Wed, Sep 19, 2001 page5

• Planners wonder what to do with a place of carnage

  LOOKING AHEAD Even as the wreckage is still being cleaned up, New Yorkers are wondering what to do with the site of the World Trade Center

  • AP
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  It's a painful question while thousands remain buried in the rubble, but one that's already being asked: What will take the place of the World Trade Center once the wreckage is cleared?

  On a gut level, there are two extreme answers. The sprawling area in the heart of the city's financial district could be set aside as a testimonial to the victims, something akin to the nine rows of bronze-and-stone chairs that memorialize the 168 people killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.

  Or the twin towers could be rebuilt as closely to the 110-story originals as possible, an act of resolve and defiance toward the attackers who brought them down with hijacked jetliners last week.

  Reality may dictate some middle course, combining memorials for the dead and a less imposing office complex.

  "You want a safe place that doesn't have `big target' written on it," said Robert Yaro, executive director of the New York-area development group, Regional Plan Association.

  The attacks destroyed or damaged about 2.25 million square meters of office space, leaving tenants in and around the World Trade Center scrambling to find new work places.

  The land where the trade towers stood remains some of the world's most valuable real estate, making reconstruction in some form a virtual certainty.

  "You have an immediate reaction that you want to recreate it as it was, something that will defy the destruction and intent of last week," said Stevan Sandberg, president of Staubach Advisory Services, a real-estate services firm. "But I think that probably you're going to have a series of structures more in line with the existing skyline than the twin towers were."

  Bill Stern, former chairman of the state Urban Development Corp, said rebuilding is vital but a memorial must also be included on the site.

  "This was a thriving economic center, and the memorial should be to continue as a thriving economic center," Stern said.

  Larry Silverstein, a developer who along with Westfield America Inc bought a 99-year lease to operate the towers in July, said Monday he will work with city, state and federal authorities to rebuild in some form.

  The Trade Center acreage is large enough to replace the lost office space without structures that soar above adjacent buildings, said Yaro, of the New York development group. The towers were surrounded by open plazas that could accommodate both the new construction and a memorial, he said.

  "We shouldn't just rebuild the area as it was," Yaro said. He said he has talked with survivors who told him "there's no way they would go back into a 110-story tower."

  While the dimensions of the Trade Center -- and the expected loss there -- dwarf the former Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, "this hole in the heart of New York City is exactly what we experienced," said Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

  "I think there will probably be a happy medium between a memorial that honors those folks at the Trade Center, but at the same time, building back something is demanded," Watkins said.

  Some, including Watkins, say it's premature to discuss rebuilding while rescue work continues.

  "It's very difficult to think of investors already thinking of building on that spot, because it's money, and this is all about people," said Jacqueline Henry, who worked on the 53rd floor of one of the towers until her company moved Sept. 1.

  Others who worked in the area are anxious to see reconstruction begin.
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