Former 3 World Trade Center - Marriott World Trade Center

USA / New Jersey / Hoboken /
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World Trade Center 3 was originally built in 1981 as the Vista International Hotel New York. Vista was the name under which Hilton International operated hotels in the US during the decades they were a separate company from Hilton. The hotel was sold to Host Marriott in 1995 and converted to to the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel.

Half of the hotel was destroyed when World Trade Centre 2 collapsed. It was completely levelled a few minutes later when World Trade Centre 1 collapsed.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriott_World_Trade_Center
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Coordinates:   40°42'40"N   74°0'49"W

Comments

  • On September 11, 2001, the hotel was at full capacity, and had over 1000 registered guests. In addition, the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) was holding its yearly conference at the hotel. When the first plane crashed into the North Tower (1 WTC), the landing gear fell into the roof of the Marriott hotel. There were many eyewitness accounts from firefighters who went up the stairs in the Marriott Hotel to the second floor. Firefighters used the lobby as the staging area, and were also in the hotel to evacuate guests that may have still been in the hotel. Firefighters also reported bodies on the roof from the people that had jumped or fallen from the burning towers. The South Tower's collapse split the hotel in half (such damage can briefly be seen in the film documentary 9/11). As a result of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the hotel was destroyed. Two hotel employees were killed and about two dozen hotel guests were unaccounted for. Many firefighters who used the hotel as a staging ground and evacuated hotel guests also died in the hotel. This hotel is not to be confused with another Marriott hotel, located one block south on West Street. The New York Marriott Financial Center Hotel was only slightly damaged on September 11, 2001, and it remains open for business today. In addition, this hotel is not to be confused with the Millennium Hilton Hotel which is across from the World Trade Center, on the east side. The Millennium Hilton was also damaged, but is still open for business today.
  • This hotel was the first hotel to be built in Lower Manhattan since 1836.The construction started sometime in the mid 70's and was finished in 1981. The hotel opened as the Vista Hotel up until 1995 was it was sold to Marriott. On September 11 The South tower split the hotel in half and the North Tower destroyed the remainders. In the documentary Hotel Ground Zero it was said that the little piece that survived the collapse of both towers was reinforced after the 1993 bombing and on Sept.11 about 15 hotel guests survived because of the piece not collpsing.
  • My now estranged wife was scheduled to attend a conference at the Marriot that morning, but missed it because she had to attend a friend's funeral. She saw the whole spectacle beginning with the first plane hit from the cementary where they were holding the service in the Bronx. My friend Eric, a volunteer fireman and paramedic from the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department was going to work at the Port Authothority in the tower with the Antenna. He was a few blocks away on the bus when the first plane hit. He used his credentials to get past the police checkpoints that had already been established and made his way through the sublevel looking for anyone who might need help. He made his way out through to the Marriot where he ran into a man and a seriously burned woman whe were sitting there apparently waiting to be assisted. He kind of figured no assistance would be coming so he told them it was time to go. They picked up the woman and walked her to an ambulance across the street and went their separate ways. Moments later the tower collapesed destroying the area where the man and woman had been waiting. He was never able to find out who she was or whether she survived her initial injuries. My former supervisor was killed in one of the towers. But that's another story...
  • I saw a documentary las night about a burned lady in the Marriott Lobby with a guest helping her, then they evacuated. The name of the guest was published. According to the documentary, the lady that was burned died some time after the event but fought for life for an extended period. Also go to the Marriott 9/11 site and there may be some connections there. Many blessings and you probably knew this after al this time but I still wanted to post it.
This article was last modified 14 years ago