Each week, progress is being made on Manhattan’s Freedom Tower as it slowly rises to meet its 1,776 ft mark. In addition to the skyscraper, we’ve shared Calatrava’s Transit Hub design with you and we are excited to see the completed complex. Although the new project will offer dynamic architecture in conjunction with a spiritual environment to remember the victims of the attacks, many wonder what companies will occupy the 2.6 million sqf of office space. A few days ago, media company Conde Nast (a publishing company responsible for the likes of Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker, among others) announced their plan to lease 1 million sqf, giving the Tower its first high-profile anchor. Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, told the Times, “We built a new reality at the World Trade Center, and this transaction will be the exclamation point on that turnaround.” This deal has appeased rising concerns that the Tower would be solely occupied with government offices; with such a progressive company slated to move in, hopefully others will follow suit. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo told the Times, “[Conde Nast's lease] sends a message to the global business community that Lower Manhattan is alive, growing and open for business.”
Wow. Considering that site has already been the target of repeated terrorists attacks, you would have to be crazy to want to locate your offices there.
Then again, I suppose some of us wouldn’t object too strongly if Architectural Digest was part of the collateral damage in an attack.
Hopefully, there’s no more drama there. But either way, the world will be keeping an eye on this famous piece of lower Manhattan real estate.