Construction Begins On AmEx's World Trade Center HQ As Campus Enters 'Momentous' New Era

Nearly a quarter century after the 9/11 terrorist attacks leveled the World Trade Center towers, work on the new campus’ final new office tower is underway.

Executives from Silverstein Properties and American Express, along with transportation and union leaders, joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani in Lower Manhattan on Thursday morning to break ground on 2 World Trade Center, the future headquarters of the credit card giant.

“Today is really about more than breaking ground,” said Denise Pickett, American Express’ president of enterprise shared services. “It's about building on a legacy, honoring a remarkable past and taking a bold step to the future.” 

The white canvas tent that hosted the event was buzzing with excited developers, contractors and officials, who celebrated as the first shovels went into the ground for a nearly 2M SF supertall. The groundbreaking defies the tragic legacy that has overshadowed the neighborhood, ushering in a new era for New York City’s business world, executives and officials said.

American Express will buy and occupy the 55-story tower from Silverstein upon its expected 2031 completion, the developer and financial services firm said in February when they announced the partnership that galvanized the long-awaited project.

The tower will reach more than 100 feet higher than the neighboring 3 World Trade Center, delivered by Silverstein in 2018, to a full height of 1,226 feet.

The groundbreaking is a milestone for Silverstein, whose 95-year-old founder, Larry Silverstein, took over the complex just months before the terrorist attacks.

“We're here to mark the rising of what will be the hallmark for the business sector of Lower Manhattan, one that will forever change how downtown is viewed,” Silverstein CEO Lisa Silverstein, Larry Silverstein's daughter, said at the event.

Bureaucratic, economic and structural difficulties initially delayed the construction of the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower, now known as 1 World Trade Center, by more than a decade. Silverstein followed those with 3 and 4 World Trade Center, which opened in 2018 and 2013, respectively. 

The developer has been trying for more than a decade to secure an anchor tenant for 2 WTC, nearly luring Rupert Murdoch's News Corp before the media mogul decided to keep his companies in Midtown. 

Mamdani said AmEx's decision and Tuesday's groundbreaking were a testament not just to the city’s resilience but to its thriving economy and Manhattan’s status as a global business capital.

“For many months, rubble filled a site that had long been defined by greatness,” Mamdani said from the podium. “But over the months and years that followed, greatness returned.”

The development will add $6B to NYC’s economy, creating 3,200 direct and indirect construction jobs and shoring up property tax dollars that will fund essential services, Mamdani said. Upon delivery, it will serve as a window into what the future will look like for the NYC office market, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land under the site.

“Two World Trade Center is not just a tower,” she said. “It is a proof point about Lower Manhattan and New York City — that it is thriving and growing.”

But while both the new tower and its symbolism are important, NYC has to do more to hold onto its claim to the business world’s throne, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin told reporters as crowds spilled out onto the sunny sidewalk and Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten played in the background.

“We need to double down on retaining jobs here and attracting new businesses,” she said, adding that Texas now has more finance jobs than NYC. “Events like today with American Express doubling down on their recommitment to have their headquarters in Lower Manhattan are incredibly important. We need to be doing much more of this.”