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The 408-foot spire that will crown 1 World Trade Center as the tallest building in the hemisphere was lifted last week to the top of the 104-story tower, the latest milestone in the $14 billion rebuilding of the trade center site.
Down below, however, there is less to celebrate.
As of today, more than 3 million square feet of vacant office space is expected to open in 2014 at 1 WTC and the neighboring tower under construction, 4 WTC. And more than 2 million square feet are on the drawing board at 3 WTC, whose construction is stalled at seven stories for lack of commercial tenants.
No office lease has been signed at the site since magazine publishing giant Conde Nast signed a deal to lease about 1.2 million square feet at 1 WTC two years ago.
The deal was hailed at the time as a validation of the site's prospects as an office neighborhood, but the buildings continue to lose out on the handful of major office tenants currently in the market.
Time Warner Inc., for example, is the biggest office tenant now looking
for new headquarters in Manhattan. It has turned its focus to the Hudson Yards, a block west of Penn Station, to meet its demand for 1 million square feet of Class A office space, according to a report last week in The Wall Street Journal.
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