American Express is Moving into the Last World Trade Center Tower

With input from AP and New York Post.

The empty lot at the northeastern corner of the World Trade Center is about to stop being a placeholder and start being a skyline-maker. Construction on the final office tower at Ground Zero — the long-stalled project known as 2 World Trade Center — is set to begin as soon as this spring, and American Express will make the 55-story, Norman Foster–designed skyscraper its new headquarters, state and company officials announced Wednesday.

The news closes a wound that’s been open for nearly a quarter-century. The original complex was destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, and rebuilding the 16-acre site has been a stop-start saga of design overhauls, financing headaches and political debates. One World Trade Center, the memorial and museum, the Oculus transit hub and other pieces rose first. 2 WTC — until now a beer garden and a low, graffiti-splashed placeholder — was the missing piece everyone kept talking about.

American Express’s CEO, Stephen Squeri, called the move “an investment in our company’s future, our colleagues and the Lower Manhattan community.” The company, which has been based nearby for almost 200 years, will own the building and lease the land underneath it from the Port Authority. Officials expect the tower to house up to 10,000 workers and wrap up construction by 2031.

The building itself is a big one: about two million square feet of office across 55 stories, with glassy façades, terraced gardens and the kind of high-end finishes modern corporate HQs expect. It will have the official address of 200 Greenwich Street. Norman Foster’s firm is behind the design — a sleek, contemporary tower meant to complement the Freedom Tower and its neighbors.

Developer Larry Silverstein has been trying to build this tower for decades. His company will develop the project for American Express. Lisa Silverstein, who runs Silverstein Properties, said the deal was a fulfillment of a long promise; the developer has repeatedly insisted the project would happen. Downtown leaders celebrated the win: Jessica Lappin of the Downtown Alliance called it a major vote of confidence for the neighborhood.

There’s plenty of bragging rights to go around. Officials estimate the project will generate about 3,200 construction jobs and pump roughly $5.9 billion into the local economy during the build. And politically and symbolically, getting the last major office piece off the to-do list at Ground Zero matters. For years, that empty corner was a visual reminder that the rebuilding wasn’t finished.

Still, the announcement doesn’t mean every patch of the old complex is settled. A neighboring apartment project that was supposed to replace another tower damaged on 9/11 still has no construction date. And despite the fanfare, the city isn’t fronting state aid or Port Authority subsidies for this tower; American Express will finance the build itself, the Port Authority said. The company declined to disclose the construction cost publicly.

A few practical notes: AmEx currently operates from nearby 200 Vesey Street, which it co-owns with Brookfield. Company insiders say AmEx hasn’t decided yet whether it will fully vacate that building or sell part of it — Brookfield could be on the short list of buyers, sources said. For now, AmEx will eventually move its operations into the Foster design at 2 WTC.

Why now? The market and the neighborhood have shifted a lot since the pandemic emptied office towers in 2020. Rents dipped and questions about future space needs bubbled up. But Lower Manhattan has been staging a comeback: office leasing hit strong levels last year, foot traffic at the memorial and retail spots improved, and investors started to feel bullish again about downtown’s long-term prospects. That momentum, plus the security of landing a marquee tenant, made the math work.

Not everyone is immune to the symbolism. Some observers will read the move as New York reminding the country — and the world — it’s still a global business hub even as rivals and other states try to lure firms away. Others will see a veteran firm doubling down on a neighborhood it has long called home.

The timeline is straightforward but not tiny: cranes will go up this spring, scaffolding will hug the site, and over the next several years the tower will rise. Completion is targeted for 2031. That gives AmEx time to plan a phased migration and for lawyers, contractors and bankers to dot every “i” and cross every “t.”

To the people who have watched the empty lot for years, the announcement will land as relief. To the city, it’s a marketing moment. To American Express, it’s a homecoming and a bet on Lower Manhattan’s future. And to Larry Silverstein — now 94 and long devoted to finishing the job — it’s another chapter in a life’s work he’s sometimes called his mission.

Either way you slice it, the skyline is about to get one more headline-grabbing tower. The last piece at Ground Zero is finally moving from talk to shovels.