# What is the dollar value of the WTC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971 "2001-09-12T00:52:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/1 "2001-09-12T00:52:49Z")
I saw it previously valued at $400 million today but I’m sure that was in 1972/73 dollars. What’s the value projected forward to 2001 ? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/2 "2001-09-12T01:08:28Z")
It was [leased](http://www.icsc.org/srch/front/200107240843.htm) for 99 years on July 24th for $3.2 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/3 "2001-09-12T01:10:17Z")
[2 Billion Dollars.](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/09/11/collapse_background/index.html) [CNNfn](http://cnnfn.cnn.com/news/specials/world_trade/) also says that “New York-based Larry Silverstein Properties and Los Angeles-based Westfield America Properties purchased a 99 year lease on the World Trade Center in 1999 from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for $3.2 billion.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/4 "2001-09-12T01:11:03Z")
$ 1.5 billion 1973 make appropriate adjustments for inflation and modern skyscraper construction costs. I wonder if it will be re-built. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/5 "2001-09-12T15:31:18Z")
Wouldn’t want to be their insurance company. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/6 "2001-09-12T15:46:55Z")
CNN said it was US$400 million. they didn’t mention whether that was the current projection or the 1972/73 price. [aside] who is the insurance company ? and howmuch will they have to pay to whom ? [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![catmandu42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@catmandu42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catmandu42)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/7 "2001-09-12T15:53:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\* I wonder if it will be re-built. \*\* Juliani said in a press conference earlier that they will “make the skyline whole again.” He didn’t know exactly what the form of whatever goes there will be, but he made it pretty clear that they will build \* something \* there. Whatever it is, I hope it beats those towers in singapore. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/8 "2001-09-12T16:03:03Z")
Joe Annotti, spokesman for the National Association of Independant Insurers, estimated the WTC, _plus contents_, at $10 billion, according to the SF Chronicle. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/9 "2001-09-12T16:32:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*Wouldn’t want to be their insurance company. \*\* When original WTC bombing occurred in 1993, I remember reading that the Port Authority was self-insuring the buildings. I do not know if this is still the case. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/10 "2001-09-12T19:49:12Z")
A standard insurance policy does not cover terrorism or acts of war, in fact most specifically exclude it. I don’t know of any insurance company worth its salt that would insure a previously terrorized building against terrorism. Kind of like flood insurance, the only people who buy it are those who will get hit by floods. My humble opinion on a sad day for a firefighter. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/11 "2001-09-12T20:01:58Z")
Actually, most insurance companies _will_ cover the losses and these aren’t “standard” policies. I just covered this in [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=86749). The part of the policy that covers this type of loss is in the interruption of business clause. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/12 "2001-09-12T20:16:33Z")
Small clarification. The losses will NOT be covered if a state of War is declared. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/13 "2001-09-12T20:24:37Z")
I sit corrected. I was under the impression that the terrorism/war clauses took effect on all aspects of the policy, I didn’t think that the B.I. coverage would be exempt from it. Could they claim the damage was from falling objects? The damage that the neighboring buldings suffered certainly could be considered damage from falling objects (in my eyes, at least), but would a plane crash be considered in there? I’m sure the lawyers will rip that idea to shreds over the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![blur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@blur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blur)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dollar-value-of-the-wtc/80971/14 "2001-09-12T20:31:46Z")
I don’t think an exact dollar value can be put on this. The cost of the building itself might have a dollar value, but the loss of data, and the recovery of it, the effect on the economy will not be able to be measured for years.