One World Trade Center, soaring to 1,776 feet and set to open by year's end, is having difficulty attracting tenants, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Developer The Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have reduced asking rents for larger tenants to $69/sf, down from $75.
The 3.1 million-sf project—originally known as Freedom Tower—is reportedly the most expensive office tower ever built, at a construction cost of $3.9 billion. It is currently about 55% leased, according to the Wall Street Journal. Current large deals in downtown New York City have been made in the $50 to $60/sf range, making One World Trade unusually expensive for the market. The building is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and was designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill after an initial concept was developed in Daniel Lieskind's master plan for the site.
Meanwhile, developer Larry Silverstein is still contemplating building an office tower named 3 World Trade on the site, after completing the 2.3 million-sf 4 World Trade (opened last fall and now 51% leased). Insiders now doubt that the Port Authority will approve Silverstein's proposed deal in light of questions about the match between available space and potential demand.
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2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: 220 Water Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.
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2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: Residences at the John Marshall, Richmond, Va.
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2012 Reconstruction Awards Silver Winner: Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland, Ohio
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2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.
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2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Rice Fergus Miller Office & Studio, Bremerton, Wash.
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2012 Reconstruction Award Platinum Winner: Building 1500, Naval Air Station Pensacola Pensacola, Fla.
The Building Team, led by local firms Caldwell Associates Architects and Greenhut Construction, had to tackle several difficult problems to make the historic building meet current Defense Department standards having to do with anti-terrorism, force protection, blast-proofing, and progressive collapse.
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2012 Reconstruction Awards Platinum Winner: City Hall, New York, N.Y.
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BD+C's 29th Annual Reconstruction Awards
Presenting 11 projects that represent the best efforts of distinguished Building Teams in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovation and addition projects.
