One World Trade Center rises, providing breathtaking view of Manhattan

11

Apr

2012

2:07pm, EDT

By John Makely, nbcnews.com

One World Trade Center is well on its way to a planned 1,776 feet tall, reaching 100 stories this week. We were given the opportunity to spend some time on the site and Rock Center interviewed several construction workers who work there everyday. While many of us feel a sense of pride watching the massive structure grow on a daily basis, these workers are changing the skyline of New York and honoring those lost with every piece of steel.

John Makely / msnbc.com

One World Trade Center is illumated in the early morning hours as the building reaches 100 stories and rose higher than the Empire State Building.

John Makely / msnbc.com

One World Trade Center electrician Victor Rosario takes his lunch break at a window on the 35th floor overlooking the 9/11 Memorial.

John Makely / msnbc.com

Visitors pay their respects at the 9/11 memorial, as seen from the 35th floor of One World Trade Center.

John Makely / msnbc.com

Work continues on One World Trade Center as the building reached 100 stories and approached the height of the Empire State Building.

John Makely / msnbc.com

Work continues on One World Trade Center as the building reached 100 stories and approached the height of the Empire State Building.

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Six years since construction began on 1 World Trade Center, the tower will soon surpass the height of the Empire State Building's roof. The iron workers placing and setting each beam in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks say they are building out of a "sense of necessity" and know that the tower, now soaring nearly 1300 feet, will help the nation and the iron workers themselves heal. Many of the workers building the tower helped clean the smoldering debris in the days after the terrorist attack. Harry Smith reports.

Lucas Jackson / Getty Images

Steel workers Adam Cross (R) and Steven Cross maneuver a steel column into place on the 100th story at the top of One World Trade Center to make it New York City's tallest building on April 30, 2012 in New York City. One World Trade Center is being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks. It reached just over 1,250 feet, making it just taller than the observation deck on the Empire State Building.

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Two construction workers on the 71st floor of One World Trade Center look at a view of the New York skyline, including the Empire State Building.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

The new One World Trade Center building, which is under construction on the site of the destroyed original World Trade Center, is viewed on April 30, 2012 in New York City. One World Trade officially surpassed the height of the Empire State Building today to become New York City's tallest building. With its unfinished frame the building stands at a little more than 1,250 feet high. Referred to as the "Freedom Tower," it isn't expected to reach its full height for at least another year, when it will likely to be declared the tallest building in the United States and the third-tallest in the world.