2 World Trade Center
200 Greenwich Street, Manhattan, New York, NY 10007
The tower has had several public designs since 2006. Foundation and street-level work for an earlier scheme was completed before the current tower start. News Corp and 21st Century Fox withdrew from a prospective tenancy in 2016; a new Foster + Partners headquarters design for American Express broke ground July 9, 2026.
What got built
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What changed
- Foster + Partners was commissioned in 2005 to 2006 to design an 88-story, roughly 1,254-foot tower with four sloping diamond forms. Foundation-level work began around 2010, and street-level construction was complete by mid-2013.
- Silverstein Properties replaced Foster + Partners with Bjarke Ingels Group in 2015. Contemporary reporting linked the stacked-box design to efforts to secure News Corp and 21st Century Fox as anchor tenants.
- News Corp and 21st Century Fox withdrew from the prospective tenancy in January 2016.
- Silverstein returned the project to Foster + Partners in 2020; updated concepts were released in 2020 and 2022.
- In 2026, a new approximately 55-story, nearly two-million-square-foot Foster + Partners headquarters design was announced for American Express.
- Groundbreaking took place July 9, 2026. Completion is targeted for 2031.
Why it changed
The design changed alongside prospective anchor-tenancy requirements. Contemporary reporting linked the 2015 BIG concept to News Corp and 21st Century Fox; after those companies withdrew, Foster + Partners later returned. The current design moved forward after American Express committed as anchor tenant in 2026.
Details
- Status
- Partly delivered, still in design, or revised before construction.
- Where
- New York, NY
- Neighborhood
- Financial District
- Developer
- Silverstein Properties
- Architect
- Foster + Partners, original 2006 design and current design. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) designed a replacement concept in 2015 that was later dropped.
- Rendering credit
- Foster + Partners
- The built result
- Photographed by vincent desjardins, 2011-01-30
Sources
- New York YIMBY: Illustrative Renderings of Foster's Original 2 WTC Design newyorkyimby.com
- Dezeen: BIG unveils replacement for Foster's Two World Trade Center design dezeen.com
- Wikipedia: 2 World Trade Center en.wikipedia.org
- ArchDaily: Foster + Partners' Two World Trade Center Revealed, construction to begin 2026 archdaily.com
- Construction Dive: American Express tower groundbreaking (Jul 9, 2026) constructiondive.com
Research checked . Status and figures are updated when a source changes.
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