World Trade Center's last office tower soon will get built and house American Express

NEW YORK — The World Trade Center's final office tower will start construction as soon as this spring and become American Express ' new headquarters, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the company said Wednesday, marking a milestone nearly 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks destroyed the site.

The 2 World Trade Center building will round out the long, tortuous redevelopment of the original 16-acre trade center property. There remains no construction date for a neighboring apartment building to replace another 9/11-damaged skyscraper.

But the 2 World Trade Center announcement represents a big step, physically and symbolically, in fulfilling a pledge of renewal at ground zero. Hochul and other officials also trumpeted the project as a sign of New York's continued vitality as a business hub. It comes as Florida and other states have been trying to woo companies from New York.

''Building 2 World Trade Center will bring another iconic skyscraper to Lower Manhattan, create thousands of good-paying union jobs and provide billions in economic benefits to New Yorkers," Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement.

American Express CEO Stephen Squeri called the skyscraper ''an investment in our company's future, our colleagues and the Lower Manhattan community,'' where the credit card giant has been based for nearly 200 years. Its current headquarters is just west of the trade center.

The trade center was decimated when al-Qaida hijackers crashed jets into its twin towers, part of a coordinated attack that also sent planes into the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, mainly at the trade center.

Fraught with physical, financial and political complexities and public debate over what to build, redevelopment unfolded gradually and hit numerous roadblocks. But over time, the signature 1 World Trade Center skyscraper, other towers, the Sept. 11 memorial and museum, a transit hub -cum-shopping center and a performing arts center were built on the property, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

American Express declined to discuss the cost of the new building — which the company will own, leasing the underlying land — but said it doesn't involve any tax incentives. Messages seeking further information about the costs and financing of the project were sent to officials.

Plans once envisioned a skyscraper soaring as high as 80 stories, and News Corp. and the former Twenty-First Century Fox were among companies that at points eyed moving there. Like some other trade center components, the project labored for years to secure financing and an anchor tenant. The task grew tougher when the coronavirus pandemic emptied offices in 2020 and raised questions about companies' future space needs.

Developer Larry Silverstein always insisted the project would happen, however.

Silverstein Properties CEO Lisa Silverstein, who is the 94-year-old developer's daughter, hailed American Express as "an iconic institution embodying the strength, resilience, and global significance of the project.''

The company plans to occupy the entire Norman Foster -designed building, a sleek structure of glassy sections interspersed with landscaped terraces and gardens. It's expected to accommodate up to 10,000 workers; American Express declined to say how that compares to its current headquarters.