As New York City marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the redevelopment of the World Trade Center has reached its final stages. In this post, we take a look at the ongoing transformation of the 16-acre Financial District site, detailing new additions and forthcoming components in the mixed-use office complex.
The largest piece is 2 World Trade Center, a 55-story office supertall that officially resumed construction over the summer after sitting stalled at street level for nearly 15 years. Designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Silverstein Properties on land owned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ), the 1,226-foot-tall skyscraper will yield 2 million square feet of office space. The building will occupy a full block bounded by Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, Church Street to the east, and Greenwich Street to the west.
2 World Trade Center. Rendering courtesy of Foster + Partners.
Crews have continued to build up the core since our last update in July, and a tower crane has been erected to aid in the forthcoming vertical progress.
2 World Trade Center in early September 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in early September 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in early September 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in early September 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center. Photo by Michael Young.
The below aerial shot from late August shows crews setting up scaffolding around the base of the building as work continues on the inner core. The beer garden that formerly operated on the footprint between Vesey and Fulton Streets has been shuttered and cleared. This area will become the easternmost part of the multistory podium once construction progresses further along.
2 World Trade Center in late-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
2 World Trade Center in mid-August 2026. Photo by Michael Young.
American Express will serve as the anchor tenant, relocating its global headquarters to a space capable of supporting up to 10,000 employees across flexible floor arrangements. The building’s stepped terraces are expected to yield more than 1 acre of outdoor space, and the tower will be equipped with advanced technology and fully electric, energy-efficient systems. The project will also pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. American Express’s headquarters has been located at 200 Vesey Street since 1986.
Construction is projected to create more than 3,200 direct and indirect construction-related jobs in New York City. The project is also expected to contribute nearly $6 billion to the city’s economy and $6.3 billion to the economy of New York State. 2 World Trade Center’s anticipated completion date is slated for 2031.
2 World Trade Center. Rendering courtesy of Foster + Partners.
To the south at Liberty Park is the new Port Authority Employee Memorial, which was commissioned by the WTC Memorial Fund and installed next to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The nearly 13-foot-tall sculpture features 8-foot-tall stainless steel sculptures of the Twin Towers atop a cylindrical black marble base etched with the names of the 84 employees who died on 9/11.
Photo by Michael Young.
Photo by Michael Young.
Photo by Michael Young.
The red marble ring at its base features the names of the six people who died in the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The red stone is an homage to the original memorial design by Elyn Zimmerman that stood between the Twin Towers.
Photo by Michael Young.
Photo by Michael Young.
Photo by Michael Young.
The final tower in the complex, still on hold, is 5 World Trade Center, a mixed-use residential skyscraper. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed in a joint venture between Silverstein Properties and Brookfield Properties, the 930-foot-tall structure is slated to yield 1,200 market-rate and affordable housing units spread across 1.2 million square feet. The project is also planned to include 190,000 square feet of office space, a 12,000-square-foot community facility, and 7,000 square feet of retail. The property is located directly south of Liberty Park on the site of the former Deutsche Bank office tower that was demolished in the late 2000s.
Rendering courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox.
The site is alternately addressed as 130 Liberty Street and serves as a surface-level parking lot for NYPD vehicles. A public plaza with murals sits on the southern end of the property.
The future site of 5 World Trade Center. Photo by Michael Young.
The future site of 5 World Trade Center. Photo by Michael Young.
A construction timeline for 5 World Trade Center remains unclear as the developers continue to finalize plans amid rising costs while exploring strategies for including affordable housing. A portion of the homes at 5 World Trade Center would be reserved for 9/11 survivors and local recovery workers. In addition, one third of the total inventory was planned to be made affordable at between 40 and 120 percent of the area median income (AMI).
The project formerly gained approval in July 2023, at which time Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $65 million financing package to be supplied by New York State and the Battery Park City Authority through a joint purpose fund. Additionally, a $12.5 million rent credit was approved by the Port Authority board, but was conditional on the funding’s delivery by April 2024, and the developers upholding of the 33-percent affordability level. It’s unclear whether these conditions contributed to the delays in the construction timeline.
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It’s just a damn shame that 25 years after the attack we still haven’t finished rebuilding.
I think that’s a disgraceful example of greed and political cowardice.
I could not agree with you more. That the WTC is not rebuilt is like a hole in my heart. I can’t image how it feels to the families, and friends that loss or people that work
As someone who works in WTC1, I can say that I couldn’t care less about the lack of WTC2 any more than working in any other part of the city with a backdrop of cranes.
I think most New Yorkers realize that healing takes time, in fact generations. We realize that for many years asking workers to work close to the site was too much to ask of many folks who lost loved ones and friends. I still know friends and business associates where it remains too painful. Building WTC2 would simply have been building an empty building next to a half-empty WTC1. But as the years pass, ever more of those directly impacted retire and a new generation who were born after those terrible events are taking their place. Only then will we get to a place where working in the WTC doesn’t have a heavy weight attached to it. We are reaching that point.
WTC is now almost fully occupied and that is what gives builders the confidence to build additional buildings. Do I blame anyone for not building sooner? Absolutely not. Why force someone to work where they really didn’t want to be.
Sad the rebuild is not yet done 25 years later.
Those terrorists were very successful by any way you look at it,
and New York has never recovered.
And then New Yorkers chose to elect Mamdani…
25 years and the dust has clearly affected your brain.
Kudos to 9 years old Mamdani 👏
“Never forget!” Looks like many NYers did, by electing Mamdani who supports, and associates with, those who say Anerica deserved it.
DGold, you clearly missed Jericho’s sarcastic remark pointing out how Mamdani was only 9 years old during 9/11. Yet you and your other MAGA cult members deliberately overlook that and just see his skin color and ethnicity as a means to justify your racism and Islamophobia. Nice try you twat. Also I corrupted your email address and good luck talking shit back to me.
Have the day you voted for…
The 2 new towers are, like the already completed ones, enormous nothing-burgers. Completely architecturally insignificant. What a waste.
Um, that employee memorial…
Designed by AI or a child it seems :/
Yes, gravitas is more appropriate for a memorial.
The fact that NYC elected Mamdani, shows the terrorists lost.
Exactly this.
Agreed. As for the rebuilding, I’m less bothered by the pace than the results. The Twin Towers were iconic. Nothing here fits that description. The buildings are the architectural equivalent of camels: horses created by committees.
Absolutely correct Bubba. Good things come to those who wait. And #2 will be beautiful.
The rebuild is a complete failure. We should have kept the remnants of the fallen buildings so people could know what happened. What we have now is sterile buildings surrounding a sterile park. It could be Hudson Yards or Dubai.
For all its vaunted planning, the place comes off as incoherent, which is a shame.
Why didn’t they build a building taller? Why the exact same height?
Why not rebuild everything as it was just stronger? When you rebuild cheaper you can keep the difference is my opinion.
Office space , office space . I thought AI was coming with robots who will wipe out jobs . Why hasn’t middle income housing been built here, are we suppose to idolize billionaires building boring office buildings at such a slow pace. Wake up everyone this is a pile of bs.
I think you should stop reading tabloids and ground yourself with real news RP. Stop throwing in buzz words in your incoherent comment just to stir the pot and think you sound so smart about a site you know nothing about.
Since when do trees grow out the middle of buildings? Is this the Amazon rain forest?
Just remember this, ISIS Mamdani and Commie Sandy Cortez were filmed, laughing at and mocking the 911 victims relatives. They both truly DESPISE the United States. I predict a Charlie Kirk stye tragedy in thier future.
You are so full of shit you MAGA retarded cunt, or should I say,
2600:1700:44f1:c350:a4b1:3f3a:1a1f:3b3e
That is your IP Address, isn’t it?
You know goddamn well the “smiling and laughing at the victims” claim is utter bullshit and was literally a few seconds of them greeting each other at the memorial. But your FOX News & NY Post-worshipping fatass and underdeveloped frontal cortex are so brainwashed beyond help to see through the pathetic attempts by the far-right to desperately find any excuse to make Mamdani or any progressive look bad. I cant wait for your obese demented dictator to die whether by natural causes or being Kirk’d in the neck or back of the head as he deserves to be.
Whoever you are “Dr, Jill Biden,” you sound completely brain dead and lack any capacity to think for yourself, and only obey whatever is said by those preaching white supremacist ideology and Islamophobia
The person behind the Dr. Jill Biden fake username deserves the same fate as Charlie Kirk and Marie Antoinette combined, plus getting enbowled. Better yet, all MAGA sycophants.