The cost of the Freedom Tower has soared to $3 billion, according to the Port Authority’s latest estimates.
Construction costs for the 1,776-foot tower have been pegged at $2.478 billion, up from the $2.2 billion estimate for steel, concrete, glass and labor projected last spring.
But the latest tally included in the Port Authority’s capital budget includes an additional $507 million for “nonconstruction” costs that include security at the site, integrity monitors to keep an eye on contractors, the cost of selling bonds to finance the project, marketing the office space and fitting it out for tenants, The Post has learned.
Adding all the costs, the price tag for the Freedom Tower budgeted by the bistate agency is $3 billion – making it not just the tallest building in the city, but also the most expensive.
By comparison, a new state-of-the-art headquarters for Goldman Sachs under construction at a site directly across West Street from the Freedom Tower is expected to cost about $2.3 billion.
“The Port Authority’s capital plan publicly accounts for every dime of spending on all our building projects over the next 10 years, including the Freedom Tower,” said agency spokesman Steve Sigmund.
“During that period, the building has long-term soft costs, like brokers and marketing fees, tenant fit-outs, responsible contingencies and security, which go beyond hard construction costs.”
Sigmund said the price tag will be offset by $900 million in insurance funds and about $1 billion in Liberty Bonds.
The remainder of the cost will have to be recouped through rents charged for the 2.6 million square feet of office space after the tower is complete in 2011.
Contributing to the project’s cost is the roughly $500 million to build an 80-foot-tall substructure in the Trade Center’s “bathtub,” atop of which the tower will be built. The latest construction costs are a key factor that Gov. Spitzer said he will use to determine whether the massive tower should be built as designed. He has said he would balance cost against the projected revenue from rents.
So far, federal agencies have issued letters of intent to occupy nearly 1 million square feet in the tower. New York state has also agreed to lease about 400,000 square feet. And the PA has been in talks with the Chinese real-estate firm Vantone to lease another 1 million square feet.
Construction of the Freedom Tower’s base is under way, and bids for nearly half of the project’s construction have been put out.
The PA’s capital budget includes a total of $8 billion to be spent at the World Trade Center, including the Freedom Tower, the transportation hub, the memorial, retail malls and site infrastructure.