The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 94

Say goodbye to Tower 2 at the World Trade Center, because Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority can't seem to find the money to make it happen.

An iconic 79-story skyscraper long planned for Ground Zero that would have been taller than the Empire State Building appears to be dead.

Developer Larry Silverstein has proposed a new financing scheme for the troubled site that discards the 1,270-foot Tower 2, sources familiar with the project say. In the past two weeks, he has come under intense pressure from Gov. Paterson to resolve his bitter war with the Port Authority.

Acting after Silverstein was slapped down last month in his bid to snag $3.5 billion in penalties from the PA because of building delays, Paterson urged him to throw more cash into the project and scale back his demands.

Tower 2 would have been designed by Sir Norman Foster and reached more than 1,250 feet into the air. It was also the one tower design that most people seemed to like (and even more curiously, was the one tower that most closely resembled the original Daniel Libeskind master plan sketches and plans for towers with sloping roof lines). The site has been plagued with Port Authority delays in getting the site prepped for construction, so this is the latest problem for that tower. Meanwhile, Tower 4, where the Port Authority intends to house its offices is underway just to the south.

All the while, the hulking ruin of the former Deutsche Bank building hovers over the entire site, as its deconstruction timetable affects construction through the site since the Deutsche bank building location is critical for future operations in the site.