New main building at WTC site to be completed by 2008

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 18, 2003

New main building at WTC site to be completed by 2008

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Freedom Tower, the new main building at the World Trade Center (WTC) site, will be completed by 2008, with its foundation ready by the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said the WTC site leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, Wednesday.

Addressing a New York Building Congress luncheon, Silverstein said the tower will stand 1,776 feet high as planned, but will only be occupied up to the 73rd floor.

"What we hope to do is to launch a tower for completion every year thereafter," said Silverstein. He said with the completion of Freedom Tower at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, developers hope that each successive year will witness the completion of another new building until the final tower is completed by 2013.

He said all five buildings will be constructed according to the highest safety standards, and building seven and the Freedom Tower will be financed by an insurance company.

New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are expected to unveil the final design for the Freedom Tower Friday morning.

Some sources said the new design for the Freedom Tower looked quite different from the original, which was designed in architect Daniel Libeskind's master plan as an angular, asymmetrical tower. But the new, more detailed plans by David Childs, an architect hired by Silverstein, calls for a tapered skyscraper with only 73 occupied stories, though it will still be the tallest structure in the world.

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