That isn’t an elevated sidewalk, that is the finished/final height of the sidewalk/lobby on that side of the tower, it will eventually step down towards Vesey and Greenwich, similar to the corner at 2 Manhattan West. That being said, that topping slab of concrete will probably be removed to actually grade the sidewalk with a sublayer of concrete/waterproofing/substrate and then actual pavers but its not going to get lower.
I’ve seen earlier years as projections for tower 2 and those years went from future to past. But maybe we’re getting some news in the near future, in this timespan there must be some confirmation ready to go plublic right?
I’m kind of following everything from across the pond sinds 2001 and since 2004-2006 for construction. By now a whole generation has grown up. I myself was 14 years old in 2001 and at the time of the attacks I was stuck at a boat that had engine faillure at the middle of a canal, a typical “do you remember where you were at when … happened?”.
Considering 2027 is true, that’s the year I will turn 40. But if WTC 2 becomes a reality I will surely visit the city and WTC complex.
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Right, i remember seeing it’s U/C ground footprint in older images
But you get my point regardless… it’s not intended to serve as a sidewalk as it does now.
I mean at this point can’t they just build a damn retail stump temporarily like they did with 3 WTC? Or at least something a few stories high so this doesn’t continue to be such an odd eyesore of painted mechanical equipment on the otherwise mostly completed and beautiful new complex.
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It’ll require them to select a design first. I think the current design has no retail podium like the original Foster design, but maybe it’ll have some stores at the back of the lobby still (according to the previous renders, and the interioring given in the PAC ones, there is a 2-level lobby and above it sits a trading floor).
I think there were rumors of Westfield trying to move out of the WTC due to underperforming last year, so maybe it’s not the right time to spend resources just to build more stores.
Adding to that is the need to build the apparent mechanical floors to where the Oculus equipment will be moved.
But I do agree it’s been long overdue to utilize this site.
I think Westfield is just sucking in general right now
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A year ago: World Trade Center mall could be a hard sell for owner URW
I don’t know if these issues remain and could have been pandemic implications, but any retail space in 2WTC would probably be operated by Westfield as long as they are in the complex.
I hope the original diamond design is restored, but either way, I’d like 2WTC to be 1,362 feet tall like the original was (a mere 13 feet taller than the diamond design), but this time with Windows on the World at the top…
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Give us a 1300 foot outdoor observation deck and a windows on the world to make up for the awful spire and communication rings on tower 1.
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Office is dead right now. Better off that this turns into a 5 WTC 2.0 with twice the square footage: Keep the base with maybe 500K sf of offices and all resi/hotel above. Even with a large floorplate, NY-by-Gehry-style resi tower on top of the office it could reach 1500ft.
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Hudson Yards and Grand Central offices are doing fine but no one from Long Island wants to work downtown anymore until they get a direct train.
What would it take to get LIRR there? a whole new tunnel from Atlantic City, right?
That’s probably true for some. Attitudes toward long commutes have changed.
But it’s really not difficult to get from Penn and Grand Central to downtown. My partner commutes from Philadelphia to downtown NYC three days a week and doesn’t mind that part of the commute. The express trains from Penn (2/3) and Grand Central (4/5) get you downtown very, very quickly. The downtown stations even connect directly to many office buildings so you don’t even have to go outside. That’s the case for my partner’s building and most of the WTC complex.
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My specific hope for when they finally reveal this tower is that they actually show the whole site complete with all seven buildings. I always thought it was weird that they didn’t insert the angled 5 WTC design in with the late 2000’s renderings.
5 WTC out of frame, but I’ve always loved this perspective. I’m glad they still capture the site rising from here
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Probably because the Deutsche Bank Building was still mostly standing at the time the photo was taken and whoever made the rendering didn’t want to deal with the mess of removing it (the pregnant version of 5WTC was thinner than Deutsche Bank and not slanted on the N/S sides)
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I dont know if this has been posted on here but it is interesting
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I like the “Legal Disclaimer”, lol.
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Not aesthetically pleasing at all. It’s just hideous to my eyes! Foster is so hit or miss.
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I agree. Although it’s better than the BIG design, the scale of the components doesn’t match the rest of the complex. It looks like it comprises an assortment of squared tubes, a bit like the Sears Tower, whereas the other towers look like singular solid pieces rather than building blocks. The original Foster design (with diamonds) comprised four larger square tubes, but this one has over a dozen with gaps between them.
It looks like a LEGO tower in a family of Mega Bloks.
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