6 2012 года

One World Trade Center in New York to Be the World’s Most Expensive Office Tower

The price tag for One World Trade Center, the signature skyscraper under construction at Ground Zero in New York, has risen to more than $3.8 billion, making it the world's most expensive office tower.

The new figure, up $700 million from the latest public estimate in 2008, marks another twist in the rebuilding of the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The process has been marked by thorny political challenges and ever-lengthening construction delays, according to Infox.ru quoting The Wall Street Journal.

The skyscraper designers’ errors had to be corrected during the course of construction. Thus, in the underground part of the skyscraper they did not provide service entrances to transport the equipment to upper floors.

One World Trade Center's construction is more expensive than a traditional office tower, in large part due to security costs. The 541 m skyscraper sits atop a heavily reinforced podium. It also has a thick core of concrete and steel around its elevator shafts.

Other high profile buildings around the world have been far less expensive. The developer of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, in Dubai, has put its cost at $1.5 billion.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the regional transportation agency that owns the World Trade Center site long ago gave up hope that One World Trade would be a profitable investment in the short- or mid-term. In 2010, experts pegged the tower's value just at $2 billion.

Tenants are reluctant about leasing spaces in the building. So far, lease agreements for 60% of the spaces have been signed, while searching for tenants for the other two buildings in the complex was very hard as well, according to The Associated Press.