Record-breaking Price Tag for One World Trade Center

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

One World Trade Center, the building designed to bring new life to Ground Zero in New York City, has recently become the world’s most expensive office tower, reports The Wall Street Journal. The new price tag of more than $3.8 billion is a reflection of increased construction costs and consultancy fees that added to a decision by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – the owner of the site – to include leasing costs in its public estimates. Projected to be the tallest building in North America, the tower’s construction costs more than double what was required to build the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, in 2010.

The newly recalculated costs have increased by more than $700 million since the last public estimate in 2008. Formerly known as the Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center is scheduled for completion in 2013. For obvious security reasons, the structure sits on a heavily reinforced podium with no windows. To date, it has reached 90 of its 105 stories.

In other development news, Crain’s New York Business reports that a new hotel could be built in Long Island City on a 91,000-square-foot parcel of land located at 28-02 Skillman Ave. The site’s owner, the City University of New York (CUNY), has released a solicitation for a hospitality consultant who will analyze the site’s zoning requirements and the project’s overall impact on commercial real estate in the area.

If proven to be feasible, the hotel project could start with no major obstacles from the city’s zoning authority. Reportedly, the current zoning regulations would allow a 600,000-square-foot development and even a parking facility alongside the building.

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Photo courtesy of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey website