One World Trade Center world’s most expensive office tower

One World Trade Center was just valued today to cost the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey $3.8 billion to build, making it far and away the world’s most expensive office tower.

Once completed, the 1,776-foot tower will be the tallest in the U.S., but it won’t be the highest in the world. In comparison, the developer of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, said it cost $1.5 billion to construct.

That new price tag, revealed today in The Wall Street Journal, is mostly due to unprecedented security measures implemented at the building. One World Trade, formerly nicknamed the Freedom Tower, sits atop a reinforced podium, designed to protect the tower from the path of a blast. Inside the tower is a thick core of concrete and steel
reinforces its elevator shafts.

The Port Authority recently increased fares at New York City bridge and tunnel crossings, in part to help pay for the pricey tower.

One World Trade Center is expected to be completed at the end of next year, 2013.