By Karen Matthews, Associated Press, 07/16/02

A reporter studies the six scale models for the re-development of the World Trade Center site. (AP Photo) View the WTC plans

NEW YORK -- A memorial to the victims, a transportation hub and office buildings that would evoke -- but not match -- the lost skyline of Lower Manhattan are the main elements in six preliminary plans to redevelop the World Trade Center site.

The head of the agency charged with rebuilding the 16-acre site promised Tuesday the plans will not yield it "a solid block of boring buildings," although some architects and planners immediately called the proposals unimaginative.

"These can all be distinctive, beautiful buildings," John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said at a Tuesday morning press conference where the six alternatives were released. He also stressed the proposals are works in progress.

"The six plans are not final blueprints," said Whitehead. "Each represents a package of proposed ideas. These ideas can be mixed and matched and reconstituted based on public input."

Each of the proposals calls for a memorial taking up from four to 10 acres of the 16-acre site. Two of the six allow for development on the so-called "footprints" of the fallen twin towers, with the memorial situated elsewhere.

The plans all call for replacing the 11 million square feet of commercial office space lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. They all include 600,000 square feet of retail space and a 600,000-square-foot hotel to replace the hotel and mall that were destroyed.

While none of the plans includes any buildings as tall as the 110-story twin towers, each echoes the lost towers with at least one needle-like structure perched atop a building, rising to a height of 1,500 feet. The tallest structure in any of the plans is 85 stories; most are 60 to 70 stories.

"The proposals are all variations on a theme," said Alfredo Andia, an architecture professor at Florida International University in Miami, who ran a workshop for architecture schools on what to do with the trade center site.

"The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. ... should have presented more variety," Andia said. "I personally like the two extreme possibilities with regard to the site -- either reconstruct a huge tower or don't build anything and have a big memorial. Neither of these options were really explored."

Mitchell Moss, director of the New York University's Taub Urban Research Center, echoed Andia's disappointment. "It's clear that they have not yet fully engaged," Moss said. "These plans aren't broad enough, bold enough or big enough."

The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle, consultants to the development corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land.

But the planners did not start with a clean slate. Leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his partner, the mall developer Westfield America, have the contractual right to rebuild what was there before the attack.

"We don't consider that to be a constraint," said Jack Beyer, a founding partner of Beyer Blinder Belle. "We consider it to be a program requirement."

All the plans call for a transportation hub connecting PATH trains, ferries and all the subway lines that serve Lower Manhattan, with the possibility of later connecting to Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.

Although no housing is included on the site itself, the plans call for conversion of nearby properties into apartments. Each plan would convert at least one of the damaged office buildings to the south of the trade center site to residential use.

The proposals are on the development corporation's Web site and will be on display for several weeks at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan.

An expected 5,000 people will discuss the plans at a town hall meeting Saturday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

The development corporation and the Port Authority will narrow the six land-use proposals down to three by September and then down to one by December.