Five World Trade Center’s 900-Foot-Tall Redesign by Kohn Pedersen Fox Revealed, in Manhattan’s Financial District

Five World Trade Center. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Credit: DBOX for KPF

In an exciting reveal for the ongoing redevelopment and rebuilding of the World Trade Center, Kohn Pedersen Fox has unveiled the first set of renderings for its proposed 900-foot-tall design for Five World Trade Center, aka 130 Liberty Street. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey selected the winning bid at a board meeting on Thursday afternoon to allow Silverstein Properties, Brookfield Properties, Omni New York LLC, and Dabar Development Partners to lease the 1.56-million-square-foot mixed-use building under a 99-year ground lease.

The building will yield 190,000 square feet of office space, a 12,000-square-foot community facility space, 55,000 square feet of public amenity space, 7,000 square feet of retail space, and 1.2 million square feet of residential space divided into 1,325 apartments. Of these, 330, or 25 percent of the total inventory, will be devoted to affordable housing. Five World Trade Center will be built on the former home of the 39-story Deustsche Bank Building, which was heavily damaged on 9/11 and fully demolished by late January 2011. Today the Financial District site, currently owned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), sits to the south of the elevated Liberty Park and Santiago Calatrava‘s St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, and is bound by Greenwich Street to the east, Albany Street to the south, and Washington Street to the west.

Renderings show a curtain wall of floor-to-ceiling glass with rounded corners and a large-scale grid of light-colored mullions with vertical members spanning several floors. A tall space near the middle of the superstructure will add a visual break to the uniform exterior surface with clear glass and and a subtle setback that could likely be devoted to a residential amenity level. Overall, the envelope would depart from the sleek minimalist exterior finishes of the other four World Trade Center skyscrapers.

Five World Trade Center. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. DBPX for KPF.

Five World Trade Center. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. 

Five World Trade Center. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. 

The diagram below highlights the location of each of the building’s programmatic functions. The lobby and retail will sit on the ground floor, followed by communal space, office floors, mechanical levels and two floors of amenities, and finally all of the residences spread across 69 levels that rest above the multi-story podium setback up to the flat roof parapet. It looks like the total floor count is around 80 stories.

Five World Trade Center. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

After nearly two decades in the making, Five World Trade Center will be the first building in the World Trade Center complex to feature residential living space, and is projected to create 10,000 construction jobs, 1,900 permanent jobs, and $1.9 billion in economic output.

Construction is expected to commence in 2023 and finish in 2028.

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22 Comments on "Five World Trade Center’s 900-Foot-Tall Redesign by Kohn Pedersen Fox Revealed, in Manhattan’s Financial District"

  1. David : Sent From Heaven. | February 13, 2021 at 8:34 am | Reply

    Is about to return as beautiful and great as before, which towered above ships on water: Thanks to New York YIMBY.

  2. David in Bushwick | February 13, 2021 at 9:02 am | Reply

    A very solid design and it’s nice to see it will be for housing rather than more overbuilt office space. There is a lot of inefficient glass so hopefully the glazing will be triple-paned and the building is all electric. We need to stop burning crap now.

  3. Yes! I’ve been waiting for this for years, and now it has finally arrived-the reveal of the new 5 World Trade Center.
    So, I’ll start by admiting that I’m quite a BIG fan of the World Trade Center, so what do I think about this? Well, it is nice, but I do have some problems with 5WTC too. First, and most of all, I really don’t think it fits in with the WTC. The WTC has this fixed design trend, and this sort of breaks it sadly. Still, I think it fits quite nicely with Liberty Park and the design really isn’t that bad overall. Infact, I love it, but again, I really don’t think it fits quite well with the World Trade Center design trend.
    Second, 1.2 million square feet of residential space is silly…this is the World Trade Center people. Now, I know office has struggled with the other towers, but I find the idea of “living in the World Trade Center” to be sort of silly if you think about it. Yet again, I do understand the descion though. However, what does tick me off is that pernament affordable housing will be included in 5 World Trade Center. Again, “living in the World Trade Center.” If you’re going to do that, then please make this for the rich. Yes, for once I’m actually saying that. Note, I do support affordable housing COMPLETELY, but I really don’t think you’d want to do that with the WTC name on it.
    So yes, this comment may sound VERY annoying to some, and maybe I’ve been a little bit too critical of this new 5 World Trade Center. Truth be told, I’m very happy with this, but I think there are just too many inconsistencies with it. But then again, I love the new World Trade Center, and I just want the best out of it, so it just drives me to critisize it. Still, I’m overjoyed to finally see the official plans for the next World Trade Center skyscraper, Tower 5. ?

    • Except, of course, it’s “WTC” in name only. It’s across the street and was never part of the WTC. It became part only because the post 9/11 development consortium had the resources to deal with the toxic DeutscheBank building and put up something new there.

      • Yes, they could just rename it, and rename 7 WTC, as well, which also isn’t connected with the rest. Just have WTC be 1-4.

        2 WTC might work as a fully market-rate residential and hotel building. People living and staying there would truly be “living in the World Trade Center,” and would not have to go outdoors to access everything WTC 1, 3 and 4, the Oculus Shops, BFPL and Fulton Center have to offer.

  4. 1,325 apartments? Wow, this building could be its own country.

  5. We really need to stop using so much glass on facades. It’s so inefficient, and nobody wants to pay to make it architecturally interesting so we end up with flat, featureless boxes.

  6. The rounded corners and mullioned windows (which seem to encompass three floors each) is a good idea for a residential building of this size and situation — a warmer more welcoming presence in this forest of steely giants. The ‘detached’ base relates nicely to the lower buildings around it. Residential and rental is the way to go here and bravo for the community center and low-income units that will be in the building.

  7. As with the other WTC buildings this is another ugly glass and steel piece of garbage. I miss the twin towers.

    • Considering that at least for the next decade most companies are reducing real estate footprints and employees are likely to work remote (a majority of the time) and there is so much vacancy in this area and not to mention the incomplete building across the street on Greenwich (next to Marriott), does it make sense to build more office and residential space? A nice park for the already present residents in the neighborhood would have been nice. And, five years of construction! And, loss of our view to the Freedom Tower! As you can tell I am a biased resident of the neighborhood. We will lose most light, son and the view! May have to sell!

      • Better to build and not need,than need and not have room to build.
        And the neighborhood’s distinctive NON-residential character needs to be restored.

  8. What exactly is public amenity space?

    • Since this is a residential building probably swimming pool, dog walking area, gym, etc.

    • I think in this context it is stuff that the public can access. Could be restaurants and shops, sitting areas, maybe a little park, bathrooms, etc. etc. Basically a little shopping mall / public area.

  9. a spiral building would have been more interesting..another boring building design

  10. Yes, this is a symbol of rebirth, but I myself would not want to live in an apartment overlooking a mass graveyard of World Trade Center souls who died a horrifying death.
    Images of desperate people leaping to their deaths to the plaza below are forever engrained in my mind.Not to mention the firemen who also died in a fire at the Deutsche building itself afterwards.
    In addition, the nooks, crannies and setbacks of the building -unless properly desigened – may serve as ideal lauching pad for potentially deadly ice falling from the building upon pederstrians below in the wInter tme.

  11. Oooh LA LA LA I’m Excited For This Beauty To Be Erected

  12. its functional more than a looker — but hey check out that base — you can stand under it to duck the rain — so im all in.

  13. YIMBY for ghost town | February 14, 2021 at 11:47 pm | Reply

    More architectural garbage. This is more crapy architecture by another FAR architect, MAX floor area that’s all it matters to the client. Its time we should fire all the architects and developers who build on public land that focus on FAR. Its time to try something new, like bring a building that relates to New Yorkers, bring in the sunlight and fresh air then stopping it. Bring community not tourist dollars. If this ugly architecture keeps going, in the end NYC is going to have no one living here. Its going to become like Hudson Yards, a ghost town for the shell companies and the empty hearts.

  14. KPF used to be an amazing design firm. Could this building be any more boring and mundane?

  15. yeah its boring, but its not an eyesore. guess what, all the wtc bldgs are boring, so it fits right in. and also come on give them a break. its for the poors, so they need to get all the square footage they can. mission accomplished.

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