PA to construct memorial.

The Port Authority has announced it will take on responsibility for the construction of the World Trade Center Memorial, the Memorial Museum and the Visitor Orientation and Education Center, a decision that Manhattan developer and memorial construction czar, Frank Sciame, recommended along with his recent cost saving redesign of the memorial as a way to further scale back the project's price. Already developing the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and the Freedom Tower, projects whose combined cost totals almost $5 billion, the Port Authority would be able to take advantage of economies of scale to build a cheaper memorial, Sciame claimed.

"I think that Sciame rightfully pointed out that, given the activity that is going on at the site that the Port Authority is engaged in, there should be cost savings that result from having the Port Authority oversee all the construction," Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia said. "Those are the economies we're going to realize."

As part of the agreement, The Port Authority will also increase its $100 million contribution to the project's infrastructure by $50 million and will provide $45 million to a $90 million reserve fund that will cover any cost overruns after construction has started. New York State will provide the remaining $45 million for that fund and will also pay $80 million for the Visitor Center.

The increased contribution by the Port Authority it would seem, according to revised cost estimates Sciame released in recent weeks for the redesigned memorial, covers the full cost of the project's infrastructure.

Originally estimated at a whopping $301 million when it was revealed months ago that the memorial's price tag had inflated to a near project-killing $1 billion, the infrastructure cost was slashed in Sciame's redesign to a more reasonable $178 million through what he said was the use of value engineering methods and by revising the estimate for preserving a section of exposed slurry wall in the memorial's underground area.

After the Port Authority's $150 million contribution, the remaining $28 million, according to Sciame, could be funded through available government grants and contributions.

Coscia stated that the agreement is contingent upon the Port Authority's own confirmation, via a period of due diligence, of Sciame's revised cost estimates for the project.

"The cost estimates that have been provided will be reviewed and due diligence will be undertaken by the Port Authority to determine our accordance with those numbers," Coscia said. "We're hopeful that the issues that need to be resolved over the next months can make this a truly financially responsible project in the public's interest."

While preserving most of the essential design elements of Michael Arad's Reflecting Absence memorial design such as the waterfalls, below grade contemplative spaces, and landscaped memorial plaza, Sciame scaled back certain aspects of the design to bring its price from $672 million down to $510 million, an amount very close to the original $500 million budget for the project. The most notable changes were a significant cut to the size of the underground space by eliminating planned galleries that were to surround the twin pools and also by consolidating the entrances and exits to the underground area in the Visitor Center, a move that would also save the memorial on operating expenses.