World Trade Center open for business after 13 years.

More than 13 years after the original towers were destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, New York's World Trade Center has re-opened for business.

Employees at publishing giant Conde Nast are starting to move into the 104-storey One World Trade Center.
The $3.8bn skyscraper took eight years to build and is now the tallest building in the US.

It is 60% leased and the government's General Services Administration has signed up for 275,000 square feet.

From the northeast corner of the site, the tower overlooks the National September 11 Memorial & Museum built in the footprints of the twin towers. Its stated aim is to honour those who perished on that sunny September morning.

For years, the grisly pit where workers found mostly body parts was dubbed the “ground zero” of the aerial terror attack.

Now, the illuminated spire of One World Trade Center serves as a beacon to planes that fly over the city, seemingly at eye level with the high rise’s open rooftop. The view stretches from Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty into New Jersey and Connecticut and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

At night, the incandescent steel-and-glass behemoth can be seen from vessels in New York Harbor approaching Manhattan.
An observation deck eventually will be open to the public.

The eight-year construction of the 541-meter-high skyscraper came after years of political, financial and legal infighting that threatened to derail the project.

The spirit of renewal did not quash memories of the horrific act of terror, but the area has prospered in recent years beyond anyone’s imagination. About 60,000 more residents now live there — three times more than before 9/11 — keeping streets, restaurants and shops alive even after Wall Street and other offices close for the day.