Would be nice if they could confirm it at 9/11, but maybe that’s too short term for what is going on behind the scenes?
Atleast the closest we’ve been in many many years, maybe even closer then 2015.
I was a teenager (now heading to 40) when I started seriously following progress at the WTC from across the pond, but as a child I was already fascinated by skyscrapers including the Twin Towers, sadly we don’t have many of them here yet.
When the complex is finished I will certainly come to NYC to see it for myself.
It had a nice enough silhouette, but there were some baffling facade choices that made the whole thing seem hastily thrown together, like the bare concrete zigzags at the mechanical levels and the mismatched window grids between the different sections. I like how the crown somewhat echoed 3WTC though, especially with the giant Deutsche Bank logo resembling diagonal structural bracing.
With a different mechanical vent design that didn’t clumsily interrupt the building’s verticality, and a slightly more refined crown, it could have been a really nice option.
but picking it (if anything of the sort gets discussed with Amex) is sadly just in bad taste compared to the 2006 design. This has internal glazed atriums at the stepbacks, and not terraces.
Might aswell modify the diamond crown’s interior and get a striking result with some dining, meeting (JPM’s 270 park ave meeting floor style) and amenity floors there, and not unreasonably bash it’s timeless design as “outdated”.
I wish that they’d release the official renders. We’ve seen enough leaks and photos of models. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to get this thing finally restarted
I find it so odd that News Corp pulled out of the deal as they were nearly finished cleaning up the site. At least with this redesign they can start right away, as they say. It’ll be weird seeing those painted metal panels coming off the ventilation structure, but simultaneously it will be exciting
Murdoch did Silverstein dirty every step of the way.
He realized the costs are too astronomical months after luring silverstein to persue an expensive redesign…
Make no mistake, Foster was swapped because the Murdochs affilinated him with the Hearst Corporation. He could’ve just modified the podium on himself, and Silverstein being stagnant on that impractical redesign could’ve contributed to the delays since thereafter.
Trying to persue media-tech companies turned into a mistake. The prime onlookers during the years were all financial firms (Citi, Amex, DB-twice, Jane Street, and JPM at one point).
It’s now stalled for 13 years, fingers crossed for Amex to revive the 2006 design - but the current model wouldn’t be so aggresively teased, if that was the direction.
Brookfield filled both Manhattan West towers on spec despite having no outdoor terraces or anything special on the design.
The 2020 iteration DB was very close to getting, has no terraces either. Redesign the interior at the crown floors to have attractive features and convert the top of the podium into a terrace, and you’ll be just set to go.
I would argue they’re not a major feature. Essentially you have 2 million rsf glass boxes.
At the end of the day, some of the newer towers have more or less terraces/amenities.
Some of them were still pre-covid thinking in their design.
I think the recent contemporary design trends are fading away and we don’t neccessarily need a terrace every 5 floors for this tower to succeed, and many anenities can be easily incorporated into 2006’s design, including a huge terrace (would overtake 3’s as the biggest office terrace in New York).
Silverstein recounted that during covid he wanted Foster to design a tower with as many outdoor spaces possible (theyve later reduced them), and it’s slated to be a fully electric building too.
These are all very impressive, but I just find the current result to be tacky.
It drove the costs up to 5 billions, made Larry apply for a federal loan last year, and it’s up to Amex now.
Larry was always going to apply for that loan. He never wanted to pay for the reconstruction of the WTC.
Also, that 2006 design is dead. Has been. You’re getting your hopes up about something that’s just not going to happen. Some iteration of that design may or (more than likely) may not be built here, but that design itself just isn’t going to be
