By Eliot Brown
The final tower planned at the World Trade Center redevelopment
could be dramatically altered under a proposal being discussed by
21st Century Fox Inc. and News Corp, which are considering a move
to the site, according to people familiar with the talks.
The media companies and developer Larry Silverstein have brought
in avant-garde Danish architect Bjarke Ingels to redesign 2 World
Trade Center in the event of a move. Mr. Ingels, co-designer of
Google Inc.'s planned new headquarters expansion in Silicon Valley,
would replace renowned British architect Norman Foster as lead
designer for 2 World Trade Center, these people said.
A deal is far from certain, as the companies are also
considering a renewal of space at their midtown headquarters, 1211
Avenue of the Americas, which was built in 1973 as an expansion of
Rockefeller Center. They expect to make a decision in coming
months, these people said.
Even though the companies' current headquarters lease doesn't
expire until 2020, it takes years to plan and construct a
skyscraper. News Corp, which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of
The Wall Street Journal, and 21st Century Fox were both part of the
same company until 2013. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief
executive of 21st Century Fox, is also News Corp's chairman.
If the companies indeed opted to move to the World Trade Center,
it would mark by far the largest change to the closely watched
rebuilding since the tower designs were unveiled in 2006.
Mr. Ingels, a young and relatively obscure architect when Mr.
Foster first designed the tower a decade ago, has quickly vaulted
to prominence in the field. Eccentric and fast-talking, he is known
for abnormally-shaped buildings and sustainable design. The plans
for Google, for instance, call for a series of low-slung giant
glass bubble-enclosed office building, resembling 'Jetsons'-style
architecture, but filled with lush indoor plant life.
"Architecture at its best is really the power to make the world
a little more like our dreams," he said at a design conference last
fall. "You take something that is a wild idea, like pure fiction,
and you suddenly change it into hard fact."
His design would keep the World Trade Center tower at about the
same height of the 1,270-foot design by Mr. Foster, and it would be
about the same 3 million square foot size, people familiar with the
design said.
21st Century Fox and News Corp homed in on the Trade Center as
an option given that there are few existing buildings with
sufficient space for the companies, and development sites on the
far West Side have generally grown expensive compared with lower
Manhattan, people familiar with the search said.
The planned 2 World Trade Center tower would have plenty of
room, as the companies would occupy about half of the 3 million
square foot building. But the existing design was deemed
problematic because it wasn't considered ideal for studio space at
the base--it was designed with bank-trading floors in mind--and
because of the amount of infrastructure on the ground-level related
to the PATH train station at the site, the people said.
If the tower got off the ground, it would also be a coup for Mr.
Silverstein, who halted construction of 2 World Trade at ground
level while he searched for a major tenant. While he would still
need to secure financing for the tower, if he did, it would be the
final element of the 16-acre redevelopment plan that was crafted in
the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Mr. Silverstein's 4 World Trade Center is complete, as is One
World Trade Center, which was developed by the Port Authority of
New York and New Jersey. He restarted work on 3 World Trade Center
last year, though still has much work to do: The 2.5 million square
foot tower is just 20% leased.
Still, the interest by News Corp and 21st Century Fox signify a
broader shift going on in lower Manhattan, which long struggled to
attract new companies other than smaller firms looking for cheaper
rents than in midtown.
In recent years, publishers Condé Nast and Time Inc. have opted
to move there from midtown, as are advertising companies like
GroupM, a unit of WPP PLC, which is moving to 3 World trade Center.
In an unusual reversal of fortunes, many midtown landlords are now
worried that young workers are warmer to downtown and places like
Union Square, and they are worried about the large blocks of space
tenants like Condé Nast have left behind.
Write to Eliot Brown at eliot.brown@wsj.com
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