New WTC Hub For PATH Train Opens

The long-delayed PATH train hub at World Trade Center partially opens today.

At the center is the Oculus, which from the outside looks like the spine peeled out of a fish. Below, with half of the glass installed, light shines through its ribs, the longest one reaching 202 feet in the sky. “It’s awesome and I mean that in the actual sense of the word ‘awesome.’ It induces awe,” said Jessica Lappin, director of the Downtown Alliance. PATH riders can get a view of the Oculus in the coming weeks when the temporary PATH station that went up after the 9/11 attacks gets dismantled. The platform is the third part of the Port Authority’s WTC hub that sprawls beneath the 16-acre site where the Twin Towers once stood. It has earned the reputation of the world’s most expensive train station, over budget at $3.9 billion. For that price tag, transit riders and visitors get a facility decked out in white marble that is spacious, without any corners — all cured and sleek. It is well lit and bright, in stark contrast to the city subway system’s dank stations nearby.

Tonight In Manhattan

Breathtaking photo of the Tribute in Light one night before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 (captured by @GaryHershorn) pic.twitter.com/Ax4ecxscG5

— New York Post (@nypost) September 11, 2014

Worst Television Graphic In History?

MSNBC's graphics editor was, of course, referring to the four BASE jumpers who parachuted from the top of 1 World Trade Center, the news of which has added to already huge scandal regarding lapses in the tower's security.  But what an unfortunate choice of words. Teabagger sites are exploding with outraged posts that are also laden with plenty of glee as MSNBC has long been their favorite cable target.

VIDEO: BASE Jumpers Leap From 1WTC

Four BASE jumpers turned themselves in to the NYPD yesterday after having parachuted from the top of 1WTC in September. This is the second report of major 1WTC security lapses this week and the tabloids are, correctly this time, going nuts.

Police told the Daily News that former WTC ironworker James Brady, 32, Andrew Rossig, 33, Marco Markovich, 27, and lookout Kyle Hartwell, 29, were charged with burglary, reckless endangerment and jumping from a structure before being released on $3,500 bail. Rossig told the Daily News that the skydivers accessed Ground Zero by slipping through a hole in the fence and then "just kind of walked in." The New Jersey teen similarly made his way into the tower without encountering much security. If the helmet camera footage Brady filmed pulls in any money, Rossig's attorney told the newspaper, the skydivers plan to donate the proceeds to a charity for families of 9/11 victims.

(Tipped by JMG reader Dwight)

NEW YORK CITY: 16 Year-Old Thwarts Security, Reaches Top Of 1 WTC Tower

So much for that "ring of steel" security perimeter around 1 World Trade Center. Via the New York Post:

A New Jersey teen captivated by 1 World Trade Center sneaked out of his home in the dead of night, got past the wall of security — and a sleeping guard — making it all the way up to the spire, The Post has learned. Scrawny 16-year-old Justin Casquejo crawled through a hole in a Ground Zero fence at about 4 a.m. Sunday and got a lift up the tower from a clueless union elevator operator, even though he had no ID. He was dropped off on the 88th floor and hiked the stairs up to the 104th floor — where a guard assigned to protect the top of the world’s biggest terror target was sound asleep. That guard has since been fired. Casquejo told cops he then climbed up to the roof and made it up to the antenna. After spending two glorious hours atop the nation’s tallest building snapping photos, the young daredevil was finally caught by a construction worker as he made his way back down.

Casquejo, whose Facebook page is laden with photos of 1 WTC, has been charged with misdemeanor trespassing. The Port Authority, the NYPD, and two private security companies guard the building at all times. All have refused to comment. (Tipped by JMG reader Dwight)

Super Cool WTC Interactive Panorama

TIME Magazine has posted a ridiculously cool interactive panorama photo taken from above the World Trade Center. Using your cursor and the on-screen controls, you can spin around in all directions and zoom in on midtown, Brooklyn, New Jersey, even the Statue of Liberty. I'm finding it works best on Chrome so far. There goes the next hour of your evening.

Here's how they did it.

Time said it got exclusive access to the tower's spire from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site. It took eight months to design and construct a 13-foot rotating arm to which a camera with a 100-millimeter lens was mounted, the magazine said on its website. It worked on the project with Portland, Ore.-based GigaPan Systems, mechanical engineers and welders. "Over a five-hour span of orbital shooting on Sept. 28, 2013, the camera produced 567 pictures that were then stitched together digitally into a single massive — and zoomable — image of everything the eye can see in all directions," according to the website. According to GigaPan, its panoramic photography equipment is based on the same technology employed by NASA's Mars rovers to capture the images of the red planet. The panoramic image also is featured as a wrap-around cover of Time's issue hitting newsstand Friday. The issue includes an article about the 12-year construction of the building, formerly called the Freedom Tower.

WTC Cross Appeal Opens On Thursday

Oral arguments begin Thursday in the American Atheists lawsuit to have the so-called WTC Cross removed from government property in downtown Manhattan. Via the Christian Post:

Two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, construction workers found a cross beam among the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Measuring 17 feet tall and approximately 4,000 pounds, the piece of debris became known as the World Trade Center cross, and for many, became a symbol of hope amid despair. When the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation completed its national 9/11 Memorial and Museum in 2011, the WTC cross was included among the items displayed. In July 2011, American Atheists filed suit against the museum for having the WTC cross and for reportedly lacking other secular and religious images of a non-Christian nature. The suit was filed before the New York Supreme Court, County of New York, and named among its defendants the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the 9/11 Museum, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. "The installation of the cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is facially violative of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America," reads the suit in part.

A lower court ruled against American Atheists last March, saying that the cross has "historical significance" that outweighs concerns about the separation of church and state.

Adding The Spire To One WTC

You might want a Dramamine by the halfway point.

408-Foot Spire Tops Out One WTC

One WTC was topped out this morning.

Construction workers bolted a 408-foot spire into place atop One World Trade Center on Friday, symbolically capping New York's comeback after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The spire brings the iconic building to a height of 1,776 feet -- an allusion to the year the United States declared its independence. It also makes the building the tallest in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest in the world. The company developing the building in partnership with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey confirmed the installation. While the building still has significant construction before its scheduled 2014 opening, the installation brought cheers from New Yorkers, and from people around the country.

Photo Of The Day

That's a prefabricated escalator being hoisted to the top of the 1 World Trade Center, where it will one day ferry tourists to the observation deck. More photos here. (That's 4 World Trade Center under construction in the background.)

WTC Museum Construction To Resume

After more than a year of delays, an agreement has finally been reached to resume the construction of the museum at the site of the former World Trade Center. The museum had been scheduled to open today.

In negotiations over the weekend, aides to Bloomberg and Cuomo resolved long-standing disputes over which government agencies would pay for the costs of the museum and which officials would oversee it. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey then agreed to the arrangement. Christie and Cuomo share control over the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, while Bloomberg heads the Sept. 11 foundation, which oversees the national memorial and museum at the former World Trade Center site and the annual commemoration. “I’m very gratified that on the eve of this important anniversary we are able to announce an agreement that will ensure the completion of the 9/11 museum,” Bloomberg said in a statement Monday night. He added that the agreement ensured that construction “will be restarted very soon and will not stop until the museum is completed.” The tentative resolution involves additional cash payments from the Sept. 11 foundation for construction costs, closer coordination among the parties and the creation of an advisory committee to resolve disputes.

RELATED: Last year I was invited to the museum's temporary office to donate the above drawing which I rescued from the front wall of a Chelsea elementary school one week after the attack. I've been keen to visit the museum to see how the drawing is presented in what I was told will be a rotating collection of artwork related to 9/11.

New World Trade Center Time-Lapse

Photo Of The Day

ESB Lights In Honor Of 1WTC

Gothamist points out a classy press release:

The Empire State Building will shine red, white and blue on Monday, April 30, 2012 in honor of 1 World Trade Center. As 1 World Trade Center officially becomes New York’s tallest building, the Empire State Building, the world’s most famous office building and ancestor of all super-tall towers, welcomes its newer, taller cousin to the New York City skyline and salutes her.

Bill Donohue Claims Victory

You may recall that last year Donohue blew a fuse because the Empire State refused his demand to light the building for Mother Teresa. According to an unnamed source in today's New York Post, tonight 1WTC will be lit in her colors at a dig at the ESB, which it officially eclipsed in height today.

1WTC Passes ESB

As of today, the tallest building in New York City is One World Trade Center.

The milestone is a preliminary one. Workers are still adding floors to the so-called "Freedom Tower" and it isn't expected to reach its full height for at least another year, at which point it is likely to be declared the tallest building in the U.S., and third tallest in the world. Those bragging rights, though, will carry an asterisk. Crowning the world's tallest buildings is a little like picking the heavyweight champion in boxing. There is often disagreement about who deserves the belt. In this case, the issue involves the 408-foot-tall needle that will sit on the tower's roof. Count it, and the World Trade Center is back on top. Otherwise, it will have to settle for No. 2, after the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Many have commented that when viewed from outside Manhattan, 1WTC looks nowhere near as tall as the Empire State.

Time Lapse: One World Trade Center

Starting with site preparation in 2004.

New WTC Nearly Capped Off

A couple of weeks ago One World Trade Center reached its 100th of 104 floors. The Port Authority has a live-cam of the construction, although at this writing the rain has made it useless.

Tweet Of The Day

Follow WTC Progress for some nut-shriveling photos of steelworkers walking the beams at a thousand feet up.

What Does This Look Like?

A skyscraper project in Korea has some New Yorkers fuming.

An architecture firm said Friday it “regrets” a bizarre design for two high-rises in Korea reminds people of the twin towers exploding on 9/11. A mockup shows two soaring skyscrapers connected in the middle by a “pixelated cloud” that evoked the clouds of debris that erupted from the iconic World Trade Center towers after terrorists flew planes into them. “What the hell were these architects thinking?” asked the headline on a Gizmodo article about the plans for the Seoul apartment buildings. MVRDV, which is based in the Netherlands, insisted in a statement that it didn’t notice the uncanny similarity that struck many observers instantly.

To my mind, any two towers with the WTC's proportions would evoke 9/11. The Korean towers are scheduled to be completed in three years.