by JASMINE ELSHAMY Staff Writer
One World Trade Center, built on the space of Ground Zero, began its magnificent construction in 2006 and is due to be completed in 2013. The 1,776-foot tower is the lead building of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan.
The building will be the third tallest in the world, and will have observation decks on the 100th, 101st, and 102nd floors. According to the Port Authority, the building’s steel has reached the 102nd floor while glass has been installed up to the 73rd floor. It became the tallest building in New York City in April, surpassing the 1,250-foot Empire State Building.
According to the official NYC Freedom Tower website, the site will also feature a Reflecting Absence memorial to honor the 2,658 men and women who died as a result of the terrorist attacks 11 years ago.
“The freedom tower is a really beautiful thing to see. It may bring back strong, harsh memories of the 9/11 attacks, but we know now is different. We know that as a country we have been able to come back strong, and the freedom tower, or as it is now called the One World Trade Center, is a wonderful way of showing that. Not to mention the beautiful architecture,” says sophomore Jordan Bussiere.
The One World Trade Center is not the only 9/11 memory being reconstructed; the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is a wondrous spectacle, bringing in 4.5 million people within its first year. The museum is underground and still under construction, but the reflecting pools surrounded by skyscrapers and waterfalls is open to the public for free.
However, the price to pay to build this sight is a whopping $700 million, not to mention the $60 million a year to pay for the insane amounts of water it uses.
No matter how many skyscrapers or memorials we build, September 11 is surely a day we will never forget.