NY Approves 5 World Trade Center Residential Tower

Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that a deal has been reached between the state and developers to build 5 World Trade Center, which will be the lone residential tower in the 16-acre WTC redevelopment.

The 900-foot supertall will be jointly developed by Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties, Omni New York and Dabar Development Partners.

Community activists fought the project for nearly two years, demanding that every unit in the tower be income-restricted. Under the agreement announced by Hochul, one third of the 1,200 apartments at 5 WTC will go to low-and moderate-income households.

Eighty of the roughly 400 affordable units at the skyscraper will be reserved for 9/11 survivors and first responders.

“Today we’re taking an unprecedented step forward, reaffirming our commitment to a vital, vibrant Downtown Manhattan that understands that the vitality of this great city hinges on the ability to build more housing,” Hochul said.

“It’s not just about the skyscrapers,“ Hochul added. “It’s about the people who inhabit them.”

The state will provide about $60M in funding for the project, with another $5M coming from the Battery Park City Authority; the Port Authority of NY and NJ, which built the original twin towers, also are expected to contribute funding to 5 WTC.

NY’s Public Authorities Control Board approved the project in a vote taken shortly before the governor made the announcement.

During the fight over the number of affordable units at 5 WTC, experts told the New York Times that building a fully affordable supertall would require about $500M in government subsidies, or enough to build more than 3,500 units at a less-expensive site.

The developers originally planned to put up an office tower on the site, plans that were revised during the pandemic and the malaise in the office market that has persisted. The residential tower that will rise at 130 Liberty Street will include a ground-floor retail component.

The tower will be built on the former site of Deutsche Bank building, a 39-story tower that was demolished after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11 tore a 24-story gash into the façade of the Deutsche Bank Building. The damage was compounded by contamination from the collapse of the South Tower and the building was deemed uninhabitable. Demolition of 130 Liberty Street was completed in January 2011.