A development team for 5 World Trade Center (5 WTC) has been selected by the Port Authority of NY and NJ (PANYNJ). The board voted unanimously during their monthly public meeting to award the bid to Silverstein Properties, Brookfield Properties, Omni New York, and Dabar Development Partners. The board also offered up snapshots of the design, which come from none other than Kohn Pedersen Fox. The images depict a 900-foot skyscraper emerging from one of the World Trade Center’s last developable sites.

Kohn Pedersen Fox

PANYNJ /  Kohn Pedersen Fox

5 WTC will be developed as a mixed-use tower with 1.56 million square feet (gross).

The building will be largely residential with 1,325 rental apartments; 25 percent of those are planned permanently affordable (330 units) and will be offered to households earning less than 50 percent of the area’s median income—about $51,200 for a family of three, officials say.

The breakdown also calls for 190,000 square feet of office space, 55,000 square feet of public amenity space, 12,000 square feet of community space, and 7,000 square feet of retail space.

PANYNJ / Kohn Pedersen Fox

Kohn Pedersen Fox To allow for residential development, the proposal will need to revise the site’s General Project Plan which now provides that all WTC building sites be commercial. The board says this process will take place over the next year, and offer opportunities for community input.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and PANYNJ released a request for proposals for the site back in 2019, pre-COVID. Respondents were allowed to revise their submissions after the start of the pandemic, but all “stayed with their pre-COVID bids,” says Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority. In all, five bids were received from teams led by Tishman Speyer, Vornado Realty Trust, Normandy Real Estate Partners, and the Durst Organization.

5 WTC will be entirely financed by the private investors (no cost estimate was declared) with the development team entering a 99-year ground lease with the PANYNJ. The land is currently owned by the LMDC.

Silverstein already holds a master lease to the World Trade Center through the Port Authority and developed and owns 3 WTC, 4 WTC, and 7 WTC. Silverstein is also working on 2 WTC which has been placed on hold.

Construction is expected to start in 2023 and wrap in 2028. The project is estimated to generate 10,000 construction jobs, over 1,900 permanent jobs, and fuel $1.9 billion in economic output.