According to the Wall Street Journal, Seven World Trade Center, Larry Silverstein’s first Ground Zero rebuilding effort, is now worth $940 million.
At 1.7 million square feet, that works out to $553 per square foot.
Using that same formula, the 2.6-million-square-foot One World Trade Center (the Freedom Tower), now reaching the sky, would be worth about $1.4 billion.
Yet the Port Authority is spending about $3.8 billion to build One World Trade.
Yes, yes, the comparison is imperfect. 1WTC will have world-class retail. Still … that’s a lot of retail.
Furthermore, 7WTC has its value partly because it is a fully leased building with a solid six-year operating history.
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