Permanent memorial at World Trade Center honors colleagues while restoring a lasting tribute
NEW YORK (Sept. 1, 2026) — One week from today, HNTB will join the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the World Trade Center Memorial Fund in marking the completion of a new permanent memorial honoring Port Authority colleagues lost in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Created by the WTC Memorial Fund in collaboration with PANYNJ, the memorial reflects a shared commitment to honoring the colleagues and families affected by the attacks.
Located near St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and overlooking the World Trade Center memorial pools, the memorial creates a dedicated place for Port Authority employees, retirees, victims’ families, survivors and visitors to come together, remember those who were lost, and honor their service and legacy.
HNTB served as architect and engineer of record for the memorial. Several members of the HNTB team previously spent decades working for the Port Authority, giving the project a particularly personal connection to the agency and colleagues the memorial honors.
“HNTB is honored to help bring this meaningful memorial to life and create a permanent place where the Port Authority community can come together to remember colleagues whose service and lives remain an important part of its history,” said Michael Mangione, HNTB senior vice president and New York office leader. “The project carries particular significance for our team, including colleagues whose decades of service to the Port Authority gave them a deeply personal understanding of what this memorial represents.”
Created by the WTC Memorial Fund in collaboration with PANYNJ, the memorial reflects a shared commitment to honoring the colleagues and families affected by the attacks.
The approximately 13-foot-tall memorial transforms a symbol created by Port Authority employees following Sept. 11 into a three-dimensional sculpture. The image, which depicts the Twin Towers in perspective, became a familiar symbol of remembrance and recovery throughout the Port Authority community, appearing on hard hats, patches, flags and other materials.
Translating the two-dimensional image into a permanent sculptural form involved careful consideration of its proportions, angles and appearance from multiple viewpoints. The HNTB team developed multiple design iterations and scaled, 3D-printed models to determine how the familiar image could be experienced from the ground while preserving its meaning and visual identity.
The memorial incorporates the names of Port Authority employees who were lost.
“For 15 years, I worked on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site with this symbol on my hard hat every day,” said architect Thomas Grassi, FAIA, HNTB fellow and associate vice president. “To be asked years later to help give that same symbol a permanent physical form is deeply gratifying. Bringing back the memorial that was previously destroyed makes it especially meaningful. Seeing both pieces of Port Authority history brought together is something I will always be proud to have helped accomplish.”
Grassi was a Port Authority employee for 30 years and was working on the 82nd floor of One World Trade Center when the first plane struck on Sept. 11. Beginning the following day, he spent the next 15 years supporting reconstruction of the World Trade Center site before joining HNTB.
The HNTB project team also included Roger Prince, vice president, who provided project leadership and coordination. He previously spent more than three decades with the Port Authority and serves as a trustee on the World Trade Center Fund board. Other HNTB team members included Matthew Casamassina, who provided architectural support, and Jim Thomas, structural engineer and structural signatory. Grassi served as project lead and architectural signatory.
“Bringing this memorial to fruition has required care, technical expertise and a shared understanding of what it represents to the Port Authority community,” said Paul Iannacone, president of the World Trade Center Memorial Fund and retired assistant director of procurement for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “We are grateful to HNTB and all of the partners who helped turn a meaningful and familiar symbol into a permanent place of remembrance for the colleagues and families whose lives were forever changed by these attacks. Seeing this long-envisioned memorial move toward its unveiling is a meaningful milestone for the entire Port Authority community.”
The memorial is scheduled to be formally unveiled Sept. 8 during an invitation-only ceremony at the World Trade Center. The dedication will mark the completion of the World Trade Center Memorial Fund’s effort to establish a permanent employee memorial at the site.