Love how the office lighting looks at the bottom of 3 here. Imagine when this entire building is filled up.
Edit: just noticed 4 WTC taking on some cross bracing from 3 in its facade reflection. 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsrXKC4n0s-/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1dnuuw4p6u8a5
Beautiful!
The base looks really good. I think the architects for 3 and 4 have done a good job with its street presence.
I really hope that 2 WTC gets a tenant this year.
Some cool pictures of GroupMās offices:
Nice!
Great to see a company really āsettlingā into the space by investing heavily in the build out of their floors.
Manā¦Larry is on a role at Tower 3! Landing another new tenant. 2 WTCā¦where are you?!
At this point how can Larry not build 2 WTC on spec? 3 WTC is more than halfway full only 9 months after openingā¦looking like it can be completely leased within the next year. 4 WTC is fully leased as is 7 WTC with the exception of a floor or two I believe. Building Tower 2 ASAP is the only logical next step.
Because on spec would require at LEAST 4 billion in cash or collateral and very few developers in the entire country have that kind of liquidity
At this point he needs to figure it out. The tower should have risen years ago and its absurd to have 2 WTC still at ground level after being destroyed almost 18 years ago. All the excuses are moot at this point.
The valid excuse is that Hudson Yards came along: Without HY, WTC would have been built out and full already. Instead HY ended up being the release valve for midtown and creating its own demand.
Peripheral HY properties like 441 9th ave are also filling up fast. The sad truth is that given the choice companies mostly pick HY over downtown meaning 3 Hudson Boulevard will likely rise before 2 WTC.
There is surprisingly strong demand for new space. A Hedge Fund like Citadel would be big enough to anchor any new tower they chose. The old east side towers losing big tenants will end up gobbled up by chase or wework spaces. I had thought oversupply would depress prices even if most vacant space was older.
Many people on these forums share that opinion, but with all due respect Iād argue that itās somewhat unrealistic and unsympathetic to the nature of real estate development.
This World Trade Center, unlike the last one, was not fully developed by the government. Instead, they left it to Larry to figure it out, with a plentiful but not nearly sufficient amount of emergency funding and port authority bonds. He had to turn over one of the buildings to Durst to even get the project on the road. In addition, the insurance companies robbed him of billions of dollars which could have funded most of 2WTC. Silverstein is a growing, but still intermediate sized developer who is running a private family company that cannot compete with massive corporations like Related at HY.
Silverstein is not gaining anything by waitingā¦ there is no real motive and itās his lifeās goal to build tower 2. Heās doing the best he can and many excuses are valid, imho.
Itās not really his responsibility to rebuild, either: heās already done a lot more than most developers would have in his place. He could have cut his losses and left after 9/11
Its absolutely his responsibility to rebuild. He took over the lease of all buildings but 3 and 6 WTC prior to 9/11. He relinquished the rights to 1 and 5 WTC only when it was determined he couldnāt get all the buildings back up on his own. I understand there is a lot at stake, but its just absurd at this point. These buildings should have and could have all been done way before Hudson Yards or any of these new developments came along. The master plan was finalized in 2005. Maybe its my personal and emotional ties to the site but I just have no sympathy for any of the developers or the P.A. It should have been a top priority to get the Trade Center back up in full right away no matter what.
It is his top priority.
The buildings he bought were outdated, class B+ office space which was stale and in need of revitalization. It was cheap.
The new World Trade Center is a luxuriously decadent campus, despite all the value engineering. Each building costs more than the entire old center put together. Just because he committed to the old center does not mean he has the kind of money for the new center, and the government didnāt do enough to help him. I feel like youāre not appreciating how much the finances matter when you put up buildings. Thereās a difference between what someone should do and what someone can afford to do.
If they had aimed for cheaper quality, it could have been done in a few years, but then youād be complaining about how cheap he is.
The fact heās gotten three of those massive towers up already is a small miracle. Heās been using funds from his other properties to prop up the center as it continues to struggle to prominence, and his investments are finally starting to pay off. Give him more time and he will pull through.
I appreciate how much finances matter. I work in the financial world. They ALL were too ambitious and gluttonous with the new master plan. Nobody asked for 5 glass skyscrapers that cost billions of dollars each. Most of us wanted a modern version of the old Trade Center back. Obviously we did not get that but the fact remains that this could have been done in a much more feasible way that wouldnāt leave this STILL not built after being originally designed 14 years ago. Yes the new complex is quite gorgeous. I know exactly what he has and has not done with the complex which is why I blame everyone involved, not just Silverstein. The most incompetent group out of all of this is the P.A.
I blame the government for pushing the master plan. Larry really didnāt have a choice in the matter and it was clear from the start nobody had any clue where the cash would come from
Honestly yeah I agree with that. The government, especially Pataki who pushed and pressed for the BS Freedom Tower plan and used his power and influence to get it through. Itās all been a sh*t show from the start. It would be nice to have a completed new Trade Center in my life time though. Weāve waited long enough.
