In this April 17, 2012, file photo, One World Trade Center, right, rises above the Manhattan skyline and the Empire State Building, center, in New York. One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks  -AP Photo

NEW YORK: New York's skyline got a new king Tuesday after the still unfinished World Trade Center tower, built to replace the destroyed Twin Towers, crept above the venerable Empire State Building.

Workers gently maneuvered a steel column into its base atop the skyscraper's skeletal top, bringing the total height to just beyond the 1,250 feet (381 meters) of the Empire State Building's observation deck.

The Port Authority, which owns the site, announced “a major milestone in the construction of One World Trade Center,” certifying that the building would now “surpass the height of the Empire State Building, which currently is the tallest structure in New York City.”

One World Trade Center, already a gleaming, angular landmark on the city's skyline, will get still taller as construction winds up late next year, finally reaching 1,776 feet (541.3 meters) and 104 floors.

Not only will that dwarf the 1930s masterpiece of the Empire State Building, but it will be higher than the old Twin Towers, which both collapsed during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people.

Although the mammoth construction work to resurrect the Ground Zero area is at last nearing fruition, the project has been plagued by billions of dollars in cost overruns, as well as delays, bickering over designs, and worries over whether the office space will be profitable.

However, Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed the positive, underlining the city's relationship with ambitious architecture.

“The New York City skyline is, once again, stretching to new heights,”Bloomberg said.

“The latest progress at the World Trade Center is a testament to New Yorkers' strength and resolve -- and to our belief in a city that is always reaching upward.””

Today our city has a new tallest building and a new sense of how bright our future is,” Bloomberg said.

The tallest building in the world remains Burj Khalifa in Dubai, measuring 2,717 feet (828.1 meters), but One World Trade Center will be the highest in the western hemisphere.