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Eager to reassure everyone that things were moving along at Ground Zero, Governor Pataki's World Trade Center flunky chief of staff, said that the PATH Transit Hub designed by Santiago Calatrava would offer 200,000 square feet of space for retailers and bidding will start in a few months. All hell, does this mean there will be an Olive Garden down there, to compete with the Applebee's at the Battery Park Regal Cinemas? The NY Times says the retail corridor plans, which would include another 300,000 square feet along Church Street, might face "same criticism that felled the Freedom Center"; plus Cahill's remarks were to a group of business executives, including those from Wal-Mart (of course, the Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia had to tell the Times, "It's premature, to be frank, but if you think we're planning a big Wal-Mart, the answer is no."). At any rate, if there's one thing Gothamist remembers after September 11, it's that if you don't shop, then the terrorists win! Perhaps the LMDC can build a mall to rival the one uptown...and call it "Freedom to Shop Center."
The "eviction" of the Freedom Center, plus the loss of the Drawing Center, leads to another Times article wondering if culture is gone at Ground Zero. We hate to be cynical, but culture left as soon as the design was picked; as Frank Gehry, who has designed a performing arts center for World Trade Center's "master plans," says, "From the beginning, I thought it was going to be messy, given all the politics, all the people you have to please."
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Shops being there seems a little Crass to me. Over 2,700 people died there and the Idea that one would Go to pay there respects and hit a Sale afterwards seems Odd to say the least.
Anyone know a site where a Tragedy happened where you can hit a Target Store or a Kmart right by it?
It just seems Bizarre.
The Astor Place Kmart is practically across the street from where 31 people died in the Astor Place Riot of 1849 and 3-4 short blocks from the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
Liebeskind's eyeglasses must be popping their lenses. Why even have a master plan at all, if you're going to scrap the main cultural vision and redesign the centerpiece tower to look like a fortress, so that the entire area ends up like the crap designs proposed in the first place, the ones everyone disparaged as lacking any vision or soul? Not to mention the ridiculous trees they've put in all over the memorial grounds, sapping that stark design of all impact, and the never-to-be-built office towers.
Frankly, the retail space is the least of our concerns, and Calatrava's station (even redesigned with its shorter wingspan) will be the only good thing to come of any of this.
Depressing all around.
i believe they call it...century 21.
nothing says america like a mall.
I suppose it's a matter of Scope. It's selfish, but I suppose it seems Odd to me since 9/11 hit me (and most other people) personally. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a tragedy, but out of scope to me, so building a set of stores near it doesn't seem odd.
Also, Century 21 was there prior to 9/11. These new Shops almost seem... Opportunistic to me (Can't think of a better way to describe it).
BTW, It's not like I *don't* want life to go on as usual in the Area.
Anyone else been to the Arizona Memorial? Being there was a somber occasion and I thought very well done.
There used to be a big mall-like thing at the WTC before. I bought a pair of shoes there once. So what's the difference?
Of course, the retail space is also necessary because the WTC panel is somewhat beholden to Silverstein, the lessee [leasee?] of the site. If it were not for him, the plans may very well (a) be totally different and (b) already under way.
But, on the bright side, this whole fiasco probably means we will never have Pataki as a presidential candidate.
Yeah, Santiago Calatrava should have been the master planner instead of that useless, aesthetically challenged Liebeskind. The IFC and Drawing Center were ill conceived and doomed from the start. The Pataki-Liebeskind love affair was a complete mystery to me and really the root of all the controversy. While I like some of Gehry's buildings, he doesn't have the grace to design ground zero. His whining is tranparently sour grapes because no one was clamouring for one of his giant ribbon buildings. Still, I have no problem with some retail spaces. The city was founded on commercialism.