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One World Trade Center as seen from the Hudson River. Image by Joe Mabel. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Experts to decide if One World Trade Center is tallest US building

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

One World Trade Center as seen from the Hudson River. Image by Joe Mabel. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
One World Trade Center as seen from the Hudson River. Image by Joe Mabel. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
CHICAGO (AFP) – Which is the tallest skyscraper in the United States? Experts will decide Tuesday between New York’s One World Trade Center and the former Sears Tower in Chicago.

Architects at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat will announce their decision at simultaneous press conferences in the two cities, the CTBUH said on its site.

The CTBUH’s Height Committee must decide whether the antenna on top of the new One World Trade Center counts in determining the building’s height.

Built on the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that toppled its predecessor, the new tower measures 1,776 feet (541.3 meters), including its 408-foot (124.4-meter) antenna.

Without the antenna, its 1,368-foot height would be topped by the former Sears Tower, now officially named the Willis Tower, which rises 1,450 feet from the ground.

Neither skyscraper comes close to the world record, which is held by the 2,723-foot-high (830-meter-high) Burj Khalifa in Dubai.