Thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the
resurrected World Trade Center is again opening for business — marking an
emotional milestone for both New Yorkers and the nation.
Publishing giant Conde Nast will start moving Monday into
One World Trade Center, a 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper that dominates the
Manhattan skyline. It is America's tallest building.
It's the centerpiece of the 16-acre site where the decimated
twin towers once stood and where more than 2,700 people died on Sept. 11, 2001,
buried under smoking mounds of fiery debris.
"The New York City skyline is whole again, as One World
Trade Center takes its place in Lower Manhattan," said Patrick Foye,
executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns
both the building and the World Trade Center site.
He said One World Trade Center "sets new standards of
design, construction, prestige and sustainability; the opening of this iconic
building is a major milestone in the transformation of Lower Manhattan into a
thriving 24/7 neighborhood."
With construction fences gone and boxes of office equipment
in place, Conde Nast CEO Chuck Townsend planned to walk Monday into what Foye
calls "the most secure office building in America."
Only about 170 of his company's 3,400 employees are moving
in now, filling five floors of the tower, said Patricia Rockenwagner, a Conde
Nast vice president and spokeswoman. About 3,000 more will arrive by early
2015.
The building is 60 percent leased, with another 80,000
square feet going to the advertising firm Kids Creative, the stadium operator
Legends Hospitality, the BMB Group investment adviser, and Servcorp, a provider
of executive offices.
The government's General Services Administration signed up
for 275,000 square feet, and the China Center, a trade and cultural facility,
will cover 191,000 square feet.
From the northeast corner of the site, the tower overlooks
the National September 11 Memorial & Museum built in the footprints of the
twin towers. Its stated aim is to honor those who perished on that sunny
September morning.
For years, the grisly pit where workers found mostly body
parts was dubbed the "ground zero" of the aerial terror attack.
Now, the illuminated spire of One World Trade Center serves
as a beacon to planes that fly over the city, seemingly at eye level with the
high rise's open rooftop. The view stretches from Manhattan to the Statue of
Liberty into New Jersey and Connecticut and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
At night, the incandescent steel-and-glass behemoth can be
seen from vessels in New York Harbor approaching Manhattan.
An observation deck eventually will be open to the public.
The eight-year construction of the 1,776-foot high
skyscraper came after years of political, financial and legal infighting that
threatened to derail the project.
The bickering slowly died down as two other towers started
going up on the southeast end of the site: the now completed 4 World Trade
Center whose anchor tenant is the Port Authority, and 3 World Trade Center
that's slowly rising.
The spirit of renewal did not quash memories of the horrific
act of terror, but the area has prospered in recent years beyond anyone's
imagination. About 60,000 more residents now live there — three times more than
before 9/11 — keeping streets, restaurants and shops alive even after Wall
Street and other offices close for the day.
Still, it's a bittersweet victory, one achieved with the
past in mind as the architects created One World Trade Center.
T.J. Gottesdiener of the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill firm
that produced the final design told The Associated Press that the high-rise was
built with steel-reinforced concrete that makes it as terror attack-proof as
possible.
He said the firm went beyond the city's existing building
codes to achieve that.
"We did it, we finally did it," he said.
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