A new Sept. 11 visitor education center near the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial is expected to move closer to construction this summer, with groundbreaking planned after organizers said they expect a major step forward later this year. Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, said the visitor center is intended to provide permanent exhibit space focused on the Sept. 11 attacks and the people involved, including first responders who converged on the Pentagon after hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into it.
Kornhoff also framed the timing around the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, which he said killed 184 people in the Pentagon and on a hijacked American Airlines jet. He said the planned groundbreaking would occur one day before that anniversary.
The center would be located about 200 yards southwest and across Washington Boulevard from the Pentagon memorial. The memorial opened in 2008 and draws more than a million visitors each year, according to Kornhoff, and the space for the new facility became available after a reconfiguration of land and roadways tied to an Arlington National Cemetery expansion project.
Organizers say the education center would include dedicated exhibit space designed to tell the story of Sept. 11 and those involved. Kornhoff said the team has been planning programming and “a dozen exhibit areas,” and that the plans incorporate input from victims, families, survivors and people from the first responders community.
Kornhoff described the planned experience as “informative” and “impactful,” and he said the center’s exhibit development work included consulting to ensure it offers what visitors “want to see.” He added that plans to start construction have been delayed several times, and he said the current timetable calls for a completion date in mid-2029, though he acknowledged it “depends on a lot of things.”
The project has received approvals from the National Capital Planning Commission, the Department of Defense and Arlington National Cemetery, Kornhoff said. As designed, it would include dedicated parking and drop-off areas, pedestrian improvements connecting the education center to the memorial, a staging area to learn more about the memorial, and a break room for docents.
Kornhoff said the center would also include an event space intended to help cover operating expenses and keep the center free of charge. He said the Arlington County Board supports the project and that a $12 million appropriation request is moving through Congress, alongside anticipated funding from the state government.
Kornhoff said Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Rep. Don Beyer have backed the project, and he cited additional advocacy by Del. Patrick Hope, Sen. Barbara Favola, Del. Rip Sullivan and County Board member Matt de Ferranti. In the private sector, he said the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation has provided $5 million in support and that the project has also received contributions from Amazon, Accenture and Transurban.
By the time the center is expected to open in 2029, Kornhoff said more than a quarter of the U.S. population will have been born after the attacks. He said the center aims to bring the story to people who were alive during Sept. 11 and to those born later as well.