When Fox News moves into its new home in Lower Manhattan, it will have James Murdoch to thank for the sleek, modern design of 2 World Trade Center.
Wired reports Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and an executive at 21st Century Fox, was a key figure in the re-design of the final tower to join the World Trade Center site. Murdoch reportedly didn’t like the existing design for the tower, and turned to a new architect to change it.
“The first thing James said to me is he didn’t want to build a tower,” said Bjarke Ingels, architect of the new tower. Instead, the final design “is like seven different buildings stacked on top of each other,” Ingels says.
According to Wired, Fox and News Corp, which have operated as separate companies since 2013, will occupy the two largest blocks of office space, and the rest of the tower will be leased out to other tenants. “This clearly moves the center of gravity in the city’s media industry downtown,” Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, told the magazine.
Two World Trade Center is anticipated to be complete by 2018, with the Murdoch companies–assuming plans don’t change–moving in sometime in 2020.