The shovels may have been ceremonial, but the project they represent is major construction 25 years in the making.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the lower Manhattan site for what will become the new global headquarters for American Express at 2 World Trade Center. It will be the final building in the World Trade Center redevelopment plan.<\/p>\n
“For American Express it\u2019s far more than a new headquarters. It\u2019s a reaffirmation in our belief in this city,” said company executive Denise Pickett.<\/p>\n
It is a giant commitment from a corporate giant. The new tower will span nearly two million square feet and stand 55 stories tall \u2014 appearing even taller due to its large base.\u00a0The building will be just north of the Oculus, the northeast corner of the 16-acre site destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.<\/p>\n
“World Trade Center. Never forget. It\u2019s not a slogan. It should be a commitment,” said Gary LaBarbera of the New York Building Trades Council.<\/p>\n
The new headquarters will be the site for 10,000 American Express employees \u2014 and its construction will provide thousands of jobs as well.<\/p>\n
“It will be a story of jobs. As steel girders are laid and concrete is poured, this project will create more than 3,200 direct and indirect construction jobs. Investing in New York’s economy with nearly $6 billion,\u201d said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n
The mayor was not the only city leader to welcome the economic news. City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has warned about other corporate leaders leaving New York, was also on hand.<\/p>\n
“We have had many businesses and people leave to Florida and Texas,” said Menin, “But events like today with American Express doubling down incredibly important.”<\/p>\n
There were 100 construction workers already on site doing excavation for the elevators, plumbing and electrical. The building coils are set to rise above street level by the end of the year. The building itself is set to open in 2031.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shovels may have been ceremonial, but the project they represent is major construction 25 years in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":927778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[79462,117107,5229,78797,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-927777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-9-11","tag-9-11-anniversary","tag-america","tag-lower-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116901280768784767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}