January 12th - January 18th, 2007

Additional Bones Found at Ground Zero

Friday, January 12^th: Thirty-nine bones were recovered by forensic anthropologists from the Ground Zero access service road, the Associated Press reported. The largest recovery since October 19th, the bones were discovered at the Brooklyn facility where searchers are hand sifting debris from the site, the AP added.

Hotel Plans for Lower Manhattan

Friday, January 12^th: Developer Joseph Moinian is in discussions to open a new W Hotel in Lower Manhattan, the New York Post reported. The hotel is slated for 123 Washington Street, and, according to the Post, potential plans include a 56-story building with 120 hotel rooms and 184 apartments, a fifth-floor roof deck bar and lounge, a ground-floor restaurant, meeting rooms, and a health club. Eric Deutsch, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, told the Post, "We have heard [of] the W as well as other chains coming downtown." The tower would rise about one-third the height of the Freedom Tower, the Post added.

EPA Running Test and Clean Program

Wednesday, January 17^th: Through a new program run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lower Manhattan residents and building owners can now register to have the air and dust in their units tested for contaminants associated with dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The program will cover all areas south of Canal and west of Pike and Allen Streets. Priority for testing will be based on a property's proximity to the World Trade Center site. If the EPA finds contaminant levels above established limits, the agency will clean your space at no charge. For more on this story, please click here.

WTC Tribute Center Marks Its 100,000th Visitor

Wednesday, January 17^th: The WTC Tribute Center welcomed its 100,000^th visitor, Gwynnie Carder of Salisbury, England, after being open for only four months, the Associated Press reported. The center opened on September 18, 2006, and is receiving many more visitors than originally anticipated, the AP continued. Lynn Tierney, president of the Tribute Center, said they are seeing about a thousand visitors per day and received as many as 1,800 a day over the holidays, the AP added.

According to the AP, about 22,000 people are expected to visit Ground Zero per day in 2007, totaling 8.1 million over the course of the year. The Tribute Center was created by the September 11^th Families Association and tries to impart to visitors an understanding of what was lost during the terrorist attacks, the AP reported. The Tribute Center has five galleries occupying 6,000 square feet on two floors, the AP continued. The center also offers daily guided tours of Ground Zero led by survivors, residents, and victims' family members, the AP added.

Ground Zero Skyscrapers Move Forward

Thursday, January 18^th: Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein opened a block-long studio office on the 11^th floor of 7 World Trade Center so that the architects, engineers, mechanics, electricians, design consultants, and others involved in building the skyscrapers at Ground Zero can collaborate to complete schematic designs for the site, the New York Times reported. There are up to 120 workers from Foster & Partners, Maki & Associates, the Richard Rogers Partnership, Adamson Associates, W.S.P. Cantor Seinuk and Leslie E. Robertson Associates, Jaros, Baum & Bolles, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with desks in the studio space all working to reach the March 1^st schematic design deadline, the Times continued.

According to the Times, the current phase of work follows the conceptual outline phase and will lead to the drafting of highly detailed construction documents. Architects report their progress directly to Silverstein every month, the Times continued.  Drawings are displayed on a pin board that stretches across 150 feet and can be seen from almost every desk, the paper reported. "There's a definite dynamic to it," said Michael Jelliffe, a partner at the Foster office, of the office arrangement,. "It speeds things up," he continued. "You can't say, 'I wasn't aware of it,' because you pass it on your way to get a coffee."