February 4, 2005
In response to the growing downtown population and overcrowding in many classrooms, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the creation of a new school to serve Lower Manhattan students from the kindergarten level through eighth grade. The $65 million, five-story school will fill approximately 100,000 square feet and create 600 seats for students. The school will be located on the property adjacent to NYU Downtown Hospital bound by Beekman, William, and Spruce Streets. Construction is expected to begin in February 2006 and should be completed by September 2008.

February 8, 2005
Mayor Michael Bloomberg made official the grand reopening of the new, $201 million Whitehall Ferry Terminal. Nearly double the square footage of the original terminal, the new Whitehall has all the bells and whistles of a contemporary 24-hour public transit station, along with stunning views of New York Harbor and the downtown skyline.

February 14, 2005
Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed J. P. Morgan Chase executive Charles Maikish to head the Lower Manhattan Command Center, which will provide oversight and coordination of all private and public construction projects in Lower Manhattan.

February 22, 2005
New York City Department of Transportation (DOT)'s Street Management Project began on Church Street, addressing pedestrian congestion near the WTC PATH station, where more than 60,000 people enter and exit daily. The project involves re-timing Church Street's traffic and crosswalk signals at Fulton, Dey, and Cortlandt Streets.

February 26, 2005
A memorial honoring the six people who died in the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center was formally dedicated at Ground Zero. The new memorial -- a nine-and-a-half-foot-tall stainless steel pylon -- replaces the original, which was located outside the World Trade Center's north tower until it was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks. A single fragment from the original memorial was preserved and incorporated into the new memorial. Designed by the Pentagram studio in collaboration with the Port Authority's senior architect, Jacqueline Hanley, the new commemorative memorial is located on Liberty Street in the family viewing area overlooking Ground Zero.

March 7, 2005 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel announced the establishment of the Mayor's Commission on Construction Opportunity. The commission works to ensure that all New Yorkers -- particularly minorities, women, returning veterans, and new high school graduates -- are well-prepared and can gain access to good, permanent jobs in construction, in both the private and public sectors.

March 23, 2005 
A new gym floor was unveiled as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Alfred E. Smith Recreation Center, located at 80 Catherine Street. The nearly $270,000 project was funded by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and implemented by the New York City Parks Department. The project represented the final component of a $1.8 million reconstruction of the Al Smith Playground and Recreation Center.

March, 2005 
NYU Downtown Hospital completed the first phase of its emergency room expansion. The completed area opens up 9,000 square feet of additional primary urgent care space, in what was formerly the hospital's interior courtyard. The renovation's second phase, which will include an upgrade of the existing emergency center's acute-care area, is currently underway. All 26,000 square feet of the $25 million emergency center -- which will include a decontamination room, chest pain emergency unit, enlarged trauma room, pediatric suite, and women's health suite -- will be complete in the fall of 2006.

April, 2005
In early April 2005, workers began the second phase of demolition at 4 Albany Street. This phase, which will involve dismantling the structure so that only its foundation is intact, is expected to be complete by July 2005.

April 11, 2005
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation submitted a "Request for Variance" to the New York State Department of Labor, an important step toward the deconstruction of 130 Liberty, formerly the Deutsche Bank Building. The request allows the LMDC to finalize the Phase I Deconstruction Plan revisions, which will keep the deconstruction on track for a summer 2005 start.

April 14, 2005
Governor George Pataki, the Battery Park City Authority, and Millennium Partners broke ground on a new 35-story "green" residential tower downtown. Located at West Street and First Place, the 236-unit condominium will be the fourth "green" building to rise in Battery Park City. The tower will be built using recyclable construction materials and energy strategies that make it 25 percent more efficient than New York state codes.

April 14, 2005
State officials announced that they will not convert West Street-Route 9A into a tunnel alongside the World Trade Center Memorial and Freedom Tower sites, deciding instead to construct an eight-lane boulevard in its place. The new boulevard, which will be built at the same grade as surrounding streets, will cost $700 million less than the proposed tunnel and take less time to build because it will require less materials and cause less disruption of utility lines and other nearby projects, including the Freedom Tower.

April 14, 2005
Mayor Bloomberg announced an interim plan to reopen Park Row from Chatham Square to City Hall Park to city buses and pedestrian traffic beginning May 15, 2005. Park Row has been closed to traffic and buses since late 2001 as part of increased security around 1 Police Plaza.

April 21, 2005
The start of the fourth annual Tribeca Film Festival heralded an array of downtown cultural festivals scheduled for spring 2005. Additional scheduled events include the Taste of Chinatown, Dine Around Downtown, and the Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour (TOAST).

April 30, 2005 
Road reconstruction work at the east end of Wall Street was completed. The project began in early 2004 as a joint effort by the New York City Parks and Recreation Department, Department of Transportation, and Department of Design and Construction to build a new park space and relocate and update underground utilities.

April 30, 2005
Old Slip Park and Street Reconstruction was completed. Part of the $25 million New York City Parks and Recreation Department's park-restoration project, the Old Slip renovation kicked off in May 2004, along with a curb-to-curb roadway reconstruction. The park's redesign included the addition of granite curbs, pigmented pavement, new benches, and spring plantings designed to mimic the shape of a police badge -- fitting given its location next door to the Police Museum.

May 4, 2005 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki convened with rebuilding officials, including representatives from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and developer Larry Silverstein, and together reached an agreement that the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower must be redesigned to meet NYPD security standards.

May 19, 2005 
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation presents schematic designs for the cultural center to be built at the World Trade Center site today.

May 31, 2005 
In partnership with the City, State, and local community, the SHoP/Richard Rogers/Ken Smith design team produced an ambitious plan to provide public access to the waterfront for the first time in decades, improve the urban design of the area, and add new community amenities. Incorporating revisions based on feedback from public meetings held last year, the latest plan was revealed detailing improvements on ten foundation projects along the East River Waterfront.

June 16, 2005
Governor George Pataki announced plans for two interim memorials at the WTC site. In July 2005, StoryCorps, the acclaimed oral history project, will open a recording booth at the WTC Path Station .The Tribute Center, which will open in March 2006, will include a gallery, exhibits, and educational programs, will provide information and a place for reflection until the permanent memorial, "Reflecting Absence," is completed in 2009.

June 29, 2005
A revised design for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site was revealed. Maintaining the symbolic 1,776-foot height of the original, the new tower will feature a larger, cubic base -- the same size as the footprints of the Twin Towers -- and will be set back further from West Street, alleviating security concerns raised about the earlier design.

July 13, 2005
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved an $899 million grant to help rebuild the Lower Manhattan transit system, including $478 million to fund an underground vehicle screening center at the new World Trade Center site, $200 million to reconstruct West Street-Route 9A, $174 million to build a foundation at the WTC transportation hub, and $30 million to structurally fortify an underground pedestrian corridor planned along Fulton Street. The FTA also officially completed an environmental review of the World Trade Center transportation hub, allowing for construction on the facility to begin in early fall 2005.

July 13, 2005
In a presentation to Community Board 1, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) capital planners outlined the revised design scheme for the ambitious Fulton Street Transit Center. The new plan scales back several features to reduce the project's overall budget by $40 million while keeping most of the key elements that will link 12 subway lines and the World Trade Center PATH station.

July 14, 2005
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) approved a $7 million grant for the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, a community-based not-for-profit organization that was created in 2004 to improve business conditions and strengthen Chinatown's position as a center for both culture and commerce. The grant will help fund a comprehensive, multi-year street cleaning and maintenance program for the Chinatown neighborhood, as well as provide support for marketing initiatives, the enhancement of public spaces, and lighting improvements. Additionally, the organization will partner with the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) on a comprehensive "Clean Streets" program for the neighborhood.

July 15, 2005
A groundbreaking ceremony marked the official opening of Old Slip Park, located beside the Police Museum in the Financial District. Renovation of the park involved collaboration between many city agencies. Crews from the Department of Design and Construction and the Department of Transportation reconstructed the utility infrastructure below the park and adjacent streets, and teams from the Department of Parks and Recreation rebuilt and replanted the space. The LMDC, which funded the $400,000 restoration, also announced that it would provide an addition $20 million to the Parks Department to create and restore more open spaces downtown in the coming years.

July 18, 2005
Owner Brookfield Properties, with the help of architects Cooper Robertson and other collaborators, kicked off an $8 million renovation of Liberty Plaza Park. The new park, which will reopen to the public in spring 2006, will feature 55 new trees, two remarkable pieces of art, and dozens of shady benches. Located between Broadway, Trinity Place, Liberty, and Cedar Streets, the park is undergoing a reconstruction that will create a public sanctuary in the heart of bustling Lower Manhattan.

July 29, 2005
Following the presentation of revised plans for the WTC PATH Terminal by architect Santiago Calatrava, the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved the $2.221 billion project. Revisions to the original plan call for a reduction in the amount of glass above the transit hall and an increase in the number of supporting structural elements, as well as several other minor modifications.

August 22, 2005
After 14 months of landscaping, planting, and paving, the Battery Bosque opened, welcoming visitors to its shady benches and ornamental gardens. The 3.75-acre rebuilt bosque, located to the east of Castle Clinton in Battery Park, features new lighting, a refreshment kiosk, and crushed-stone pathways that tie together the park's monuments and promenade.

August 25, 2005
Goldman Sachs, the investment bank founded on Pine Street in 1869, announced plans to erect a 43-story office tower at West and Vesey Streets. The plan followed negotiations between the bank, state, and city to secure the location and finance the $2 billion building through Liberty Bonds and other incentives.

September 6, 2005
Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Hillary Clinton, and other city, state, and federal officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

September 8, 2005
Officials announce the start of the deconstruction on 130 Liberty Street. After years of insurance litigation, public hearings, environmental testing, and extensive coordination with regulatory agencies, the building at 130 Liberty Street that was severely damaged by debris from the twin towers is be carefully removed. Once demolished, the vacant land parcel will then be incorporated into the new World Trade Center development.

September 24, 2005
Arts organizations from all over the city descended upon Battery Park as part of CultureFest 2005, which for the fifth year in a row provided attendees with a dynamic weekend-long lineup of performances while also giving a glimpse of participating organizations' programming plans for the coming year.

September 28, 2005
Gov. George Pataki announced that the International Freedom Center (IFC) will not have a place at the cultural center planned for the World Trade Center site, saying that the events of 9/11 should be the sole focus of whatever cultural institution finds a home there.

October 14, 2005
In another boost for business growth in Lower Manhattan, American Express announced that it will expand its downtown headquarters with an additional 200,000 square feet of office space, Gov. George Pataki announced. Currently, American Express leases 1 million square feet in 3 World Financial Center, which is located directly across the street from the World Trade Center site.

October 20, 2005
World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Chairman John C. Whitehead announced that after six months of seeking donations, the foundation had raised more than $101 million to fund the memorial’s construction and operation.

November 1, 2005
Eric Deutsch officially began serving as the new president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. Almost five months after Carl Weisbrod announced that he was leaving the Alliance as its first and only president, the business improvement district (BID) hired Deutsch, president and chief executive of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, to replace him. Weisbrod left in July to become executive vice president of Trinity Church and president of its real estate division.

November 7, 2005
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey presented preliminary plans for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub's retail space to Community Board 1. Currently the hub's sole proprietor, the Port Authority has grand plans for its commercial life -- including ultimately filling as much as 550,000 square feet with retail that promises to stimulate the Lower Manhattan economy over the long haul. The first stores are expected to open in 2010.

November 14, 2005
After several delays, the Fulton Fish Market finally relocated to Hunts Point in the Bronx, where more than 600 workers moved into a brand new facility the size of almost ten football fields. There, the new market is expected to run more efficiently than it did in the South Street Seaport that had been its home for more than 180 years. Official plans for development of the market's original downtown site were not disclosed.

November 29, 2005
Ceremonial shovels dug into the plot at West and Vesey Streets, heralding the start of construction on a glimmering new 43-story tower that will serve as Goldman Sachs's world headquarters come 2009. The groundbreaking drew regional VIPs who praised the banking and trading firm for reinvesting in Lower Manhattan -- its home neighborhood since it was founded in 1869.

December 8, 2005
After four years of extensive restoration work, the landmark 140 West Street building is once again home to Verizon, one of the country's top telecommunications firms. The company officially returned its corporate headquarters to the 79-year-old building in a ceremony attended by Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg.

December 15, 2005
Standing in the 25th-floor marketing office of 7 World Trade Center (WTC), Governor George Pataki and developer Larry Silverstein introduced Lord Norman Foster as the architect for the site's "tower two." The tower, located at 200 Greenwich Street (between Vesey and Fulton Streets), will be the third to open at the WTC, following 7 WTC's opening next year and the Freedom Tower's debut in 2010.

Silverstein also announced the first tenant of 7 WTC -- the New York Academy of Sciences, one of the world's foremost institutions of scientific exploration. The Academy signed a 15-year lease to occupy the entire 40th floor.

December 27, 2005
William H. Goldstein, head of the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA), has been appointed to oversee construction of the World Trade Center Memorial, Memorial Museum, and related facilities, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced.