They were destroyed on the morning of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda members hijacked two Boeing 767 jets and flew them into the towers in a coordinated act of terrorism, killing 2,753 people.

The new World Trade Center complex also includes a museum and memorial, and a transportation hub building that is similar in size to Grand Central Terminal.

[35] George Pataki, the then-Governor of New York, controlled the Port Authority alongside the Governor of New Jersey and so was entitled to make the final decision regarding the site.

In November 2001, Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process.

[39] The LMDC coordinated federal assistance in the rebuilding process and was tasked with working with the Port Authority, Larry Silverstein, and whoever was selected as the site's architects.

[42] In April 2002, the LMDC sent out requests for proposals to redesign the World Trade Center site to 24 Manhattan architecture firms, but then soon withdrew them.

[48] These architecture firms were then invited to compete to be the master plan architect for the World Trade Center: Foster and Partners (Norman Foster);[43][48] Studio Daniel Libeskind (Daniel Libeskind);[43][48] Meier Eisenman Gwathmey Holl (Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Charles Gwathmey and Steven Holl),[43][48] sometimes known as "The Dream Team";[49] Peterson Littenberg;[43][48] Skidmore, Owings & Merrill;[43][48] THINK Team (Shigeru Ban, Frederic Schwartz, Ken Smith, Rafael Viñoly);[43][48] and United Architects[43][48] Peterson Littenberg, a small New York architecture firm, had been enlisted by the LMDC earlier that summer as a consultant, and was invited to participate as the seventh semifinalist.

[51] Days before the announcement of the two finalists in February 2003, Larry Silverstein wrote to LMDC Chair John Whitehead to express his disapproval of all of the semifinalists' designs.

[52] On February 1, 2003, the LMDC selected two finalists, the THINK Team and Studio Daniel Libeskind, and planned on picking a single winner by the end of the month.

Earlier the same day, however, Roland Betts, a member of the LMDC, had called a meeting and the corporation had agreed to vote for the THINK design before hearing the final presentations.

[52] On February 27, 2003, Studio Daniel Libeskind officially won the competition to be the master planner for the World Trade Center redesign.

[57][58] Out of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, a design by Michael Arad and Peter Walker titled Reflecting Absence was selected in January 2004.

As a result, Silverstein’s lawyers at the New York firm of Wachtell Lipton embarked on the multi-year negotiation process to frame a master plan for the rebuilding.

[62] A key factor in enabling rebuilding to proceed was the effective formation of a public-private partnership between Silverstein and the Port Authority, which aligned incentives and allocated responsibility among the stakeholders.

Investor Larry Silverstein said the Port Authority's estimated completion date for the entire site was 2037, thirty-five years after work started.

[76] The new plans for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which involved doubling the number of support columns, pushed back the construction timeline.

[82] On March 13, 2006, workers arrived at the World Trade Center site to remove remaining debris and start surveying work.

[96] However, JPMorgan's March 2008 acquisition of Bear Stearns caused construction on 5 WTC to stagnate, as the company changed its plans and relocated its headquarters to 383 Madison Avenue.

[98] Work continued on One WTC, but digging the foundation and installing tower-foundation steel columns, concrete, and rebar for that tower took twice as long as it normally would due to the existence of the subway line under West Broadway nearby.

However, construction was halted in December 2011 to September 2012 due to cost disputes,[118][119] and further delays were caused when Hurricane Sandy significantly damaged the site in November 2012.

[139] The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church's ground blessing ceremony and symbolic laying of the cornerstone took place at Liberty Park in October 2014, with construction expected to be completed within two years.

[141] The World Trade Center Transportation Hub formally opened on March 3, 2016, several years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.

[153] The same month, the Port Authority installed the iconic sculpture The Sphere within the park, overlooking its original location in the old World Trade Center.

[6] 5 World Trade Center, which is to stand on the site of the Deutsche Bank Building, was originally designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

[167] The memorial, designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, consists of a field of trees interrupted by the footprints of the twin towers.

[59] On October 12, 2004, the LMDC announced that Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta, an architectural firm from Norway, would design the site's performing arts and museum complexes, respectively, in the same area as the memorial.

[109][110] The museum was initially scheduled to open on September 11, 2012,[176][177] but was delayed due to financial disputes[118][119] and again when Hurricane Sandy significantly damaged the site.

[144][145] On August 16, 2017, the Port Authority installed the iconic sculpture The Sphere within the park, overlooking its original location in the old World Trade Center.

[201] After a series of delays, a new building designed by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners[202] broke ground in December 2009[203] and was completed in 2012.

All the black bars, the empty spaces, and the "W" itself symbolizes something, giving the logo at least six meanings:[205] Landor Associates was awarded a $3.57 million contract in 2013 for redesigns, which comprised "the performance of professional services for the development and implementation of the World Trade Center (WTC) site-wide navigation, signage, and operational communications program" and included the development of the new logo.