(Image Source: Post Crescent)

BY DAVID EARL

One World Trade Center. It’s the new anchor of lower Manhattan and a national icon -- rising from the ashes of 9/11. When it’s completed, it’ll be the tallest building in the United States.  But The Wall Street Journal reports the tower once named Freedom, is adding $700 million to its price tag....

“...which brings it to about $3.8 billion, which would make it by far the world’s most expensive office tower. More than the Burj Dubai.”

But The Huffington Post points out -- there are some key differences between the building costs of One World Trade Center and the Burj Dubai.

“ [The Burj Dubai] was built with migrant labor and without nearly as many security concerns.”

The tower has signed some A-list tenants -- like Conde Nast and international law firm Chadbourne & Parke. But WCBS says they might not be able to move into their new digs when their lease begins at the Port Authority owned building.

“Now the Port Authority has discovered that the loading docks underneath the building won’t be ready in time for its tenants, and will have to spend millions more on temporary ones.”

With costs ballooning, the New York Post says an audit is on the way.  

“1 WTC is a project with a purpose: to provide state-of-the-art office facilities in a city desperately in need of them. But news of a rushed change in plans as the tower nears its 104-story height is the last thing the embattled [Port Authority], facing a scathing audit, needs.”

At least one person doesn’t find the skyrocketing skyscraper costs surprising.  Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani tells Fox News the World Trade Center had a history of being a burden on budgets.

“It was rarely ever full, and it was operating on a hundred million dollar -- basically -- New York City tax subsidy.”

1 World Trade Center is expected to open in 2013.