By Jotham Sederstrom 9/13/11 10:57am

power broker

Mr. Lieber joined Silverstein in 2003.

Silverstein's Janno Lieber on the Progress at Ground Zero

Uniformed men milled about, waiting for Leon Panetta, the newly appointed Secretary of Defense, to embark on his morning tour of 7 World Trade Center. At the same time, the leader of one of the city’s most powerful trade unions was being greeted as he crossed from the building’s elevator bank to a floor model of the World Trade Center site. Heavyset and stoic, that labor leader was there to address the members of Helmets to Hardhats, an organization that assists soldiers in their transition from battlefields to construction sites.

A few hours earlier, Mayor Bloomberg had arrived in Lower Manhattan along with his own entourage, calling for the end to “Ground Zero” as the shorthand to describe what, over the course of a decade, has changed from a pile of smoldering ashes to the early metallic seeds of a transit hub, a memorial site and a massive complex of skyscrapers. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/08/11 9:30am

The Neverending Story

Silverstein_CGI_WTC_Video

Silverstein Uses Avatar-Quality CGI to Bring the World Trade Center to Life [Video]

Silverstein Properties, along with Mayor Bloomberg, Chris Ward, Daniel Liebeskind, Michael Arad and pretty much every other person working at the World Trade Center site, held a construction update in the new 10th-floor leasing office inside 7 World Trade Center yesterday.

There wasn’t much news, but it was impressive to see the efforts being made to attract more tenants to the site (Condé’s in, but UBS is out). There are interactive touch screens with neighborhood amenities and transportation news—as though there were any question Tribeca and FiDi is a worse place to work than Midtwon—plus a 12-foot model of the finished site. It’s so big, the 1 WTC antenna is clipped to fit under the soaring ceilings. Silverstein even produced a Future World Trade Center video mixing live action and CGI that would make James Cameron proud, which has been posted by The Architect’s Newspaper. Grab some popcorn and enjoy. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/08/11 12:58pm

The Neverending Story

We are the world. (TTGG)

No, Really, Let’s Rebuild the Twin Towers, Even If Not at Ground Zero

For a good long while after the events of 9/11, there was a call to rebuild the World Trade Center just as it was the day before the attacks. This was an idea not without precedent. Everywhere from the Hebrew Temple to the  Madison White House to the Super Dome, humanity has been rebuilding their monuments after wars and disasters. Rarely, though, are the buildings exactly the same, as had been so vocally proposed here. Read More

By Tom Acitelli 6/10/11 12:19pm

The Neverending Story

That shaft business settled, Si Newhouse signs.

Condé Nast's Cafeteria Vent: Almost a Dealbreaker at 1 WTC

Condé Nast almost walked away from its 25-year deal with the Port Authority for 1 million square feet at 1 World Trade Center (neé the Freedom Tower).  Why?

Because the Port balked at installing a cafeteria ventilation shaft that would have, according to the New York Post‘s Keith Kelly, “blast[ed] … out the southern wall, which some sources felt would have marred the aesthetics of the sheer glass façade overlooking the memorial.” Read More

By Laura Kusisto 2/28/11 4:53pm

The Neverending Story

A Promise Is a Promise at 4 WTC

The Bloomberg administration is keeping its promise to Larry Silverstein to lease one-third of 4 World Trade Center—reluctantly, it seems.

The city will occupy 14 floors, or 582,000 square feet, in the second tower going up at the World Trade Center site, at an annual rate of $56.60 a square foot, the New York Read More

By Josh Wright 9/07/10 9:04pm

The Neverending Story

Silverstein: New W.T.C. Will Host 250K People Daily

Larry Silverstein announced Tuesday that when the new World Trade Center is complete by 2015, it will boast the daily foot traffic of 250,000 people.

Mr. Silverstein hosted a press conference at noon on Tuesday, where he and other notables like Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson expressed their intention that the 9/11 memorial be completed Read More

By Laura Kusisto 9/07/10 3:15pm

Staying Current

Here’s a Way to See Today’s WTC Update

Two 50-ton columns from the wreckage of the September 11 attacks will arrive at the former WTC site today. That’s likely to cause less of a stir than an announcement about how construction on the new site is progressing. Governor David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a host of notables will give a rebuilding update today at noon.  Read More