Is rebuilding Ground Zero a bad idea?

Yes, rebuilding ground zero is a bad idea. 

That’s my opinion and has been from the beginning, but it is a very dangerous thing to say.  People will accuse you of being unpatriotic or giving in to terrorists.

It’s rare when I agree with something in the NY Times, but Joe Nocera has it exactly right and is a very brave man.

NY Times opinion

The World Trade Center was a “white elephant” from its inception.   (No slam against your skin color if you’re white).   The reason there is a connection with the WTC and the Port Authority is the WTC was a government urban renewal project.   It was built on the land that had been the terminal for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad tunnel (now called PATH).  The project was the brain child of David Rockefeller as an urban renewal project in the 1960s. 

Wall Street didn’t need the office space.   For much of its life, the WTC had a high vacancy rate.   I worked with people who had worked in the WTC and it was a dreadful place to work.  During high winds, the buildings would sway back and forth, to the degree that things on your desk would roll/slide off if they weren’t secured to the desk.    Getting from the top to the street was very time consuming, especially when large numbers of people were doing it at the same time.

Since 2001, what is left of “Wall Street” isn’t there any more.   The NYSE trading floor is now mostly a TV studio.  The real trading is happening on computer networks, much of it in Chicago.   Without people wanting to be near the NYSE, there is little reason to work or live on the South end of Manhattan. (“Downtown”)

In July 2001, the Port Authority unloaded the WTC complex as a 99 year lease.   By being a lease, PATH retained ownership of the land and some control over the operations in the towers.  When it was destroyed a few months later, the holders of the lease were on the receiving end of the insurance payout (the source of some of the conspiracy rumors).

But it is the Port Authority that is rebuilding the “Liberty Tower” (which no longer is the Liberty Tower) for $3.3 billion.  The tower will likely be filled up with government agencies, since no market based rents could justify the cost of that building.   New York City’s heart is Midtown, not Downtown.

Here is a Second Analysis.   The prediction is that rents in the area will fall to about $30 a square foot.  The Liberty Tower would have to charge upward of $100 a square foot to break even, assuming there aren’t cost overruns.

“But it’s not about the money, it’s the principle!”   

Easy to say when it isn’t your money and you have never been to Wall Street and don’t know the area and the history and the future.   But don’t worry, ultimately it will be your money when government ends up paying all the bills.