Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. What a pleasure it is to be here together today as we mark an incredibly exciting day, not only for Lower Manhattan and for the future of business in this neighborhood, but frankly for our entire city. I want to just say thank you to everyone involved in this project and all of the hard work to get to this point. For Denise Pickett, the president of Enterprise Shared Services and American Express; Lisa Silverstein, CEO at Silverstein Properties; Kathryn Garcia, our executive director of the Port Authority in New York and New Jersey; as well as Kevin O'Toole, our commissioner for Port Authority. I want to echo the acknowledgments as well to Gary LaBarbera, the president for the Building and Construction Trades Council in Greater New York. We have Janno Lieber, who is here with us who leads our MTA. And I want to acknowledge as well leaders from within our own administration, Deputy Mayor Julie Su who joins us. As well as all of our partners at the elected level: in our City Council, Speaker Julie Menin, who is here with us, as well as Comptroller Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Member Grace Lee.
You can tell a lot about a city from the buildings that rise highest; which industries call it home; how many workers and colleagues are proud to build their careers there; and how many construction workers and architects and welders collaborated to build engineering marvels that reach into the clouds. Today, as we gather here to break ground on the new 2 World Trade Center, we are telling a new chapter of the story of New York City. One that will be immediately understood by whoever sees this film. Whether it is from the street, before their first day of work, or from dozens of miles away, as they look towards the greatness of our skyline. It will be a story of jobs: as steel girders are laid and concrete is poured, this project will create more than 3,200 direct and indirect construction jobs, investing in New York City's economy with nearly $6 billion. Once it is completed, this building will support approximately 21,250 jobs in our city.
It will be a story of growth: 2 million square feet of office space, 55 office floors and a technologically advanced workplace. When American Express moves in, this headquarters will contribute roughly $11.4 billion towards our economy, including nearly $250 million in tax revenue that will go towards paving potholes, improving schools and planting trees. It will also be a story of commitment to this city. American Express has called Lower Manhattan home for more than 170 years and has been the headquartered here for 40 years. That is a commitment that has endured years of tragedy, an economic downturn — that has overcome pandemics and hurricanes. And it is a commitment that has shaped thousands of New Yorkers' lives: those who built careers at American Express, bought their first phones and sent their kids to school on American Express salaries, and came to New York City because American Express brought them here. With this new building, American Express will be able to bring thousands more New Yorkers to the five boroughs.
And it will also be a story that is pulled long into the future. Sustainability lives at the heart of the new 2 World Trade Center. I'm not just speaking about the state-of-the-art electric and energy efficient systems built into the building, or the lower emissions it will produce, or the outdoor terraces that will bring more green into our city. I'm also speaking of the vision that this building holds for Lower Manhattan and for our city as a whole. It is a vision of people who are proud to come to work here, who take their lunch breaks in nearby parks, who commute here from homes they can afford, on buses and subways that run smoothly and efficiently. But above all, it is the vision of a city that does what it has done for hundreds of years: builds big things and welcomes more people. If we can have a round of applause for all those that made it [inaudible].
I will close with this. We are standing today on hallowed ground. Twenty-five years ago this September, a horrific terror attack was launched against our city, against the building that rose here that carried the same name. The towers fell. Thousands of our fellow New Yorkers were killed. Our city was plunged into grief. For many months, rubble filled the site that had long been defined by greatness. On this ground, great deals had been agreed, inventions had been made, economic progress had been won. For a moment, it seemed in the aftermath of that horrific attack that perhaps greatness would only be a memory. But over the months and years that followed, greatness returned. It returned in the first responders who sacrificed so much on behalf of their fellow New Yorkers. It returned to those who cleared the pile and laid new foundations. It returned in the first office workers who came back to work, and it returns today as we break ground on a new building that will rise 1,226 feet into the sky. And for that and all else, thank you.
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