As we look back today in remembrance of September 11, 2001, it’s affirming to appreciate the progress that has been made on the new World Trade Center Complex, especially over the last handful of years. The development has restored a vertical prowess to the Financial District and the Lower Manhattan skyline, given rise to a stunning new transit center topped by by Santiago Calatrava‘s Oculus, and will soon become a cultural destination as well. Construction has resumed for the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, tenants are steadily filling the 2.5 million square feet of office space at Three World Trade Center, and visitors are experiencing Memorial Glade, the newest section of the 9/11 Memorial. YIMBY also checks in on the current state of Two World Trade Center and Five World Trade Center.

A spokesperson for Silverstein Properties commented on new developments at the World Trade Center Complex.

YIMBY: What’s the latest on progress for 2 WTC?

Silverstein Properties: No update on 2 WTC. Currently the base of the building contains mechanical equipment that services both the Oculus below grade, and it is covered in street art.

Y: What about 5 WTC?

S: No updates, the Port Authority is managing a request for proposals for 5 WTC.

Y: Is anything else exciting happening at the site at the moment?

S: 3 WTC is leasing quickly. We recently signed a lease with a law firm that brings the building close to 60 percent leased. Other tenants signed this year include Casper, Diageo, Better.com, and Hudson River Trading. 4 WTC is 100-percent leased with Spotify as the anchor tenant. 7 WTC is also 100-percent leased with recent leases from Moet Hennessey and Zola, the wedding registry company. A lot of creative companies are moving to the WTC. Today the transit lobby of 3 WTC will open, allowing 3 WTC tenants in-building access to the Oculus and the transit network.

Work on the future 130-foot-tall, marbled-cladded performing arts center is finally picking up steam. Rex Architecture is the design architect, while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is the developer. Davis Brody Bond Architects is working closely with REX as the executive architect. The site is located directly adjacent to the east side of One World Trade Center’s glass podium and south of Seven World Trade Center. The curved reinforced concrete walls that form the circumference of the spiraling entrance and exit ramps are taking shape. This point of access serves to connect to the Vehicle Security Center via an underground, highly secured road beneath Greenwich Street. Meanwhile, a number of large and deep steel beams and segments of the construction cranes have arrived on site. The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

The site of Two World Trade Center, aka 200 Greenwich Street, sits to the east of Greenwich Street. The walls, ventilation ducts, steel columns, seating furniture, and perimeter of concrete planters in the foundation are covered in a kaleidoscope of bold colors and eccentric patterns. Both Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, who was the original architect of the address and one of the seven contenders for the overall master plan redesign competition of the World Trade Center back in 2002, and Bjarke Ingels of Bjarke Ingels Group had come up with visions for the final component of the complex. Both of their proposals would have been massive skyscrapers, rising almost as high as the parapet of One World Trade Center. Foster’s four-diamond-topped design came out first in 2006, while Bjarke’s stepped profile resembling a cantilevering stack of building blocks was released in 2015. No announcement has been officially made on which design and proposal for Two World Trade Center will be selected. An anchor tenant is still needed in order for work to resume.

Plans for the construction and completion of Five World Trade Center have only recently popped up. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation filed a request for proposals for the former site of the Deutsche Bank skyscraper. The Commercial Observer reported a possible joint development between Silverstein Properties and Brookfield Properties. Part of the site serves as security for the World Trade Center, and the other section is a public park. No details about a design, construction, and completion date have been stated.

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