November 3, 2014: One World Trade Center opens in Lower Manhattan, the replacement for the "Twin Towers," One and Two World Trade Center, that had stood from 1973 until their destruction by terrorists in 2001.
It was inevitable that the Towers would be replaced by something. Plans ranged from exact duplicates to, partly in jest, a series of five towers of varying heights, with the tallest in the middle, so that it looked like both a clenched fist and a raised middle finger. Eventually, a design was chosen with a main tower and three smaller (but still very tall) ones.
The new building's architect was David Childs, born in 1941 in Princeton, New Jersey, although he graduated not from Princeton University but another Ivy League school, Yale University. He had previously designed One Worldwide Plaza, on the site of the old Madison Square Garden; the redesign of the James A. Farley Post Office Building into the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station; the National Geographic Society's headquarters in Washington, D.C.; and the American Embassy it Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Perhaps most interestingly, given this project, he had designed a "twin towers": The Time Warner Center (now the Deutsche Bank Center), on the site of the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle.
Childs was with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the world's great architectural firms, which has designed 2 buildings that have held the title of tallest building in the world: The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago, and the current titleholder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Due to various delays, construction on its replacement could not begin until on April 27, 2006. On April 30, 2012, it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building, reclaiming for the World Trade Center name the title of tallest structure in New York City. On May 10, 2013, the structure was topped off by the completion of its spire, giving it the height of 1,776 feet, matching the year of the Declaration of Independence.
The building opened for business on November 3, 2014. The Observatory opened on May 29, 2015. Officially, it has 94 stories, compared with its predecessor's 110. But the top floor is labeled the 104th, and it is 1,268 feet above the ground. The roof is 1,368 feet, matching the height of the previous One World Trade Center. (The old 2 World Trade Center was slightly shorter, at 1,362 feet.)
The mailing address is 285 Fulton Street. Fulton is to the south, and it is also bordered by West Street on the west, Vesey Street on the north, and West Broadway on the east. Compare this to the Twin Towers, whose footprints are now part of the 9/11 Memorial: Fulton on the north, West Broadway on the east, Liberty Street on the south, and West Street on the west.
Construction of a new Two World Trade Center has begun, on the site of the former 5 World Trade Center. It will rise to 1,345 feet, but the COVID epidemic stopped construction. It will not resume until tenants start applying. An opening of 2025 currently seems like a good guess.
The new 3 World Trade Center opened on June 11, 2018, and is 1,079 feet high. The new 4 World Trade Center opened on November 13, 2013, and is 978 feet high. Construction of the new 5 World Trade Center is set to begin in 2023, for a 2028 opening, and is currently planned to be 900 feet high. And the new 7 World Trade Center opened on the site of the original on May 23, 2006, the first part of the new complex to open, and is 743 feet high.
There are no current plans to build a new building with the name 6 World Trade Center. The old one was damaged badly enough that it had to be torn down, and the new One World Trade Center was built on the site.
UPDATE: As of November 3, 2024, the new 2 WTC has only the foundation built, and there is no timetable for construction to resume. 5 WTC is now set to be completed in 2029. There is still no plan for a new 6 WTC.
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November 3, 2014 was a Monday. The baseball season had ended 5 days earlier, when the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, beating the Kansas City Royals in Game 7, 3-2. On ESPN Monday Night Football, the Indianapolis Colts beat the New York Giants, 40-24, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just 11 miles from the World Trade Center complex.
There were 6 NBA games played that night:
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 116-85 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, only 3 1/2 miles from the World Trade Center complex.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 104-93 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. James Harden scored 35 points for the Rockets.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 93-81 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Boston Celtics, 118-113 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Jeff Green scored 35 points in a losing effort for the Celtics.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Denver Nuggets, 110-105 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz, 107-101 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
There was only 1 NHL game played that night, and it was at Madison Square Garden, just 3 miles from the World Trade Center complex. The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 4-3 in a shootout.
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