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1 World Trade Center Is Only 55% Leased
By
Jen Chung
Published May 27, 2014
Modified May 27, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 27, 2014
Modified May 27, 2014
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While Conde Nast will be moving from Times Square for a million square feet, they might be the only private tenants (not including the government) for a while. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The owners of the tallest tower at the World Trade Center are cutting office rents just months before it opens because of slow leasing activity. No private office tenant has signed a lease at One World Trade Center in nearly three years. The 3.1-million-square-foot skyscraper, formerly named the Freedom Tower, is 55% leased."
Earlier this month, The Post's Steve Cuozzo wrote about the downtown real estate market, "[L]eases being negotiated with at least two unidentified tenants would considerably reduce current 45 percent availability at the Port Authority and Douglas Durst’s 3 million-square-foot 1 World Trade Center, future home of Condé Nast." But we guess that's not the case, since developer Douglas Durst told the WSJ, "The market's not there... When we started in 2011, everybody expected the economy to take off, and obviously that hasn't happened."
Well, actually, other downtown buildings are offering rent in the mid-$50/square foot, which Durst says is problematic, since the 1 WTC rents are higher. Hence dropping rents for middle floors from $75/square foot to $69/square foot. He added, "We have a lot of people looking at the space, but because of the asking rent, we are not able to really put anything over the finish line."
As for its potential as a terrorist target, the WSJ reports, "Mr. Durst said he doesn't believe safety concerns are an issue. 'We really have not seen that,' he said, calling it 'the safest building in the U.S.'" And excellent for BASE jumping.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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