Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York
3 World Trade Center (3 WTC; also known as 175 Greenwich Street) is a skyscraper constructed as part of the new World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The tower is located on Greenwich Street along the eastern side of the World Trade Center site. The building was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and is managed by Silverstein Properties through a ground lease with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), the landowner. It is high, with 80 stories. As of 2023[ [update]], it is the ninth-tallest building in the city.
The current edifice is the second on the World Trade Center site to bear the address 3 World Trade Center. The original building was the Marriott World Trade Center, a 22-story, 825-room hotel located in the southwest corner of the World Trade Center complex. Opened in July 1981 as the Vista International Hotel, it was destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001, along with the rest of the World Trade Center.
The current 3 World Trade Center was planned as a skyscraper measuring 1,240 feet (378 m) tall. The building's groundbreaking took place in January 2008, but only the lower stories were built because the skyscraper lacked an anchor tenant. Construction resumed in 2014 after advertising company GroupM was signed on as anchor tenant. The building's concrete core was topped out during August 2016, with the perimeter steel structure following on October 6, 2016. The building opened on June 11, 2018.
Site.
3 World Trade Center is at 175 Greenwich Street, within the new World Trade Center (WTC) complex, in the Financial District neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The land lot is bounded by Greenwich Street to the west, Dey Street to the north, Church Street to the east, and Cortlandt Way to the south. Within the World Trade Center complex, nearby structures include the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum to the west; One World Trade Center to the northwest; World Trade Center Transportation Hub and 2 World Trade Center to the north; and 4 World Trade Center to the south. Outside World Trade Center, nearby buildings include 195 Broadway and the Millennium Hilton New York Downtown hotel to the northeast, as well as One Liberty Plaza to the southeast.
Previous buildings.
For most of the 20th century, the site of 3 WTC was occupied by the Cortlandt Building, built in 1907 and one of two office structures that comprised the Hudson Terminal complex. The site was also abutted by several low-rise buildings on Greenwich Street to the west. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the adjoining section of Cortlandt Street had been part of Manhattan's Radio Row, which contained many electronics stores. The Hudson Terminal complex was demolished in 1972, when the original World Trade Center was built.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which was responsible for the construction of the World Trade Center, had demolished several streets to make way for the towers within the World Trade Center, including parts of Cortlandt, Dey, and Greenwich Streets. The site of the current skyscraper was occupied by 5 World Trade Center at the northeast corner of the World Trade Center site. Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. Greenwich Street was restored as part of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, and the block of Cortlandt Street next to 3 WTC was rebuilt as a pedestrian walkway. The intersection of Cortlandt Way and Greenwich Street reopened in 2014, improving access to the National September 11 Memorial.
The 3 World Trade Center address was originally used by the Marriott World Trade Center (originally the Vista International Hotel), a 22-story hotel building with 825 rooms. The Vista Hotel was on the western side of the World Trade Center, near the intersection of West Street and Liberty Street. Construction began in 1979, and it opened on July 1, 1981. The hotel was heavily damaged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and reopened in 1994 after repairs. The Host Marriott Corporation acquired the hotel in 1995 for $141.5 million. Forty people in the hotel died when the complex was destroyed during the September 11 attacks. Marriott, which held a long-term lease on the hotel site, surrendered its lease in 2003, allowing the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum to be built there.
History.
Site redevelopment.
Larry Silverstein had leased the original World Trade Center from the PANYNJ in July 2001. His company Silverstein Properties continued to pay rent on the site even after the September 11 attacks. In the months following the attacks, architects and urban planning experts held meetings and forums to discuss ideas for rebuilding the site. The architect Daniel Libeskind won a competition to design the master plan for the new World Trade Center in February 2003. The master plan included five towers, a 9/11 memorial, and a transportation hub. By July 2004, two towers were planned on the southeast corner of the site: the 62-story 3 World Trade Center and the 58-story 4 World Trade Center. The plans were delayed due to disputes over who would redevelop the five towers. The PANYNJ and Silverstein ultimately reached an agreement in 2006. Silverstein Properties ceded the rights to develop 1 and 5 WTC in exchange for financing with Liberty Bonds for 2, 3, and 4 WTC.
British architect Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners was hired to design the new 3 World Trade Center, on the eastern part of the World Trade Center site at 175 Greenwich Street, in May 2006. Additionally, Norman Foster and Fumihiko Maki were selected as the architects for 2 and 4 World Trade Center, respectively. The plans for 2, 3, and 4 World Trade Center were announced in September 2006. 3 World Trade Center would be a 71-story, building with diagonal bracing on its facade for structural reinforcement. The tentative plans also called for four spires, one at each corner, rising above the flat roof. The building would have contained of retail space in its base; five trading floors; and of offices across 54 stories. The lowest stories of 3 World Trade Center and several neighboring buildings would be part of a rebuilt Westfield World Trade Center Mall. 
As part of the project, Cortlandt Street (which had been closed to make way for the original World Trade Center) was planned to be rebuilt between 3 and 4 WTC. The plans for Cortlandt Street affected the design of the lower stories of both 3 and 4 WTC, as one of the proposals called for an enclosed shopping atrium along the path of Cortlandt Street, connecting the two buildings. The street was eventually rebuilt as an outdoor path. Final designs for 2, 3, and 4 WTC were announced in September 2007. The three buildings would comprise the commercial eastern portion of the new World Trade Center, contrasting with the memorial in the complex's western section. At the time, construction of 3 WTC was planned to begin in January 2008. As part of its agreement with the PANYNJ, Silverstein Properties was obliged to complete 3 and 4 WTC by the end of 2011.
Construction.
Initial construction and disputes.
In 2007, the PANYNJ started constructing the East Bathtub, a site that was to form the foundations of 3 and 4 WTC. The process involved excavating a trench around the site to a depth of , then constructing a slurry wall around the site. The PANYNJ was supposed to give the site to Silverstein Properties at the end of 2007; the contractors would have received a $10 million bonus if they had completed the work early. If Silverstein did not receive the site by January 1, 2008, the PANYNJ would pay Silverstein $300,000 per day until the site was transferred. The agency ultimately gave the site to Silverstein on February 17, 2008. The PANYNJ paid a $14.4 million penalty for turning over the site 48 days after the deadline.
Investment bank Merrill Lynch &amp; Co. expressed interest in relocating its headquarters to 3 World Trade Center in mid-2008. Following this, the PANYNJ voted to extend the deadline for the building's completion to June 2012. Merrill had been the first private firm to show interest in leasing significant amounts of space at the World Trade Center, and the announcement raised the possibility that 3 WTC could be redesigned for Merrill's use. The PANYNJ offered to lease the underlying land to Merrill for $510 million, 25 percent lower than the agency's original asking price for the land, and Silverstein offered to sell his stake in the project for $340 million. Merrill balked at Silverstein's offer, and it withdrew from the project in July 2008 after failing to secure a lease on favorable terms. Merrill's withdrawal came shortly after the PANYNJ had announced that the World Trade Center redevelopment would be delayed significantly. Meanwhile, police officials expressed concern that the building's all-glass design posed a security risk. A study published in early 2009 predicted that 3 WTC would not be fully occupied until 2037, due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
By May 2009, the PANYNJ was seeking to reduce the size of 2 and 3 WTC and postpone the construction of 5 WTC, citing the Great Recession and disagreements with Silverstein. The developer had requested that the PANYNJ fund two of the towers, but the agency wanted to take control of the 3 WTC site and was willing to provide funding for only one tower. The PANYNJ wanted to build 3 WTC only to the fourth story, allowing Silverstein to construct a hotel or office building above when market conditions improved. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to mediate the dispute with little success. In July 2009, Silverstein wrote a letter to the development's stakeholders, recommending that the dispute go to arbitration. Silverstein officially requested arbitration the next month. He requested that the PANYNJ pay $2.7 billion in damages. An arbitration panel ruled in January 2010 that the agency did not owe him any damages. However, the panel also voided a clause that would have forced Silverstein to hand over the towers to PANYNJ if they were not completed by 2014. The panel gave Silverstein and the PANYNJ two months to reach an agreement.
As part of the arbitration process, Silverstein requested a $2.6 billion tax-free bond issue for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The New York state government approved the bond issue in December 2009, though the construction of 2 and 3 WTC remained on hold. In February 2010, Silverstein proposed constructing 3 WTC and delaying plans for 2 WTC, a move that was expected to save $262 million in the short term. The next month, the PANYNJ and the city and state governments of New York agreed to fund $600 million for 3 WTC's construction after Silverstein had found tenants for at least of the space. Silverstein would build the first five stories by 2013 if he were unable to finance the project and lease the office space. PANYNJ board members from New Jersey acquiesced to the deal with Silverstein, but only on the condition that the agency also fund a reconstruction of the Bayonne Bridge.
Three PureCell fuel cells were delivered at the World Trade Center site in November 2010, providing about 30 percent of 3 WTC's power. In the meantime, the tower had been delayed indefinitely. The investment bank UBS was considering leasing space at 3 WTC in mid-2011 but ultimately decided against it. At the time, although the complex was originally supposed to have been anchored by large financial firms, these companies were generally no longer seeking to expand their space.
Funding compromise and anchor tenant.
Silverstein Properties and the PANYNJ agreed in early 2012 to complete only the first seven stories of 3 WTC unless tenants could be found by the end of the year. The base had been built entirely with insurance proceeds, and the tower stories would only be built after Silverstein met the requirements. By that February, the ground floor concrete was almost done and the lower podium had reached the 5th floor; the podium was then planned to be completed in September 2012. Owen Steel's president David Zalesne announced in June 2012 that his company had been selected to provide the structural steel for the building. The next month, the