Trump Proposes New Twin Towers



"It's not appropriate for the United States, it's not appropriate for freedom." That's Donald Trump's view of the Freedom Tower, the tallest building planned for the World Trade Center site. Instead, Trump wants to erect new twin towers. Like Trump himself, the plan is bold and divisive.

(May 19) - Donald J. Trump, reality television star, fragrance entrepreneur and developer of tall buildings, revealed his answer to the problems at the World Trade Center site yesterday. That answer, perhaps unsurprising, was himself.

In a news conference at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, Mr. Trump stood before a large model of his vision for a new World Trade Center, which included towers similar to the Twin Towers, and said that he would press government officials and private developers to rebuild more structurally sound versions of the fallen towers instead of the Freedom Tower, which has been sent back to the drawing board for a new design because of security concerns raised by the Police Department.

Mr. Trump's model was designed by his structural engineer, Kenneth Gardner, who quoted poetry at the news conference, apologized to his mother and thanked many people who "made this day possible."


Mr. Trump's comments about the Freedom Tower were not so appreciative. "In a nutshell, the Freedom Tower should not be allowed to be built," he said. "It's not appropriate for Lower Manhattan, it's not appropriate for Manhattan, it's not appropriate for the United States, it's not appropriate for freedom."

But Mr. Trump's proposal is not exactly appropriate for him. He said he would not be willing actually to lease space in the buildings. ("I only go in buildings I own.") Nor would he explain how his towers would be paid for. "Larry Silverstein hopefully can do this," Mr. Trump said, referring to the lead developer of the site. Mr. Silverstein plans to use insurance money from the terrorist attack to develop both the Freedom Tower and 7 World Trade.




He called Mr. Trump's proposal and timing "in poor taste," and said they did not reflect the wishes of the majority of families. "The towers are not a memorial to the people who died there," he said. "If anything it is a bitter reminder of how people died."

Joanna Rose, the spokeswoman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said in an e-mail message: "Donald Trump is entitled to his opinion, just like the millions of people who actually involved themselves in the public planning process, which resulted in the master plan."

Mr. Trump's scorecard as a developer is mixed. After the city spent six years and $12 million in a failed effort to renovate the Wollman Memorial Rink in Central Park, he took over the project in 1986 and completed it ahead of schedule and under budget.


But other projects have fallen short or have been plagued with financial problems. He built the tallest residential building in the world on the East Side, but not, as once promised, "the tallest building in the world" on the West Side, nor the spaceship-shaped skyscraper he proposed for Columbus Circle, where the Time-Warner Center now stands.

Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in November under the weight of $1.8 billion in debt, the second casino bankruptcy for Mr. Trump. (The company has since emerged, with a new name and Mr. Trump's ownership stake reduced.)

It was clearly a coincidence that Mr. Trump held his news conference a day before the season finale of his network reality show, "The Apprentice." But he did mention that Gov. George E. Pataki had been on the show repeatedly, and said that his World Trade Center model, which he reported had moved tourists in the Trump Tower lobby to tears, might be featured on tonight's show. Twin Towers II