Freedom Tower: Now Coveted By Real Estate Developers

1 WTC, from the 9/11 Memorial (Photograph: Jake Dobkin/Gothamist)

One World Trade Center, better known to most Americans and patriots as "Freedom Tower," the 1,776 foot (including 408-foot spire) tall building rising at Ground Zero, is now a hot property. According to the NY Times, the once "scorned" building "has turned into an object of desire. Four major real estate developers are vying to buy a minority stake in the $3.1 billion project and to take over the leasing and operating of the skyscraper." The Related Companies' CEO Stephen Ross said, "The building has real international significance, and it’s important for New York."

The minority stake would be $100 million, and the final bidders are the Durst Organization, Hines, Mort Zuckerman, chairman of Boston Properties and the Daily News, and the Related Companies. Currently, the tenants lined up for the 104-floor include federal and state agencies (who promise to take 40% of the building) and Chinese firm Vantone, who will take three floors. There has been some concern that the tenants in the building will be mostly government agencies but the Port Authority is confident private firms will be interested in the space. However, there will be competition from Larry Silverstein's Tower 4, which Silverstein Properties executives say will be more attractive to financial firms, because it sits at Liberty and Church—closer to the Financial District—than 1WTC, which is at Vesey and West.

Community Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin said, "I do think they need to attract private companies. Why should taxpayers have to pay so that various government agencies can have 60-story views at astronomical rents?" The NY Times has a panorama shot of the building; Gothamist was there last week, and it was was built to the 24th floor at the time.

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By Jen Chung in News on April 24, 2010 12:42 PM

Comments [rss]

Brad

To all the greedy real estate people:

Everyone says that building the tower shows that America will not give in to terror. To me the ground zero site should have been left alone and kept as a memorial to the people who lost their lives on that horrible day. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 they sunk many ships the most notable being the Battleship Arizona. The Arizona still lies where it sank and is now a memorial to the men who perished on board her. However, because the ground zero site is a "valuable real estate area" the people in charge (the ones with money and power) won out and are building the new tower. In my eyes this is a disgrace to the memories of the people who died. They deserve a memorial that is not in the form of a building. The day the towers fell that ground became sacred ground. You don't see the people in Poland tearing down Auschwitz to build a new factory. No, it is sacred ground to show the world how people suffered there and honored their memories. To put a building in that spot so as not to lose valuable real estate property is like spitting on the graves of the fallen. I may be the only one who believes this but America can do better to honor the people who died in the World Trade Center.

ed_Extinct

as were the original towers.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

what is the attraction? barely 200,000 sq feet out of 7 million sq ft has been leased to a tenant and Port authority basically bailout Silverstein. NO bank would finance him since he had no confirmed tenants for the new towers.

Kojak

You don't always need to have confirmed tenants before building. You try to gauge what the market is going to be when its completed, which is pretty difficult to do.

If you build it, they will come. Goldman already built their tower nearby the site and WTC7 is doing well. Give it time. It will become an attraction in itself and will eventually be successful.