New Design, New Budget OKd for 9/11 Memorial

NEW YORK — A scaled-down design for the Sept. 11 memorial that retains the central elements of the original was unveiled Tuesday after the project was sent back to the drawing board because the cost was pushing $1 billion.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki signed off on the more modest proposal after asking developer Frank Sciame to reduce the cost to $500 million.

Sciame cut more than $285 million by shrinking the memorial museum, removing portions of the galleries around the pools where the names were to be listed and consolidating entrances into a visitors’ center. The new design will also raise the victims’ names to street level.

The reflecting pools and waterfalls envisioned by architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker for the site were retained. Arad called some of the cuts “painful” but said he was pleased many original elements survived.

Tuesday’s announcement marked the beginning of a seven-day public-comment period. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which oversees the rebuilding of the site, will adopt a final design by the end of the month, officials said. The memorial is set to open in 2009.