by Brianna Crandall — November 11, 2013—The elegant, understated 4 World Trade Center is set to open Wednesday, November 13, 2013, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and concert beginning at 11 a.m. Silverstein Properties’ glassy office tower, part of the complex of World Trade Center buildings under construction on the site of the previous complex in Lower Manhattan attacked September 11, 2001, has been five years in the making.
The minimalist 72-story, 977-foot tower is comprised of a 75-foot-tall “podium” housing retail and transit infrastructure, plus 2.5 million square feet of office space. Destined to be the fourth tallest tower in the World Trade Center complex, it features views of New Jersey, 1 World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, and an expanse of Manhattan.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki, the tower features a coated glass exterior that reflects the surrounding buildings and the sky, creating a constantly shifting façade. Polished black granite in the 47-foot-high lobby is designed to echo the 9/11 Memorial across the street.
Designed to LEED Gold certification standards, 4 World Trade Center features a condenser water system with 24/7 capacity; space for tenant-dedicated heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems; and high-performance air filtration. The building’s Life Safety Design reportedly exceeds NYC Building Code. The tower features elevators with a high-speed destination dispatch system, and provisions for tenant emergency power.
4 World Trade Center offers 40 office floors at 44,000 square feet and 16 office floors at 34,000 square feet, with in-building access to 500,000 square feet of destination and amenity retail. The building’s floor plates were reportedly designed to allow tenants to rent less office space than they would in other buildings. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will anchor the tower, occupying 600,000 square feet of office space.
