Westfield World Trade Center Mall Opens For Business

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Nearly 15 years after 9/11, there is another sign of renewal at the World Trade Center site.

The new $1.4 billion Westfield World Trade Center mall opened for business Tuesday at the Oculus, the new lower Manhattan transportation hub.

With sunlight streaming through the skylights at the top of the hub, this is a far cry from the old mall, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.

Ron Luzbater remembers it well.

"Definitely much more upscale, a lot more diversity of retail shops and the openness," he said. "The design is incredible."

"It looks like a spaceship from 'Star Wars,'" one shopper said. 

More than 100 stores will eventually occupy 365,000 square feet of retail space.

The selection is eclectic. Shops ranged from Apple, to Eataly, to Under Armour, to Kate Spade, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported.

"[It's] the equivalent of 10 New York City blocks down here so we wanted to make sure we had something for everyone," Westfield SVP general manager Steve Roche said.

Project Manager Larisa Spahic excepts plenty of traffic.

"We can see already that it's quite busy in the mornings, a lot of commuters coming through the station, a lot of tourists," she said.

Tuesday's opening will feature a family day celebration with performances from Grammy and Tony award winning artists.

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• Peter Haskell
• World Trade Center