Posted Sep 10, 2026, 1:55 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 57,126
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https://nypost.com/2026/09/10/real-estat...-trade-centers-last-tower-finally-rises/
25 years after 9/11, the World Trade Center’s last tower finally rises
By Mary K. Jacob
Sep. 10, 2026
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…..”Every one of these other buildings kind of had to be built first,” Dara McQuillan, chief marketing and communications officer for Silverstein Properties, told The Post, explaining why 2WTC is only now going vertical.
Money was the first obstacle. Silverstein bought the lease on the Twin Towers for $3.2 billion in 2001, then spent five years fighting more than 20 insurance companies over payouts, a fight that only ended after then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer threatened to bar insurers from doing business in New York if they didn’t pay up.
That money, plus federal Liberty Bonds, went first into 7 World Trade Center, One World Trade Center and 3 and 4 World Trade Center — necessary steps to prove the site could attract tenants, before anyone would finance another speculative tower. Bureaucracy compounded the delay. The land belongs to the Port Authority, controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey, and, at one point, 19 government agencies had oversight over the project, McQuillan said.
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The turning point came only this year, when American Express agreed to serve as anchor tenant for the entire building, giving Silverstein the guarantee it needed to secure financing. The excavation and foundation work for 2WTC was actually finished back in 2013, tied to construction of the Oculus transit hub, so this summer’s groundbreaking involved no new digging.
American Express will not just anchor the new tower, it will own the whole thing outright — making it the only building at the World Trade Center Silverstein will not lease out. For AmEx, the move is a homecoming of sorts. The company has been headquartered across the street, at 200 Vesey, for nearly 40 years, and traces its Lower Manhattan roots back nearly two centuries.
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The tower will hold up to 10,000 employees across 55 office floors, more space than the company occupies today, though a spokesperson said the extra room reflects more space per employee rather than a hiring surge. Its signature feature is an acre-plus of outdoor terraces and gardens woven through the building.
Interior plans, including restaurants, are still being worked out. The next milestone is topping out, expected around 2029.
Each tower was shaped by the same instruction, drawn up in architect Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for the eight acres of memorial site and eight acres of office towers.
“Every building faces the 9-11 Memorial,” McQuillan said. “That’s where the office lobbies are.”
The louder, more commercial parts of each building — retail, restaurants, signage — are pushed to the side streets.
The broader campus is now 97% leased, McQuillan said, with just a handful of floors left. Most are stacked at the top of 3 World Trade Center, where a temporary exhibit tells the rebuilding story through photographs, models and news clippings, including decades of coverage from The Post.
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NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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While much has changed in the world since, I'm glad to finally see progress on 2WTC after over a decade of any progress! I only hope by the 30th anniversary that (outside of 5WTC) the main area can finally feel somewhat "complete" given it's only now that construction has finally resumed 
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