NEW YORK – Three months ago, New York Gov. George Pataki stood before a luncheon of business leaders at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in lower Manhattan and set an aggressive timetable for rebuilding Ground Zero.

He wanted architects to begin designing the signature 1,776-foot spire – envisioned by planner Daniel Libeskind – by this month. The steel for the tower would be in place by Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Pataki acknowledged the goals would be tough to meet. “It leaves no room for error or delay,” he said.

Here’s a rundown of where things stand and what major decisions lie ahead:

Libeskind won an international design competition in February. The tower and the other angular glass buildings in Libeskind’s vision were intended to be illustrative – a point officials stressed leading to the selection of his plan in February.

The goal of the design competition was to set aside specific land in the 16-acre disaster site for a memorial, a transportation hub, office buildings and the street grid.

Then Pataki embraced Libeskind’s signature skyscraper – implying that the architect would have an ongoing role in its construction.

The problem: Pataki also needed to find someone to pay for the tower, and when asked after his optimistic April speech who would foot the bill, he replied: “Where’s Larry?”

No last name was necessary.

Developer Larry Silverstein had signed a 99-year lease for the twin towers weeks before the hijacked jets exploded into the World Trade Center.

Although Silverstein is mired in a legal battle with about 20 insurers, he stands to receive as much as $6.7 billion.

So unlike the cash-strapped state and city, Silverstein expects he will have money to rebuild. He also has strong opinions and, like most developers on such projects, hired his own architect – David Childs – to flesh out Libeskind’s vision.

Last week, Childs was given the lead role in designing the Freedom Tower after weeks of rancor over which architect would be in charge. Libeskind was given a secondary role.

But while Libeskind had hoped for even more sway over the project, he walked away with a bigger role than he’d had before the issue was resolved.

Childs’ style is very different from Libeskind’s more sculptural approach.

Childs is known for designing office towers, including the AOL Time Warner headquarters at Columbus Circle.

Libeskind has spent most of his career as theorist and has gained fame for his cultural buildings, including the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

Libeskind – who has never designed an office tower – drew the Freedom Tower so it scrapes the sky at 1,776 feet, a nod to the year of the nation’s independence. In his design, the spire sits atop a building attached to a smaller office tower.

Silverstein and Childs have taken a more pragmatic approach. Childs has drawn sketches that change Libeskind’s design of the spire. In Childs’ version, the spire sits on top of a 70-story office building – not next to one.

Silverstein also prefers a revised plan that would shift the tower closer to the new transit hub – making it more commercially marketable.

But Pataki is the definitive leader of the rebuilding process.

He holds the most sway over the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which oversees rebuilding, and the Port Authority, which owns Ground Zero.

LMDC President Kevin Rampe and Chief Operating Officer Matt Higgins – both loyal to Pataki – summoned Childs and Libeskind to a private meeting Tuesday.

The two were placed in a conference room overlooking The Pit and told to figure out a way to get along. Rampe said he told them that the project was “larger than either of them and needed both of their skills to be accomplished.”

Five hours later, they came to a handshake deal. “Certainly it’s been contentious, but productive,” Rampe said. “It’s going to be contentious because the stakes are so high and the project is so important.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been able to shape some redevelopment decisions through Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff. But one way of getting the city more control – a land swap exchanging Kennedy and LaGuardia airports for Ground Zero – is dead.

Pataki hopes to lay the cornerstone of the building no later than August 2004. That month, his fellow Republicans, led by President Bush, will come to the city for the GOP national convention.

Silverstein has insisted that all 10 million square feet of office space destroyed at the World Trade Center be replaced.

Silverstein’s aides criticized Libeskind’s plan, which envisions three office buildings and the Freedom Tower, as “not compatible with tenant needs.” Silverstein has asked officials to squeeze another office building onto the site and diminish the girth of Libeskind’s towers.

But many rebuilding officials want to reduce the amount of office space on the 16 acres. The PA is considering buying land adjacent to the site so some of the 10 million square feet of commercial space can be moved off Ground Zero. But City Hall will protest such a move unless it can collect full taxes on the land – something it doesn’t on other PA-owned properties.

Libeskind’s vision sets aside 4.7 acres for a memorial. The area leaves portions of the site’s scarred slurry wall exposed.

A jury will choose a design this fall from among more than 5,000 ideas submitted.

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(c) 2003, New York Daily News.

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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Libeskind

AP-NY-07-21-03 0615EDT