Fox and News Corp. Sign Letter to Rebuild 2 World Trade Center for HQ

REUTERS/GARY HERSHORN
REUTERS/GARY HERSHORN

Two of the largest media companies in the country, News Corp. and 21st Century Fox, announced that they have signed onto a “non-binding” letter of intent to rebuild at 2 World Trade Center.

The letter doesn’t set the deal in stone, granted, but it does set the groundwork for a final deal which could not only see a new skyscraper rise from the space that once held the famous WTC building, but it would also signal further proof that Manhattan is becoming a major media center in the digital world.

The two media giants are working with developer Silverstein Properties and avant-garde Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who will reportedly make changes to original architect Norman Foster’s WTC design to make the new building a “state-of-the art” tower.

Fox and News Corp. are fast coming to crunch time on their decision, as the lease on their current headquarters runs out in 2020. With that impending lease expiration, the two companies—both owned by Rupert Murdoch and family—have decided to begin a serious exploration of re-building at 2 WTC.

“The reason to begin investigating alternatives now,” a joint statement reads, “is that it will take time to construct a new building and making plans to relocate both of our organizations is obviously a complicated process.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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