WTC’s hero lounge

Mogul plans 82nd-floor club for vets,1st responders

An Australian businessman plans to invite war veterans and first responders to have a drink, relax and even network for jobs in a posh lounge atop the Freedom Tower — a landmark skyscraper he calls “a big middle finger to terrorism.”

The new lounge — under construction on One World Trade Center’s 82nd floor — will offer active military service members and veterans of the US, Australia and other friendly nations a “place to relax, do focused work or have a meeting” so that they can also “pursue the myriad of career opportunities the city offers,” said David Collard, an Australian-born executive whose firm recently secured the lease.

The chic venue will occupy the southeast corner of a 36,100-square-foot office space, overlooking the southern tip of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty — “a global symbol of freedom” which embodies “timeless principles of democracy that so many veterans and first responders have lived in service to,” Collard told The Post.

He said his firm, Scale Facilitation — which recently launched a technology-sharing initiative between Australia and New York-based developers of cleaner lithium-ion batteries — will have a designated employee to work with “mission-focused partner organizations” such as Special Operators Transition Foundations so that veterans and first responders will be able to access the lounge.

Collard, a longtime New York resident, told The Post that he was moved by the recent anniversaries of the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to lease space at the lower Manhattan skyscraper, which has come to symbolize the area’s revitalization two decades after the worst terrorist atrocity on US soil.

Getting the space “is an important show of intent to our stakeholders that we are investing in the future and have long-term plans for growth,” Collard said. “It will help attract community-based and international talent and is a way of giving back to the city.”

Still under construction, the lounge will be completed in around six months, he said.

David Collard (inset) is building a lounge (above) in the Freedom Tower (left) where military veterans and first responders will be able to relax and use as a networking base.