3 World Trade Center
175 Greenwich Street | also 27 Dey Street, 30 Church Street, 40 Cortlandt Way | Financial District | built 2009
Open on the map15 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1908
An earlier Cortlandt Building opens on this site as one of the Hudson Terminal towers
By April 4, 1908, tenants had begun moving into the Hudson Terminal's two 22-story towers, the Fulton Building and the Cortlandt Building. The Cortlandt Building stood on the lot where 3 World Trade Center rises now. Together the pair were billed as the world's largest office building by floor area, and a railroad terminal lay beneath them.
“By April 4, 1908, tenants started moving into the towers. ... world's largest office buildings upon their completion…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1915
A bag of explosives is found in the Hudson Terminal complex that once stood on this site
In 1915 a bag of explosives was found in the Hudson Terminal, the rail station and office complex whose towers included the Cortlandt Building. Wikipedia's account says it held enough to destroy several buildings the size of the complex's towers. The terminal was demolished by the end of 1972 to make way for the original World Trade Center.
“A bag full of explosives was found in the terminal in 1915, with enough explosives to blow up several buildings of the Hudson Terminal towers' size…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2008
The Port Authority hands over the 3 World Trade Center site 48 days late and pays a $14.4 million penalty
The agency was supposed to give Silverstein Properties the excavated East Bathtub site by January 1, 2008, or owe $300,000 for each day of delay. It turned the site over on February 17, 2008, and paid a $14.4 million penalty. The site's foundations had required a 70-foot-deep trench and a slurry wall.
“The agency ultimately gave the site to Silverstein on February 17, 2008. The PANYNJ paid a $14.4 million penalty for turning over the site 48 days after the deadline.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2008
Merrill Lynch walks away from a planned move to 3 World Trade Center
Merrill Lynch was the first private firm to show real interest in taking large blocks of space at the rebuilt World Trade Center, which briefly raised the idea of redesigning 3 WTC around the bank. The Port Authority offered to lease the underlying land for $510 million, a quarter below its first asking price, while Silverstein put his own stake up for $340 million. Merrill rejected those terms and pulled out in July 2008, just after the agency announced major delays across the site.
“Merrill balked at Silverstein's offer, and it withdrew from the project in July 2008 after failing to secure a lease on favorable terms.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
An arbitration panel rejects Larry Silverstein's $2.7 billion claim against the Port Authority over 3 WTC
As the tower stalled, developer Larry Silverstein asked arbitrators in 2009 to make the Port Authority pay $2.7 billion in damages. In January 2010 the panel ruled the agency owed him nothing. It did cancel a clause that would have forced Silverstein to hand the towers to the agency if they were not finished by 2014.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2014
GroupM's lease as anchor tenant restarts stalled construction
Groundbreaking for the new 3 World Trade Center takes place in January 2008, but only the lower stories go up at first because the tower has no anchor tenant. Advertising company GroupM finalizes its lease in December 2013, and construction resumes in 2014 on the tower designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. GroupM later grows its space to 700,000 square feet.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
Fundrise lets small investors buy into 3 World Trade Center's bonds from $5,000
The $1.63 billion of unrated, tax-exempt Liberty Bonds that financed 3 WTC were sold in October 2014 to institutions only, in $100,000 minimums. In mid-January 2015 the crowdfunding site Fundrise opened a partnership holding some of those bonds and let ordinary investors join for as little as $5,000, promising a 5 percent tax-free return less a 0.15 percent fee. Co-founder Ben Miller said the aim was to open capital markets that were usually closed to small buyers.
Source: bondbuyer.com
- 2015
The architects drop 3 WTC's planned rooftop masts and fix its height at 1,079 feet
Plans announced in 2006 described a 71-story, 1,155-foot tower with four spires rising 100 feet above the flat roof at its corners. By June 2015, with construction restarting after the financing deal, the design team had eliminated the rooftop masts and set the building's final height at 1,079 feet. Two months later the tower had reached half of that height.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
Water seeps through the unfinished 3 WTC and holds up the neighboring mall
Late in 2015 water began leaking into the open construction site at 3 WTC, delaying the opening of the Westfield World Trade Center mall next door. The structure was exposed to the weather, and workers kept spraying the fresh concrete to hold down dust, so the water found its way into the building. Two basement levels of the tower hold retail space that is part of that mall.
“…water started leaking into the construction site in late 2015, delaying the opening of the adjacent Westfield World Trade Center mall…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2016
The last steel beam goes up and 3 World Trade Center is topped out at 1,079 feet
The concrete core was finished first, an unusual order for a skyscraper. On June 23, 2016, a 2-ton bucket of concrete signed by workers and executives was hoisted up in a ceremony, carrying a flag also used at 4 and 7 World Trade Center. The full building topped out on October 6, 2016 with the final steel beam, at 1,079 feet and 80 stories.
“On October 6, 2016, the entire building was topped out when the last steel beam was lifted and installed on top.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2016
A crane's headache ball cracks a 12th-floor window on 3 World Trade Center
Shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 11, 2016, strong winds swung part of a crane into a window on the 12th floor of the tower, then under construction. Early reports called it a wrecking ball, but the fire department said it was the hook block, or headache ball, as the crane drew in its line ahead of bad weather. Nobody was hurt, the cracked glass stayed in place, and Tishman Construction said the panel would be replaced.
Source: therealdeal.com
- 2018
McKinsey & Company signs for floors 60 through 64 of 3 World Trade Center
In May 2018, weeks before the tower opened, McKinsey & Company signed a 15-year lease for 186,000 square feet to move its headquarters from 55 East 52nd Street in Midtown East. The firm took five full floors, 60 through 64, along with a private outdoor terrace on the 60th. The New York Post reported that about 900 executives would make the move, and the asking rent was in the $80s per square foot.
Source: commercialobserver.com
- 2018
3 World Trade Center opens 38 percent occupied
The 80-story, 1,079-foot tower designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners opens on June 11, 2018, ten years after groundbreaking. It is 38 percent occupied at the start, with advertising firm GroupM, stock exchange platform IEX, and consulting firm McKinsey & Company among its tenants.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2019
James Rosenquist's Joystick is installed in the 3 World Trade Center lobby
Joystick is a large lobby painting that Rosenquist, the Pop Art pioneer who died in 2017 at 83, made in 2002 as part of a series about flight and perspective. His daughter Lily Rosenquist supervised its installation at 3 WTC in 2019. She said the scale gives viewers an immersive experience of the work, and that her father's art was meant for everyone.
Source: wtc.art
- 2025
Silverstein unveils Frank Gehry's 20-foot copper fish sculpture in the lobby
On February 27, 2025, Silverstein Properties revealed "Untitled (Fish on Fire, Greenwich Street) 2024," a copper fish measuring 20 by 7 feet that is suspended in the lobby. Lit from inside, it turns slowly and throws shifting light and shadow across the space. The developer called it the largest suspended fish Gehry has made, produced over a year in a collaboration among Larry Silverstein, Gehry and the Gagosian gallery.
Source: 6sqft
Further reading
- 3 World Trade CenterWikipedia
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