Skyrise. (Kit Dillon)

Round and round she goes. (Kit Dillon)

Crane-lifts up the side of any building are a delicate affair, let alone up the side of 104-story glassy tower with sloping sides at the center of the most-watched construction site in the world. That is why it seemed like the Port Authority was taking its time this morning as its construction workers carefully hoisted up the first crowning piece of 1 World Trade Center's spire. After all, the media, as always, were watching.

A small cohort of workers in high-vis jackets went about the work of checking the heavy lift sling and talking back and forth through the crackle of radio static. There was a quick speech for the cameras, and then without much more ceremony than that, honeycombed steel circle edged up into the air. Nothing more complicated than any of the tens of thousands of lifts the north crane has made in the construction of this building, if only important now in its symbolism: the final pieces.

Watching from the street, The Observer didn’t see anything particularly cutting-edge about this specific piece of steel. If anything, it almost looked like something carved by nature in its rigid perfection. But it wasn't the technical aspects of the installation that were stopping people in the street. The crowning of this building, despite controversy and for all the obvious reasons, is a moment for New Yorkers to celebrate.

Hey, hey, up she rises. (Kit Dillon)

Gospeed. (Kit Dillon)

A day after arriving in Manhattan from across the harbor, the first piece of the 1 World Trade Center spire has begun the trip to its final resting place atop the city's tallest tower. We'll have a full report of the ceremony later but wanted to share this dramatic shot now.

Don't rock the boat or the skyline. (WTCProgress/Twitter)

In a subtle reminder of the connection between New Jersey and New York that undergird the Port Authority, the spire that will top the agency's 1 World Trade Center departed its berth in the Port of Newark for Lower Manhattan this morning. Once the barge carrying eight pieces of the 400-foot tower topper arrives in New York, it will be unloaded in preparation for installation atop the city's tallest building.

The remaining 10 pieces were trucked down from their foundry in Quebec, but these pieces had to be shipped from Canada last month because they were too heavy to travel on the highway.

It is interesting to have finally gotten a close up of the spire, considering there is a big debate about whether or not it is a spire at all, because an artistic covering for the skyline spear was removed at the recommendation of the Durst Organization, the tower's co-developer. If the Council on Tall Buildings, which decides who is the biggest, should find the spire lacking in integral architectural intent, the rooftop protrusion could be deemed a simple antenna, rather than an integral part of the design, knocking the building down from its symbolic height of 1776 feet (or is it 1784?) to a mere 1,386 feet, the height of the tower itself.

The space, by the way, is still available for lease, for those so enticed.

Speaking of the top of the World Trade Center: last week, while the rest of us were busy hustling out of town for Thanksgiving, some pieces of the spire that will crown the city's tallest tower (for now) set sail on a barge from Valleyfield, Quebec, where they were fabricated. It's the first real look at the spire in real life, and those steel beams sort of force the question: is that really anything more than a glorified antenna?

Update: The 102nd floor is not for lease, as it is one of the upper floors that will be used for an observation deck/restaurant/vertigo-inducing tourist trap. Which is kind of good news because it means we will all be able to enjoy the space—for a price, just like at the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock. The top-most office floor is floor 93 (there are a number of mechanical floors between that and the observation extravaganza on three floors, though there are also some floors missing).

At his press briefing this evening, Gov. Cuomo made a surprise announcement, actually in the middle of talking about what dismal shape the PATH train is in—there appear to be some five miles worth of flooding, the length the line under the Hudson from New York to New Jersey, so that is one thing that will probably be submerged for some time to come. But a place that will not be is the World Trade Center, which, after flooding a good 15 to 20 feet across the site only three days ago, is now dry and in working order.

"Work will recommence at the Ground Zero site tonight," Gov. Cuomo declared. I was just congratulating some of the workers; there was tremendous flooding at the Ground Zero site. We went from seeing the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel turned into a flume, we walked up the World Trade Center site, where water was cascading into the site from every imaginable angle, at such a decibel level it was disorienting. The entire site was flooded."

But through an almost miraculous, and certainly Herculean, pumping and recovery effort, led in part by the Army Corps of Engineers, the site has been cleared in a fraction of the time anticipated. "They originally anticipated it would be two to three weeks before they could get back to work," the governor said. "But instead of two to three weeks, they've gotten it done in three or four days, and the work will recommence tonight on the site, and you'll see light on again at the site."

And indeed we did on the way home, along with a few other buildings way downtown, including the Goldman Sachs headquarters, the American International Building with its red spire and 7 World Trade, with its roof lit up bright as a candle. It just so happens that earlier in the day, The Observer spotted a construction lift in operation on Larry Silverstein's World Trade Center tower 4, but it was not clear if it was an inspection or construction work.

While it could still be days, if not longer, before downtown finally gets all its lights back, it is nice to see these buildings back up, especially given their symbolic nature. "The Ground Zero site will be illuminated once again," Gov. Cuomo said. "New York goes back to work."

Who built that? (Pool photo/NBC NY)

Obviously all we think about, all we care about, here at the real estate desk is, well, real estate. Which is why one line in particular jumped out during the president's speech at the Democratic National Convention last night.

"I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11," President Barack Obama declared. "And we have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead."

A new tower rises above the New York skyline.

Well, technically two are rising, and really, they've basically stopped rising. Unless the president was referring to the other two, which are trying desperately to rise. But we digress.

Not to take a political cheap shot, but didn't it seem like President Obama was taking some credit for helping 1 World Trade Center get to where it is? Granted the thing was practically invisible until shortly before he took office, so maybe such a claim is not outrageous. Just as we got Osama bin Laden on his watch, we have watched the World Trade Center retake its place on the skyline for the duration of his administration.

It is not as though President George W. Bush really did much for the rebuilding of Ground Zero, either. Almost entirely it was political brinkmanship (and infighting) in New York, Albany and Trenton that (slowed down and) helped launch the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. If anyone deserves credit in Washington, it is Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Jerry Nadler (not to mention former and current Senators Clinton and Gillibrand) who lobbied tirelessly for billions of dollars in federal funds to help Lower Manhattan rebuild.

Did the president take credit for rebuilding the World Trade Center last night? Of course not. This is a practice in exactly the kind of out-of-context-taking the media loves, the kind that ensnared the president when he uttered those four fateful words, when Mitt Romney declared "I like being able to fire people."

Still, the phrase jumped out at us. It was striking. Maybe more than anything else, it was all we could think about (again, we love real estate). After all, the sentiment does fit into the Obama narrative, the idea, the very thing the president meant when he said "You didn't build that," which is that you didn't build that on your own.

The same goes for the World Trade Center. Perhaps no single project since the Tower of Babel has been such a work in design by committee. We are better off for it, and worse off as well. As with all things in government, all things in society, all things in humanity. The same thing goes for the Empire State Building, the Washington Monument, the space program, Medicare, public housing, public schools, food stamps, social security, the Interstate Highway system.

You didn't build that. We all did. And sometimes, when the strife bubbles up to the surface at Ground Zero, it is good to be reminded of this fact.

Salute the troops. (Matt Chaban)

Captivating, online or in real life. (Inga Sarda-Sorensen)

We first noticed it two weeks ago, crossing the Pulaski Bridge between Long Island City and Greenpoint. There it was, monolithic on the skyline as it has been for months now. But there was something different about 1 World Trade Center. Poking up from beneath the skyline of the warehouses in the foreground and the office buildings beyond was a band of red lights. It was hard to tell from there, but maybe there were some blue ones, and it was a U.S.A theme, all be it out of order (white-red-blue) in honor of the Olympics.

Then, there it was again this Friday, almost entirely red, plainly visible up and down Sixth Avenue (above), and no doubt the rest of the city. People have started noticing, and pictures have been making the rounds on Twitter, especially this one at right, shot by Inga Sarda-Sorensen. So we asked the Port Authority—what gives?

It took a day to hear back, but all we found is "It's for the troops." The meaning of the color, and the occasion, remain unknown. It does not appear to be any holiday or milestone. Perhaps just an inspired construction crew? Like the team that turned the tower into a giant Christmas tree the past two years. Apparently they are very amped (rightfully so) about veterans, not least because there are many working on the site.

The last time the building was lit up like this was in February, again in red, in honor of the anointing of Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Once it is clear exactly what the meaning of this impromptu memorial is, we will be sure to update the story with the details.

After a huge response, no fire was found at 1 World Trade Center this morning. (Getty)

After about 45 minutes this morning, dozens of firefighters got a blaze under control on the 88th floor of 1 World Trade Center. The Fire Department did not yet know the cause of the fire, which only hit the one floor. There were no injuries reported, according to an FDNY spokesman.

The fire was reported a little before 8 a.m., and 84 firefighters from 26 units responded. That is not an unusual number for a high-rise blaze, according to the spokesman.

This was the second fire in the iconic building since June, when another small fire started one floor up, on the 89th. That incident also came early in the morning, when some wooden decking caught fire. The following month, another small fire started in the upper reaches of neighboring 4 World Trade Center.

The Port Authority has recently been cracking down on its construction workers, some of whom are known to go out and drink in local bars during their lunch break. They have also stepped up reminders about smoking onsite, which has been a big concern ever since 130 Liberty Street caught fire in 2008, killing two firefighters.

Update 8:52: A Port Authority spokesman, Steve Coleman, said there was no fire at 1 World Trade Center. A Fire Department spokesman confirms that it may simply have been "a welding incident."

"I’m not going to speculate like FDNY," Mr. Coleman said. "They searched the building and found no evidence of any fire."

Update 10:26: All clear. @WTCProgress, the Port Authority's official World Trade Center social media presence, just said "After a thorough search of #OneWTC & as reported by NYC OEM “FDNY has concluded their search with negative results (no fire found)." The account followed that up with this good bit of news: "No stoppage of work, no evacuation of the building, & no reported injuries. Work continues to move forward at #OneWTC & site."

An FDNY spokesman declined to say there had been no fire, saying their investigation is still ongoing. They expect to release their findings around noon.

Update: 12:55: "There was no false alarm," FDNY spokesman Jim Long said. "A lot of people have been saying that, but we received a call at 7:45 of smoke coming off the World Trade Center, our guys responded, and that's what they saw. So we investigated. After a full investigation, we determined it was caused by some welding going on on the 88th floor."

The final column. (AP)

A big day for these guys. (AP)

Correction 8/3: The Port Authority has not topped out the tower but simply installed the presidential column. The installation of the final steel beam, and thus the topping out of the tower, is yet to come.

A month and a half ago, President Obama arrived at ground zero to much fanfare to inspect the towers rising there and maybe even finish them off.

There was some talk that (maybe) the hemisphere's biggest building was set to top out, but that happened only this morning at a brief ceremony. Construction workers and police officers assembled to sign the final column of 1 World Trade Center before it was hauled more than 100 stories into place, according to a pool report.

"It feels really good to be a part of it," iron worker James Brady told the Associated Press "I feel very proud to be here. I feel very lucky to be here." He was among the crew that hoisted the final beam into place.

Not that this was a race or anything, but neighboring tower 4 World Trade Center topped out at the end of June, 39 days before 1 World Trade Center. Both buildings are set to open by the end of next year, though both are only about half full in terms of tenancy. Conde Nast and the GSA will anchor 1 World Trade Center while the Port Authority is the main tenant at 4 World Trade.