WTC Hub Will Actually Get An Opening Ceremony…This Spring

The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is set to open on March 3—yes, for real this time—and initially, the Port Authority had demurred from planning any kind of ceremony or celebration for the $4 billion train station. But now, the organization has once again changed course, and will now hold some kind of event to mark the occasion "in the spring," according to the Wall Street Journal.

The hub, which was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, will only partially open to the public—much of the space is still under construction, but per a Port Authority press release, the section that's opening "will provide the 100,000 riders that use the PATH facility daily with below-ground, climate-controlled access to a new entrance at the corner of Liberty and Church streets, a few blocks from Wall Street." Other phases of the hub, including the retail stores, will follow throughout the spring.

According to the WSJ, the forthcoming ceremony will serve as a reminder of the station's "symbolic significance in rebuilding the World Trade Center," as this has been in the works since 2004, only three years after 9/11 happened. "It will stand, along with the memorial, museum and the buildings themselves, as a tribute the resiliency of the region," Port Authority chairman John Degnan told WSJ.

Opening Ceremony Back on for World Trade Center’s Transit Hub [WSJ]

At Last, Tour Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center Transportation Hub [Curbed]