Last office tower breaks ground at void left by New York's World Trade Centre, 25 years after 9/11

25 years after the devastating 9/11 terror attack in New York left a void in Lower Manhattan, American Express broke ground Thursday on its new headquarters, a tiered glass and steel tower at 2 World Trade Centre.

The 55-story building will be two million square feet and has more than an acre of outdoor terraces and gardens. This will be the last commercial development in the footprint of the fallen Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.

"This has been a long journey," Lisa Silverstein of Silverstein Properties, the developer of the site since 2001, said in a statement. "This is the capstone for the World Trade Centre." The firm noted that the Skycraper is scheduled to be completed in 2031 and will be 1,226 feet tall.

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Crucial milestone

The New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani lauded the project and said that the initiative would create 3,200 jobs and inject a whopping $6 billion into the city's economy. "We are standing today on hallowed ground," Mamdani said.

Meanwhile, officials involved in the project said that the completion of the building will be the final milestone in the commercial buildout of the World Trade Centre campus.

"Today is a major milestone towards cementing the status of the World Trade Centre campus as a premier location in our city for businesses from around the world to grow and thrive," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a separate statement.

"From the union labour who will build this remarkable tower, to the thousands of American Express employees who will work here for generations to come, 2 World Trade Centre will be a shining symbol of the resilience, excellence and opportunity that defines Lower Manhattan," she added.