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By Soo Kim
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The 2 World Trade Center, which will replace the second building of the original twin towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001, has entered a new phase of construction, marking a major milestone in the decades-long redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.
Earlier this month, the 2 World Trade Center officially broke ground at 200 Greenwich Street. Designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Silverstein Properties, the 55-story skyscraper will rise 1,226 feet and become the future global headquarters of American Express. The tower, which forms the final piece of the World Trade Center site, is expected to be completed by 2031.
Sharing an aerial image of the current construction site of the 2 World Trade Center, which was taken today, a member of the team behind the project told Newsweek: “The next milestone will be when the building reaches its top height, which will be in 2029, when the steel tops out.”
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Construction has accelerated because much of the underground work was completed years ago during the development of the wider World Trade Center complex, including the Oculus transportation hub. The project team said the 2 World Trade Center "got a head start" because no additional foundation work was required, and that the focus is now simply to "build up."
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The Tower's Defining Design Feature
Every building at the World Trade Center site has its own defining signature feature. For 2 World Trade Center, that distinction comes from an extensive network of outdoor spaces integrated directly into the building, the project team said.
The tower will contain three large outdoor terraces at different levels, alongside six additional covered gardens, or loggias, placed throughout the structure. The project team member described the concept as “a very unusual thing to have in any tall office building,” noting there is more outdoor space within the tower than the amount of land occupied by the building itself.
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The building will contain over an acre of outdoor space “woven throughout the building,” allowing workers to access terraces and gardens without ever leaving the tower.
The development has also been designed with sustainability at its core. The project team member told Newsweek that 2 World Trade Center will be an all-electric building and that every aspect of its design was created with energy efficiency in mind.
Among its environmental features is a system that allows rainwater to be collected on the rooftops and reused to help cool the building and irrigate the public green spaces surrounding the site.
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A Transformation of Lower Manhattan
While other major towers at the World Trade Center site have already been completed, 2 World Trade Center remained the final missing piece of the commercial redevelopment effort for years.
The project gained new momentum in February 2026 when American Express announced plans to become the sole owner and occupant of the tower. The commitment resolved one of the project's longstanding challenges: securing a major anchor tenant.
The project team member noted that American Express has had a presence in Lower Manhattan for nearly 176 years and said its decision reflects the area's dramatic transformation over recent decades.
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What was once primarily a financial district has evolved into one of New York City's fastest-growing residential neighborhoods. According to the project team member, the changing demographics have “completely transformed” Lower Manhattan, helping create a more vibrant and diverse community.
The American Express announcement also fulfilled a central goal of the site's post-9/11 redevelopment strategy. The project team member said the objective after the attacks was to create "a better version of New York" that would honor those affected while simultaneously contributing to a growing city. The company's commitment to the project, the team member said, completes “the commercial side of the World Trade Center redevelopment” and "really fulfills that promise."
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‘Looking Forward’
The 16-acre World Trade Center site occupies the location where the original twin towers stood before they were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Architect Daniel Libeskind's master plan was selected as the winning proposal for the site's redevelopment in 2002 and laid the foundation for a project that would unfold over more than two decades.
Since then, the complex has gradually been rebuilt with One World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Oculus transportation hub, and multiple office towers. Reflecting on that vision, the project team member said the memorial park and museum tell the story of what happened on September 11, while the surrounding development looks toward the city's future.
He noted that each office building has been designed to remain respectful of the eight-acre memorial park, balancing the need to commemorate and remember with the need to continue moving forward.
The remaining portions of the site, he said, are ultimately about "looking forward to the future of New York…because that's really what New York does…we’re always shifting and growing.”
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sirena Bergman and Sam Wilson.
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