World Trade Center Memorial Projected to Cost $1-Billion

Projected costs for the memorial complex at the site of the World Trade Center in New York have ballooned to nearly $1-billion, reports The New York Times.

Some city and state officials have criticized the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation for not raising enough money and have called for the costs to be limited to $500-million. The foundation reports it has raised $130-million to date from private contributions.

One board member blames the design concept: “Fund raising would not have been a problem if the memorial and memorial museum was a priority in the first place, which it has never been,” says Monica Iken. “If the original design hadn’t been treated like a Tinker Toy, we may have not have had these problems.”