Larry Silverstein is prepared to make a downward adjustment in the vertical ambitions of his World Trade Center site, by downgrading the Richard Rogers-designed Tower 3 from a 80 floor tower to a 7-story stump. Unable to find an anchor tenant for the building, Silverstein is reportedly prepared to cap construction on WTC 3 at seven floors and turn the footprint into a retail podium, according to Crain's. If a new tenant can be found before the building is capped, Silverstein can resume upward progress on the 80 story tower plan. That essentially turns the proposed end-of-year building cap into a very conspicuous countdown clock on a non-addition to New York's downtown skyline.
Problems finding a tenant for World Trade Center 3 have plagued the project. An 80 story Tower 3 was already supposed to be completed by now, but in 2008 Silverstein received a six month extension from the Port Authority when it looked like Merrill Lynch could be lured as an anchor tenant to the building. ML eventually backed out, and Silverstein recently got excited about the possibility of grabbing UBS from its enormous facility in Stamford, CT. But that deal fell through when Connecticut offered the bank millions of reasons to stay put. As far back as 2009, plans have been afoot to stump-ify Towers 2 & 3 and turn them into retail podiums. Silverstein has now set the clock on that possibility ticking.
· Silverstein to call a halt at 3 WTC [Crain's]
· Freedom's Friends Delayed, But Tower 3 May Get Lynch'd [CurbedNY]
· New Renderings of WTC Towers 2 & 3, Minus 138 Stories [CurbedNY]
· WTC 3 coverage[CurbedNY]
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