Photo of the day: Freedom Tower from Hudson River

Freedom Tower construction update - December 2010

The following information was last updated on December 3, 2010, courtesy of GTAman9759 on youtube

- Facade installation began mid-November at 20th story
- Tower steel is now above floor 50
- Concrete is now being installed above floor 42
- Multiple cranes on site for steel and concrete installation
- Both the south and north cores are now being erected as the structure rises
- Cocoon safety system now in place around upper perimeter, to rise with structure
- Utility installation and tie-ins
- Crews are coordinating substructure construction while maintaining PATH service

Tide turning for Freedom Tower, NYC

A different type of Subway helping people out in New York City is the sandwich chain Subway who have opened an outlet in a pod which sits on hydraulic legs and will ascend with the tower to feed ironworkers on site. Opening the shop, which serves up the same menu as a regular Subway is a smart move by project managers keen to save man hours and workers walking off site to get their lunch.

Freedom Tower is the first of the four towers to rise on the site of the destroyed twin towers. The tower itself is beginning to make an appearance on the skyline too at 116 metres (380 ft) and 34 storeys high. Delivery of the tower, which will eventually be 541 metres (1,776ft) to the tip of the spire and 108 floors high, is scheduled for April 2013. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is developing the tower is courting interest from potential tenants too. The Authority and media giant Conde Nast, recently reached tenantive terms on a deal which could see the publisher, which currently calls Times Square home, taking upto 1 million sqft of space in the building and become it's largest tenant. At present the only tenant to sign terms is the Chinese Real Estate firm Beijing Vantone Industrial Company which has signed a lease for about 190,000ft on the 64th and 69th floors.

So it all seems to be coming together nicely at 1 World Trade Centre. It hasn't, though, been plain sailing all the way. The project has been heavily criticised in the past for being more about

symbolism than need with real estate executives pointing out the obvious risks of building so much office space on a speculative basis and after a redesign of the tower, corporate tenants and government workers declared they had no desire to move into the tower. This was tossed off the back of some killer criticism by journalists damning the fortified base of the tower as a grotesque attempt to disguise it's underlying paranoia and also dubbing the building "the Fear Tower".

However, when the opportunity was there to buy into a stake of the tower, there was no shortage of interest. The Durst Organization beat off competition from three other developers to buy a minority stake in the project which will see the company oversee leasing of the building as an equity partner. The tide of opinion could be changing on the Freedom Tower. Durst is the hinge - at one time it was Douglas Durst, chairman of the Durst Organisation that opposed both the original WTC and the one he'll be investing in.