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Bjarke Ingels design for 2 World Trade Center scrapped, Norman Foster’s back on

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Developer Silverstein Properties will revive Foster’s old 2WTC design, but with substantial changes

The sun setting in between several tall buildings including One World Trade Center. Max Touhey

It’s take three for 2 World Trade Center: The New York Post reports that developer Larry Silverstein has scrapped Bjarke Ingels Group’s 2015 design for the unbuilt skyscraper, and will instead go back to working with Foster + Partners to produce a new design for the building.

In an extensive interview with the Post, Silverstein said that he wants to finish leasing 3 World Trade Center—whose tenants include GroupM, Casper, and McKinsey—before proceeding with work on 2WTC, but that the old Foster design would be “significantly modified to be more reflective of contemporary needs and taste.”

It’s been quite a process to get to this point: Silverstein initially tapped Norman Foster to design 2WTC back in 2005, and the firm produced a concept for a glass-covered skyscraper with four columns clustered together, with a diamond shape at the crown.

The old Foster + Partners design for 2 World Trade Center.
Foster + Partners

But plans stalled in the wake of the 2008 recession and weren’t revived until 2015, when News Corp./21st Century Fox signed on as the building’s anchor tenant. At that point, the Foster design was ditched in favor of a more modern one by BIG, which featured a stepped, somewhat boxy facade. But in 2016, NewsCorp./Fox backed out of the deal, and the project has been in limbo ever since.

A spokesperson for Silverstein confirmed that Foster will redesign the tower, but didn’t have any further details on when a new design may be revealed.

Silverstein had previously said that 2WTC could rise without an anchor tenant, but it’s unlikely that it would proceed before leasing is finished at 3WTC, according to the Post. The developer is also behind 4 and 7 World Trade Center, both of which are filled up at this point.