Flight 93 Memorial News

Owner Agrees to Sell Land for Flight 93 Memorial Saturday
January 17, 2009
By the Associated Press 

PHILADELPHIA  The owner of the land in western Pennsylvania where 
Flight 93 crashed in the 9/11terrorist attacks reached an agreement 
Friday to sell the parcel, clearing the way for the development of a 
memorial.

The National Park Service, Families of Flight 93 and land owner 
Svonavec, Inc. announced the deal for the 274 acres in 
Shanksville, Pa., in a joint statement.

The agreement gives the National Park Service access to the land, 
including the site where the plan crashed, and allows for the planning 
and  construction of the memorial.


The three also agreed to let a court determine the value of the land.

Families of Flight 93 last month asked the Bush Administration to seize 
the land after negotiations with Svonavec to buy the parcel stalled.

"I am proud and pleased that we now have an agreement that delivers 
the property to the National Park Service so they can complete the  
project in a timely manner," said Michael Svonavec, president and  
treasurer of Svonavec, Inc. "The agreement allows the parties to  
cooperatively move forward on a methodology by which the evaluation 
will be determined."

The planned memorial is to cover more than 2,200 acres,and the 
families  had said ground had to be broken early this year in order for a 
memorial to be build for the 10th anniversary of the crash in 2011.

Flight 93 was en route from Newark,  N.J., to San Francisco on 
Sept. 11, 2001, when it was diverted by  hijackers. The official 9/11 
Commission report said the hijackers crashed the  plane as passengers 
tried to wrest control of the cockpit.