Amphiscian

Amphiscian t1_ixdrgwm wrote

Definitely not the most inviting public space. I wonder if more things were planned and cut for budget, or if it was more like intentionally not making anywhere for people to lounge because then homeless people might go there. They did somewhat recently throw in some seating at the end of the hallway that leads to 4WTC, but that's a long way from the terminal/central area.

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Amphiscian t1_ixdmg4z wrote

Yeah I'm wondering if whoever buys the mall off Westfield will rent it to less high-end places

AFAIK a big part of this weirdness is that there was a more normal mall in the old WTC, and Westfield leased the retail rights to it for 99 years literally a month before 9/11. As part of the rebuilding, at some point it was decided the mall, new PATH station, and connection between every building (plus the World Financial Center) would be combined into one sprawling project.

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Amphiscian t1_ixdhsx3 wrote

The Oculus is a different story, IMO. Westfield bought the retail rights to the mall at the WTC from the Port Authority for $1.4 Billion. They sure as shit weren't going to make that amount of money back with Pizza Hut Expresses, so they have gone pretty up-scale with the tenants to make money (along with other stuff like packing in kiosks and installing LED advertising screens everywhere they could).

That being said, the company that bought Westfield is apparently trying to dump all their US mall properties, so things may change a lot in the Oculus in the coming years.

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