Sep 11, 2009 6:11 am US/Eastern
CBS 2 HD Granted Exclusive Access To Ground Zero
Cameras Go Places Never Permitted Before; Developer Silverstein, Port Authority At Odds Over Completion Dates
Authority: Tower 3 Will Not Be Completed Until 2037
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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CBS 2 HD was granted exclusive access to the site at ground zero and saw first hand the progress being made to complete all the proposed buildings.
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Construction workers guide the first steel column into position marking the beginning of the Freedom Tower's construction, New York City on Dec. 19, 2006.
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Rescuers carry the body of Father Mychal Judge, FDNY chaplain, away from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
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Fire and smoke billows from World Trade Center north tower after crash of American Airlines Flight 1
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President Barack Obama will step away from the health reform debate on Friday. He will mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon.
Vice President Joe Biden will be in lower Manhattan, a first hand witness to the work that continues on the rebuilding of ground zero.
CBS 2 HD was given exclusive access to areas off limits to cameras, until now.
We started our tour with Port Authority of New York and New Jersey director Chris Ward. He said he is proud of the progress being made.
"It's not a pit. It's not ground zero. Now it's a sign of rebuilding and it's a sign of real hope," Ward said.
We walked along the new Greenwich Street that separates the so-called "Silverstein bathtub," where Towers 4 and 5 once stood and from the Port Authority bathtub where the north and south towers stood.
And while the site was humming with activity on Thursday, delays have seemed endless. There have been power struggles and finger-pointing between the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein, who seems exasperated.
"This is a critical part of the infrastructure. They gotta get this started. They gotta get this going," Silverstein said recently.
CBS 2 HD went inside the belly of Tower 4, two stories below street level. On the Silvertstein side, Towers 2, 3 and 4 are planned, along with the Port Authority's transportation hub.
But just when they will be completed is in question. Silverstein, for instance, claims that Tower 3 will be completed by 2013, but a report commissioned by the Port Authority paints a much gloomier picture. It says Tower 3 won't be finished and occupied until 2037, 36 years after the attack. On the Port Authority side, it says the Freedom Tower -- the site's centerpiece -- will not be finished and fully occupied until 2019.
Still, there is progress. Iron worker superintendent Kevin Murphy took CBS 2 HD up 105 feet for an exclusive look at the Freedom Tower, which will top out at 1,776 feet.
"My father was a foreman on the original World Trade Center site. It's a big thing for a lot of these guys to be on this job site," Murphy said.
On track structures include the memorials museum, which will be open for the 10th anniversary, and the plaza with its trees and reflecting pools, to be finished by 2013 -- not a moment too soon for Silverstein.
When asked if he looks over this site in fear that it may not be completed while he's still alive, Silverstein didn't mince words.
"That, to me, would be unacceptable," Silverstein said.
Progress or not, the major issues plaguing the rebuilding process persist, like the Calitrava, which is the transportation hub, experiencing major delays and leasing all that office space in a down economy.
The Port Authority wants a wait-and-see approach, while Silverstein said let's build Towers 2 and 3 and five to 10 years down the line, the demand will be there.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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