Construction still stalled at WTC Towers 2 & 3

The construction of World Trade Center Towers 2 and 3 and the Deutsche Bank building, is one of the few remaining ambiguities from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the Wall Street Journal, now that Osama bin Laden has been captured and killed. While towers 1 and 4 reach 64-stories and 23-stories, respectively, and continue to rise at about a floor per week in advance of their 2013 openings, the other two planned buildings are little more than pits at Ground Zero.

Much of the problems come from financing. Silverstein Properties, which is leading the development of the site, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site, have repeatedly pushed back issuing bonds to finance the project as the debt becomes increasingly pricey. Additionally, the planned PATH train station and Tower 1 are already estimated to exceed the original budget by more than 50 percent. As a result, Silverstein has stalled the construction of Tower 2 and is waiting to find an anchor tenant for Tower 3 before the firm commits to building the tower more than a handful of stories high. Meanwhile, there is no clear plan in palce for
the Deutsche Bank building. But the Journal said officials involved in the project, including Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, are focused on the progress being made at towers 1 and 4, rather than the uncertainty at the other buildings. [WSJ]