Ten Years Later: What’s Happening For The Anniversary Of 9/11

Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,on that day a decade ago a plane that slammed into the World Trade Center out of a brilliantly clear blue September sky began a day of horror that changed our nation and the world forever.

Memorial events are being held around the country to mark the somber anniversary, most prominently at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 went down after passengers tried to take back control of the hijacked jet.President Obama will also be attending the private ceremony hosted by the Department of Defense at the Pentagon Memorial for the family members of victims who died there. The memorial was opened in 2008.

There will be a commemorative service, also attended by the president, at the crash site’s Memorial Plaza. A day earlier, tomorrow (September 10th), a dedication ceremony will be held for the Flight 93 National Memorial, which is still under construction at the site. Attending will be former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner.

Perhaps one of the most uplifting events is at the World Trade Center site, where substantial progress has been made in rebuilding after years of delays after the attacks due to disputes between government agencies, the insurer and Larry Silverstein, the developer who’d taken out a 99-year lease on the Twin Towers less than two months before the attacks. The under-construction One World Trade Center — which was once known as the Freedom Tower — now stands at 1,000 feet and will eventually top out at the symbolic height of 1,776 feet when it opens in 2014. A second tower, Four World Trade Center, is more than half built on its way to 947 feet, and will actually be finished earlier than the other building. A transportation hub that will also include restaurants and stores is due to be completed by 2014, but the future of two other planned towers is less certain. Silverstein reached a deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build another tower when he raises $300 million in private equity, leases out at least 400,000 square feet of the building, and gets financing for the remaining cost. The fourth tower will be built when the market supports it.