Ground Zero Memorial to Cost Over $1 Billion

The proposed Ground Zero Monument will cost $1 billion, according to a NYT report.

The projected cost of building the World Trade Center memorial complex at ground zero has soared to nearly $1 billion, according to the most authoritative estimate to date. Rebuilding officials concede that the new price tag is breathtaking — “beyond reason” in the words of one member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board — and it is sure to set off another battle over development at the 16-acre site, with calls to cut costs, scale back the design or even start over.

The foundation, which had planned to start construction in March, has already quietly broached the possibility with some victims’ families of moving important parts of the memorial out of the twin towers’ footprints to ground level.

Since this is some of the most desirable real estate on the planet and the project is run by the government and fueled by the emotionalism surrounding this event, I’m not all that surprised by the cost. Indeed, it is likely to go up. No building project ever comes in at budget.