Just over a year after foundation work got underway, the Saint Nicholas National Shrine at the World Trade Center has now topped out. Church officials along with representatives from the Port Authority and construction firm Skanska attended a topping out ceremony on Monday where an over six-foot-tall cross was lifted and placed on top of the Church to commemorate the progress, the New York Times reported.
Originally located at 155 Cedar Street, the Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed on 9/11, and it’s been a pretty uphill climb getting it rebuilt. For one, the church had to be relocated to be within the newly completed Liberty Park since its original location is now being used as an underground garage. There were also initial disagreements with the Port Authority about how the redevelopment would move forward.
But since construction got underway towards the end of the last year, the project has made swift progress. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the architect who also designed the WTC Transportation Hub, the project is being built at a cost of $40 million and the church has already managed to raise $38 million of that on its own. The project is being funded privately and has an estimated completion sometime in early 2018. At that time, the current cross atop the church will be replaced by a permanent fixture.