New York's One World Trade Center deemed tallest U.S. skyscraper

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The skyscraper at New
York's World Trade Center has been designated
the tallest building in the United States by virtue
of its spire, surpassing Chicago's Willis Tower,
an international body said on Tuesday.
The Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings
and Urban Habitat said its Height Committee
ruled the mast atop the building, built on the
site of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and
formerly called the Freedom Tower, was a spire
and therefore a permanent feature.
If the mast were considered an antenna
instead, it would be considered functional
equipment and subject to change.
With the spire, One World Trade Center reaches
1,776 feet compared with 1,451 feet for the
Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears
Tower. Counting its antenna, the Willis Tower
reaches 1,729 feet.
The Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, the public entity that owns the building,
changed the name in 2009, saying it would
make the office tower more marketable for
tenants.
The council's Height Committee convened a
group of 25 architects, engineers and facade
consultants from around the world on
November 8 to consider the issue, and
ultimately decided the mast is a spire, the
council said.
Because One World Trade Center is still
incomplete, its designation will become official
once the building is occupied in 2014, the
council said. It is one of four skyscrapers
planned at the site alongside a memorial, a
museum, a transit center and a performing arts
center.
It would then become the third-highest building
in the world after Dubai's Burj Khalifa at 2,717
feet and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in
Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at 1,972 feet.
However, four other buildings under
construction in China and one in South Korea
would be taller than One World Trade Center,
according to Emporis, a database for building
information.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts; Editing by Daniel
Trotta, Andre Grenon and Eric Walsh)