Uncover the stories behind the new World Trade Center on the 20th anniversary of 9/11

From ground zero to a new sky-high tower, rebuilding the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks was a monumental task. SiriusXM is launching Top of the World, a new eleven-part series featuring the people at the heart of the historic rebuild. The special programming will premiere on July 6 at 7pm ET on Business Radio (Ch. 132) and will broadcast for 11 consecutive weeks leading up to the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. All episodes will become available as podcasts on Pandora and Stitcher starting on September 6.Each week, Top of the World will explore the rebuilding through the eyes of those at the center of the action. These individuals will share lessons learned from the recovery after 9/11, the challenges downtown Manhattan has faced throughout the last two decades, and the insights they’ve gathered about how the city and the country can better recover and rebuild after the pandemic.

Among the major figures featured throughout the series are World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; WTC Master Planner Daniel Libeskind; National 9/11 Memorial architect Michael Arad; the architects and engineers behind the new World Trade Center office towers; downtown Manhattan business and community leaders; the artists, filmmakers, and photographers who have captured and documented the historic rebuilding effort; and many more. Celebrity interviews offering support for the revitalization of lower Manhattan will be interspersed throughout the series, as well.

“Rebuilding the World Trade Center has been — and continues to be — the passion of my life,” Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman of Silverstein Properties, said. “As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it is important to reflect on our collective mission to restore, revitalize, and reinvent downtown Manhattan, and examine how the lessons we learned can inform our response to the devastation wrought by the tragedy of the pandemic.”

The special series was created in collaboration with Silverstein Properties and MuddHouse Media. Click here to watch a trailer, see photos, and find out more details about the new special.

After they premiere, episodes will rebroadcast Fridays at 5pm ET, Saturdays at 7am and 8pm ET, and Sundays at 1pm ET.

---

Special Guests

---

Larry Silverstein

World Trade Center developer

Larry Silverstein purchased the Twin Towers at the age of 70 on July 24, 2001, only to see the complex destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks. He has devoted the rest of his life to rebuilding the Trade Center. Despite many major obstacles over the past two decades, he has convinced some of the world’s leading companies to move into his new office buildings, and helped transform lower Manhattan into a vibrant live-work neighborhood. A year into the pandemic that has temporarily brought the neighborhood, the city, and the country to a halt, Silverstein reflects on his experience, and the road to recovery for New York and the nation.

Daniel Libeskind

WTC Master Plan architect

How do you rebuild a city within a city after the devastation of the worst terror attacks on American soil? Architect Daniel Libeskind won a star-studded international competition to lead the design process for the world’s most emotionally charged site. He talks about what inspired him as a young immigrant to the United States, the enormous challenges he faced, the magnificent place he created, and how it can help shape the future of cities in a post-pandemic world.

Michael Bloomberg

Former New York City Mayor

Michael Bloomberg was sworn in as mayor of New York City just four months after 9/11, and for the next 12 years, he oversaw much of the area’s and the city’s remarkable recovery. He was one of the earliest proponents of downtown’s transformation from a 9-to-5 business center into a vibrant mixed-use 24/7 neighborhood. Mayor Bloomberg shares his thoughts on how the city can recover from the pandemic, and the lessons we can draw from the World Trade Center rebuilding.

Mary Ann Tighe

CEO of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region

Over 15 million square feet of New York’s newest office space were destroyed on 9/11, forcing a mass exodus of office tenants from downtown to other parts of the city. Mary Ann Tighe talks about what it took to convince companies to return to the new World Trade Center, and how the area became the media, communications and technology capital of New York, home to Condé Nast, Spotify, and Uber, as well as luxury brands including Moet Hennessy and Diageo. She discusses the future of office space after more than a year of working remotely, and what the recovery from the pandemic means for the World Trade Center, downtown Manhattan and cities across America.

Sean Johnson, Carlos Valverde, and Duan He; Michiko Ashida

3 WTC project executives and 4 WTC design director

The people who built the new office towers for Larry Silverstein offer a behind-the-scenes look at the design, engineering and construction challenges of overseeing 3,000 daily construction workers build a $20 billion project in the heart of America’s oldest and most iconic business district. They discuss the sustainable design and security features in the new buildings, and how their work inspired high-rise design and construction all over the world.

Jessica Lappin and Catherine McVay Hughes

Jessica Lappin, President of the Alliance for Downtown New York, and Catherine McVay Hughes, a 33-year resident of Lower Manhattan and former chair of Manhattan Community Board One discuss their experience living and working in Lower Manhattan as their community recovered from the 9/11 attacks. They talk about the challenges of attracting new companies, businesses, residents and visitors back to the area, and offer insight on how Downtown can recover from the pandemic, and once again become one of the most popular, successful 24/7, mixed-use neighborhoods in the country.

Joe Woolhead, Judith Dupré, Mike Marcucci, and Grace Capobianco

WTC photographer of ‘Once More to the Sky,’ author of ‘One World Trade Center,’ producer of ’16 Acres,’ and publisher of ‘Downtown’ magazine (respectively)

As the unofficial chroniclers of the World Trade Center rebuilding, Joe Woolhead, Judith Dupré and Mike Marcucci talk about the obstacles and highlights of documenting — through film, photography and books — the 16-acre site on a daily basis over the past 20 years, and what is next for New York City. They are joined by Grace Capobianco who has been reporting on the rebirth of lower Manhattan for 20 years.

Leslie Koch

President of Perelman Center for the Performing Arts

Leslie Koch offers a guided tour of the under-construction performing arts center, which will be the next building to open at the WTC site. She discusses the importance of arts and culture to lower Manhattan and to a city that is just now beginning to recover from the pandemic. We witness the very first musical performance in the new building with violinist Gregory Harrington and cellist Eleanor Norton.

Kerry Irvine, Joohee Park, Lady Aiko, Risa Boogie, Cristina Martinez, and Komikka Patton

Before any companies moved into the new World Trade Center towers, a small group of artists set up makeshift studios in raw space overlooking the site. From this rare perch, they began to capture and document the massive construction project below. These artists tell their personal stories of passion, hope, renewal and perseverance from their studios in the sky, and the important role that art and creativity continues to play in Lower Manhattan.

Robert Whitlock, Maria Masi, Marty Burger, Dawanna Williams

Architect at KPF and developers at Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties, and Dabar Development Partners (respectively)

Architect Robert Whitlock, and developers Maria Masi, Marty Burger and Dawanna Williams talk about 5 WTC, the only residential tower proposed for the WTC site. Featuring 1,325 apartments, including 330 that will be permanently affordable, this will be the country’s most significant and anticipated energy efficient and sustainable apartment building when it opens in 2026.

Michael Arad

9/11 Memorial architect

How do you create a place of remembrance in the heart of a bustling city? Michael Arad was a young, unknown architect when he beat out 5,200 others to win a competition to design the National 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center. He talks about what inspired him, changes he was forced to make to his design, the opening of the Memorial on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and his thoughts on a national memorial to the victims of Covid-19.