Archinect - News

WeWork may become NYC's largest office space renter with 1 World Trade Center deal

2018-09-04T13:05:00-04:00

The company is negotiating a lease in 1 World Trade Center to take over about 200,000 square feet in the building, a source close to the deal told CNNMoney. WeWork recently became the second-largest renter of office space in the borough, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report earlier this month. WeWork trails just about 74,000 square feet behind JPMorgan's New York tenancy. If the deal goes through, WeWork would surpass the bank.

According to Crain's New York Business, WeWork is close to finalizing the lease with 1 World Trade Center. The co-working space company has grown tremendously in the past 8 years it has been operating with offices now in over 20 countries around the world.

For more backstory on WeWork's success, check out our conversation with co-founder Miguel McKelvey, recorded live from New York, during this year's AIA National Convention.

Yamasaki's posthumous critique of the new World Trade Center

2015-06-25T14:07:00-04:00

I must ask myself if we want to design buildings for people to fit some preconceived idea of a glass world. Is this really the future of cities?" – Minoru Yamasaki

While the critical response to the new 1WTC has been, at best, one of resigned acceptance, the original Twin Towers didn't receive much fanfare either when they first opened in 1973. Ada Louise Huxtable, then architecture critic for The New York Times, wasn't much of a fan of Minoru Yamasaki's design: "I, for one, am not in thrall to size; build very big and you can build very bad—and the very bad will be inescapable."

Yamasaki responded, defending his monoliths of slitted windows with an attack on the very concept that characterizes the new 1WTC and Manhattan's skyline today – glass: "As for mirror glass, I detest it, because buildings with it look to me as if they have cataracts, showing no live within. On the interior, it produces strange reflections of lights, objects and people which gives me a feeling I can only describe as eerie."

Yamaski's complete letter was published in CLOG's 2014 "World Trade Center" issue. For more news on the World Trade Center:

Foster's Out, Ingels' In: ...

11 years of One World Trade Center construction in one short time-lapse video

2015-06-05T18:33:00-04:00

Say what you want about One World Trade Center (and much has already been said here on Archinect), but it sure is a heck of a construction project.

From the laying of the symbolic cornerstone on July 4, 2004 to the recent opening of One World Observatory on May 29, 2015, it took the tower eleven years to fully push its 104 floors into the world.

A fascinating new EarthCam time-lapse video now presents the lengthy building process in a handy less-than-two-minute montage.

Scroll on for some screen shots and the video below.

Foster's Out, Ingels' In: BIG-Designed Two World Trade Center to House News Corp. and 21st Century Fox

2015-06-03T13:52:00-04:00

“This isn’t your grandfather’s Wall Street.”

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the design of Two World Trade Center, which was formerly the province of Foster + Partners, is now being handled by Bjarke Ingels' firm BIG and will likely house employees of both 21st Century Fox and News Corp. The media organizations inked a non-binding agreement with developer Larry Silverstein that places them in the tower, which as of now is slated to be the second-tallest tower in the four-tower World Trade Center complex. The proposed move is significant not only because many of the towers still boast significant amounts of unleased space (the two companies would occupy 1.3 million square feet of the tower's 2.8 million total available), but because both 21st Century Fox and News Corp. represent a new type of tenant for the traditionally financially dominated area. According to Bloomberg, Christopher Jones, vice president of research at New York's Regional Plan Association said, “People were expecting financial companies to be a sub...

The view from One World Trade Center

2015-06-01T12:49:00-04:00

Legends, a company that manages skyboxes and stadiums and now runs the World Trade Center observation deck, has turned the view into a high-tech spectacular. Before you get a glimpse of an actual place, you follow a winding path through cheesy synthetic bedrock; ride an elevator where 500 years of an ever-changing New York unfold as if seen from a rising balloon [...] A view gives the illusion of omniscience.

The observatory, located on floors 100, 101 and 102, opened to the public on May 29th.

Nordstrom Tower aiming to snatch 'tallest building' title from One World Trade Center

2015-05-11T13:52:00-04:00

The current race to the top of the skyline is the most impressive in New York City’s history, with ever-taller skyscrapers sprouting from the Financial District all the way to 57th Street. And YIMBY has now learned that 217 West 57th Street, aka the Nordstrom Tower, received a height boost between April and June of last year, pushing the tower’s pinnacle to 1,795 feet. That will make it the tallest building in New York City, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere.

Previously

New York's getting a better view: One World Observatory to open May 29

2015-04-07T14:25:00-04:00

One World Observatory today announced that its official public opening date will be Friday, May 29, 2015. [...] Positioned on top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere – on levels 100, 101, and 102 of the One World Trade Center building – One World Observatory will provide guests with unique, panoramic views of New York City, its most iconic sites, and surrounding waters from above 1,250 feet.

Visitors will board one of five dedicated elevators, termed Sky Pods, to ascend to the 102nd floor in under 60 seconds. Immersive, floor-to-ceiling LED technology in each cab invites guests to experience a virtual time-lapse that recreates the development of New York City’s skyline from the 1600s to present day.

Click on the panorama image above for the larger version. (Copyright: Evan Joseph Images)

Port Authority reveals plan to sell World Trade Center site

2014-12-29T12:50:00-05:00

Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie have turned to a familiar idea in their pledge to reform the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: selling its real estate. A report released over the weekend highlights a plan to sell off many of the agency’s sprawling property holdings, by far the most notable of which is the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. That concept has long been pushed within the agency, and it has been implemented gradually over the past decade and a half.

1 WTC tops the list of most expensive skyscrapers

2014-12-03T11:05:00-05:00

One World Trade Center is by far the world's most expensive building, coming in at $3.9B, nearly double the second-most expensive buildings, Vegas' Palazzo casino and London's The Shard, which both cost $1.9B to build. Perhaps even more surprising, Dubai's dizzying Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building, comes in at number five

Michael Kimmelman Reviews 1 World Trade Center

2014-11-30T13:14:00-05:00

“It’s not so bad,” offered an architect who has a window facing the building. Alas, it is. Like the corporate campus and plaza it shares, 1 World Trade speaks volumes about political opportunism, outmoded thinking and upside-down urban priorities. It’s what happens when a commercial developer is pretty much handed the keys to the castle.

Two window washers trapped on scaffolding at 1 WTC

2014-11-12T14:06:00-05:00

Two window washers' lives are literally hanging in the balance - they're stuck on scaffolding at 1 World Trade Center, officials said Wednesday afternoon. The shaky scaffolding, which is suspended around the 69th floor, was seen dangling at an unstable angle, according to images that surfaced of the scene. The workers are dangling at a 65-degree angle, according to NYPD counterterrorism czar John Miller.

One World Trade Center opens its doors; Condé Nast the first to move in

2014-11-03T13:28:00-05:00

“Condé Nast’s arrival puts a stiletto in the heart of the outdated notion that Lower Manhattan is stuffy and gray,” said Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance, a local business organization. “They will accelerate the transformation that’s well underway and create additional demand-side pressure for more cool restaurants, art galleries and bars.”

Thirteen years after the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, and a fair share of construction delays, 1 World Trade Center is open for business. While the tower's 102 floors are currently only 58% occupied, mostly by media giant Condé Nast (of Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker, and Bon Appétit, to name a few), so much has changed in Lower Manhattan since construction on the tower began that attracting new tenants doesn't seem like it'll be much of a problem. The New York Times points out that the neighborhood's population has exploded to 61,000, as investment banks left, and luxury retailers, media companies and tech firms moved in.

Fifteen years ago, when Condé Nast first moved to their former space in Times Square, the area's tone shifted: "Condé Nast's move from Madison Avenue in 1999 served as an imprimatur that Times Square was finally safe for white-collar workers. Soon came the lawyers, accountants, bankers and others who had avoided the seedy environ." Developer...

One World Trade Center: how New York tried to rebuild its soul

2014-09-08T13:20:00-04:00

When Ground Zero was finally cleared after the fall of the twin towers, New Yorkers trusted that thoughtful, ambitious urban design could make the city whole again. Why have they been so badly let down?

Office Rents Cut at One World Trade Due to Tenant Shortage

2014-05-28T13:39:00-04:00

The owners of the tallest tower at the World Trade Center are cutting office rents just months before it opens because of slow leasing activity. Only one private tenant has signed a lease at One World Trade Center in nearly three years: a one-floor deal with advertising firm Kids Creative that was signed last week. The 3.1-million-square-foot skyscraper, formerly named the Freedom Tower, is 55% leased.

Daniel Libeskind's World Trade Center Change of Heart

2013-08-29T17:36:00-04:00

1 World Trade Center, the iconic Ground Zero skyscraper formerly known as the Freedom Tower, this summer became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere by some measures. It’s not, however, the building that Daniel Libeskind, the site’s master planner, conceived of over a decade ago. [...] But as the opening of 1 World Trade Center approaches, a curious thing has happened. Libeskind has quietly transformed into one of the site’s most ardent boosters.

Previously: 1 World Trade Center Will Not Be 1,776 Feet After All

Security trumps urban planning at WTC site

2013-05-17T13:56:00-04:00

With the blank slate offered by a catastrophic attack, planners, soon joined by the mayor himself, saw a chance to re-establish a great crossroads: Fulton and Greenwich Streets, tying the second World Trade Center into New York — north, south, east and west. Now, however, they see that vision slipping away, as security concerns trump urban planning.

Beautiful photo of sky cranes at WTC site, by BLDGBLOG's Geoff Manaugh

2013-05-08T12:34:00-04:00

When I walked out to get breakfast this morning, clouds had obscured all but the topmost workings of the 1 World Trade Center site, visible through our living room window—a strange vision of machines, pulleys, cranes, and gears sort of hovering in the sky, like something out of Archigram by way of Hayao Miyazaki.

Will One World Trade Center really be the tallest building in the west?

2013-05-02T18:56:00-04:00

Debate rages over whether the 125m spire counts as part of the building. Do you know your antenna from your radome?

"This definitely raises questions," said Kevin Brass, the public affairs manager for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the body that passes official judgment on such things as whether your erection is tall, supertall or megatall. "Our criteria are very specific. We include spires and not antennas. If this is an antenna, it won't be part of the height measurement. The cladding was an integral part of the design and made the extension part of the permanent look and feel of the building."

Watch The Spire Travel to the Top of One World Trade Center

2013-05-02T17:20:00-04:00

After traveling from Newark to New York City via barge in December and waiting a while for clear weather, the spire finally made its way to the top of One World Trade Center this morning. The project isn't quite finished—sections 17 and 18 of the spire were raised to a temporary work platform and will be installed by ironworkers later—but Curbed video editor David Sherwin headed downtown this morning to watch the spire's hoisting. Take a look.

Spire hoisted to top of One World Trade Center

2013-05-02T14:27:00-04:00

Construction crews at the World Trade Center hoisted a flag-bedecked spire to the top of the site's signature One World Trade Center building Thursday. Workers raised the spire to a temporary work platform atop the structure's roof, where ironworkers can later permanently attach it. When fully installed, One World Trade Center will stand a symbolic 1,776 feet high, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The 408-foot spire will serve as a broadcast antenna.

One World Trade Center Spire: Workers Begin To Hoist Spire Atop City's Tallest Building

2012-12-12T13:07:00-05:00

Workers lifted the first section of the 408-foot spire to the top of One World Trade Center Wednesday morning. When completed, the spire will bring One WTC to a staggering 1,776 feet tall, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. (Though some skyscraper purists disagree.)

New Renderings for 1 World Trade Center—But Where's the Spire?

2012-08-08T11:05:00-04:00

After all the wrangling over the updated designs for the Durst Organization-overseen 1 World Trade Center (we’ve heard there was a list of 20 changes the developer wanted from the Port, all eventually granted), new renderings have been released for the project. They show a building that looks a little sharper, perhaps a little less striking, but something still bound to dominate the skyline, as if that were not already abundantly clear from the just-about-topped-out tower.

One World Trade Center to become NYC's tallest building...today!

2012-04-30T13:28:00-04:00

More than a decade after a terrorist attack brought down New York's twin towers, their under-construction replacement will become the city's tallest building on Monday. The placement of a column of the 100th floor will bring the colossal new steel structure of One World Trade Center tower to a height of 1,271 feet – surpassing the frame of the Empire State Building, which is currently New York's tallest skyscraper, by 21 feet.

Happy Holidays from the World Trade Center

2011-12-15T11:57:06-05:00

Just as last December, the fine folks at Five Star Electric, 1 World Trade Center’s electrical contractor, volunteered their time to affix different colored sconces to the work lights in the tower, creating the seasonal effect.

Maybe the biggest Christmas tree in the world?

The New World Trade Center

2011-09-20T14:45:00-04:00

Piranha was commissioned by Silverstein Properties to create a short film depicting the completion of The New World Trade Center site. Piranha wrote, produced, art directed, filmed, and finished all vfx for this inspiring piece marking the 10th year anniversary of 9/11.

Piranha has shared with us a short film that they delivered on September 6th to Silverstein Properties that depicts the renaissance of downtown New York. It was presented at Tower 7 at a press event, in presence of Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Produced by Piranha NYC
Directed by Gaspard Giroud

1 World Trade Center Will Not Be 1,776 Feet After All

2011-09-09T12:50:00-04:00

It turns out the tower will be even taller, and we have Mother Nature to thank for that.

Thanks to some lightning rods, 1 World Trade Center will be free from some of the silly symbolic weight given to it by Danny Libeskind. Though it could well wind up at 1,787 feet, an even better year. (Can you history buffs remember why?)

The Tower That Could Have Been: Daniel Libeskind’s Award Winning WTC Design

2011-09-07T12:36:00-04:00

In February 2003, Daniel Libeskind was named the winning designer of the international contest to rebuild the World Trade Center. After eight years of collaboration, controversy, and the typical cast of characters in any real estate nightmare, the final product that will tower over Lower Manhattan is not, in fact, the design that won the hearts of New Yorkers.

Following years of delays, construction finally moving ahead at World Trade Center

2011-08-15T14:47:00-04:00

After years of controversy and delays, the 16-acre World Trade Center site is finally taking shape. Construction cranes and exposed steel frames dominate the site, towering over the National September 11 Memorial. Here is an update on the major projects