One World Trade Center in New York City will be the tallest building in the country when completed, after a committee decided the structure features a permanent spire rather than an antenna, CNN reported.
The building will be 1,776 feet tall, trumping Chicago's Willis tower, which is 1,451 feet in height. Its design faced some earlier controversy over whether the structure at the top of the building was a spire or an antenna. A height committee met last week and defined the structure as a spire, which is a permanent fixture that technically counts toward height.
"The key word is permanence," Antony Wood, executive director of the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, told reporters in Chicago. "The decision that antennae do not count in the height of a building is because antennae are not permanent to the building design."
Without counting the top structure, One World Trade Center would come in at 1,368 feet, 83-feet shorter than Willis tower, YAHOO! News reported.
Wood went on to say, "... The committee were quite clear that that was not the case on One World Trade Center. ... We know that it's a permanent feature because of the sacrosanct aspect of the 1,776 height. In other words, that crowning structure is never to be added to, never to be taken away."
The new building, which should be completed early next year, will likely also rank as the third-tallest building in the world, according to CNN.
One World Trade Center will become an "indelible New York landmark," the website said. The 3-million-square-foot building will have 104 stories with office space, restaurants, a grand lobby and an observation deck.
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