible tenants.


“We are expecting a change in design,” Mr. Thorsen said.


He said it was unclear who would now pay for the building, but he added, “It wasn’t clear before.” Yesterday, an alliance representing 15 separate groups of family members of September 11 victims released a statement applauding the governor’s decision.


It spoke of “our common goal of ensuring that from the ashes of the World Trade Center site rises a 9/11 Memorial and Museum on a Memorial site dedicated solely to the stories of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 and their aftermath.”


The New York Sun

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