Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Founded | November 2001 |
Parent | Empire State Development Corporation |
Website | renewnyc.com |
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001, [1] following the September 11 attacks, to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. It is a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation, which is a New York state public-benefit corporation.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001 by then-Governor George Pataki and then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. [2] The LMDC is a joint State-City corporation governed by a 16-member Board of Directors, half appointed by the Governor of New York and half by the Mayor of New York. As a result, Pataki and Giuliani appointees dominate the LMDC. Its original chairman was John C. Whitehead, a former Deputy Secretary of State and head of Goldman Sachs. One of its first projects was the granting of more than $40 million for parks and green space. [3]
In February 2003, the LMDC chose Daniel Libeskind's master plan for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center complex. The organization also sponsored the international design competition for the World Trade Center Memorial, which resulted in Michael Arad and Peter Walker's Reflecting Absence being chosen as the winning design in January 2004.
Having distributed its funds, the LMDC in July 2006 announced plans to dissolve and transfer its responsibilities to other existing agencies and foundations, including the W.T.C. Memorial Foundation, and the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. However a settlement following the fire at the Deutsche Bank Building allowed them funding for future projects including the West Thames Street pedestrian bridge. [4]
LMDC does not own the World Trade Center site although it partners with the Port Authority on some elements of development. [5]
The LMDC was funded through the disbursement of Community Development Block Grants-amounting to $2.783 billion—approved by the federal government in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and resultant destruction of much of lower Manhattan's economic and structural base. It was not listed in the New York State Authorities Budget Office's 2018 annual report, but remains in operation as of 2019 as plans for the future 5 World Trade Center continued to develop. [6]
Two members of the LMDC's board have asserted that up to $45 million allocated to the LMDC from a "community enhancement" fund in May 2005 has not been directly accounted for, and that up to $15 million from that stipend might have been spent in areas other than those it had been explicitly stipulated for. [7]
Former Attorney General Democrat Eliot Spitzer became governor in 2007, rethought his condemnation, and announced a "reinvigorated LMDC" that would continue the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Mayor Bloomberg welcomed the Governor's renewed interest at the time. However, in September 2008, Mayor Bloomberg condemned the LMDC as a contributor to a slower progress in rebuilding and he demanded dissolution of the LMDC. [8]
The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) owns the site's land. The original World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the Mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984. Pataki was the third Republican since 1923 to win New York's governorship, after Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller.
Memory Foundations is the name given by Daniel Libeskind to his site plan for the World Trade Center, which was originally selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) to be the master plan for rebuilding at the World Trade Center site in New York City in February 2003.
The Deutsche Bank Building was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.
The International Freedom Center (IFC) was a proposed museum to be located adjacent to the site of Ground Zero at the former World Trade Center in New York City, USA. It was selected in 2004 to comprise a "cultural space" near to the memorial for victims of the September 11 attacks, called Reflecting Absence.
New York state public-benefit corporations and authorities operate like quasi-private corporations, with boards of directors appointed by elected officials, overseeing both publicly operated and privately operated systems. Public-benefit nonprofit corporations share characteristics with government agencies, but they are exempt from many state and local regulations. Of particular importance, they can issue their own debt, allowing them to bypass limits on state debt contained in the New York State Constitution. This allows public authorities to make potentially risky capital and infrastructure investments without directly putting the credit of New York State or its municipalities on the line. As a result, public authorities have become widely used for financing public works, and they are now responsible for more than 90% of the state's debt.
The World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was an open, international memorial contest, initiated by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) according to the specifications of the architect Daniel Libeskind, to design a memorial for the World Trade Center site at the under-construction World Trade Center in New York City. The competition began April 28, 2003 and the winner—Michael Arad and Peter Walker's Reflecting Absence—was revealed January 14, 2004, in a press conference at Federal Hall National Memorial. The contest garnered 5,201 entries from 63 nations and 49 U.S. states, out of 13,683 registrants from all 50 U.S. states and 94 nations, making it the largest design competition in history.
The Lower Manhattan–Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project was a proposed public works project in New York City, New York, that would use the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch and a new tunnel under the East River to connect a new train station near or at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub site with John F. Kennedy International Airport and Jamaica station on the LIRR. It would allow for a one-seat, 36-minute-long ride between JFK Airport and Lower Manhattan, cut commuting times from Long Island by up to 40% and reduce crowding on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, IRT Lexington Avenue Line, IND Eighth Avenue Line, and BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan.
The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts was the principal theatre of Pace University and is located at the University's New York City campus in Lower Manhattan. Facing City Hall near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and blocks from the World Trade Center, it provided performance and assembly facilities to the university and the general public.
The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza. During the September 11 attacks, the stairs served as an escape route for hundreds of evacuees from 5 World Trade Center, a 9-floor building adjacent to the Twin Towers. The staircase is now an important feature of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
5 World Trade Center is a planned skyscraper at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The site is across Liberty Street, to the south of the main 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site. In February 2021 it was announced the new 5 World Trade Center will be developed in a joint venture between Silverstein Properties and Brookfield Properties. The proposed building shares its name with the original 5 World Trade Center, which was heavily damaged as a result of the collapse of the North Tower during the September 11 attacks and was later demolished.
The THINK Team was a team that consisted of architects, landscape architects, engineers, interactive designers and others who developed several designs for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's "Innovative Design Study" that was created in order to involve the public in a creative process to redevelop the World Trade Center site in New York City, after it was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Tribeca Trib is a monthly newspaper and website covering Lower Manhattan.
The West Street pedestrian bridges are a series of pedestrian bridges that cross West Street to connect the neighborhoods of Tribeca and the Financial District with Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The bridges were built to provide alternatives to crossing the busy street. Prior to the September 11 attacks, there were three bridges at Chambers Street, Vesey Street and Liberty Street. The Vesey Street and Liberty Street bridges connected the former World Trade Center complex with the World Financial Center.
2 World Trade Center is a planned skyscraper as part of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It will replace the original 2 World Trade Center, which was completed in 1972 and subsequently destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001, and it will occupy the position of the original 5 World Trade Center. The foundation work was completed in 2013, though no construction has taken place since.
The Twin Towers II was a proposed twin-towered skyscraper complex which would have been located at the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, New York City. The proposed complex would have replaced the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center destroyed in the September 11 attacks, restoring the skyline of the city to its former state. The main design for the proposed complex would feature new landmark twin towers, nearly identical to the originals designed by Minoru Yamasaki, though it would feature 115 stories—5 floors taller than the originals, among other differences. Beside the towers, an above-ground memorial would have occupied the footprints of the original towers. The new site would also have featured three 12-story buildings, replacing the original 3, 4 and 5 World Trade Center. The complex was designed and developed by American architect Herbert Belton and American engineer Kenneth Gardner, and sponsored by Donald Trump.
The Perelman Performing Arts Center, branded as PAC NYC, is a multi-space performing arts center at the northeast corner of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. The Performing Arts Center is located at the intersection of Vesey, Fulton, and Greenwich Streets in Lower Manhattan. The building is named for billionaire Ronald Perelman, who donated $75 million to its construction.
The World Trade Center (WTC) is a complex of buildings in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, replacing the original seven buildings on the same site that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001. The site is being rebuilt with up to six new skyscrapers, four of which have been completed; a memorial and museum to those killed in the attacks; the elevated Liberty Park adjacent to the site, containing the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Vehicular Security Center; the Perelman Performing Arts Center; and a transportation hub. The 104-story One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is the lead building for the new complex.
Philip Mark Plotch is the principal researcher at the Eno Center for Transportation and a fellow at NYU. He has been an author, professor, and transportation planner. He is best known for leading efforts to rebuild the World Trade Center and his research on the politics and planning behind transportation megaprojects.
David Emil is an American restaurateur and New York State government official. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, David Emil was the president of the company that owned and operated the restaurant Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floors of One World Trade Center, New York, New York. All the employees and guests at the restaurant during the attacks died, 79 of whom were Windows on the World employees.