Mr. Lieber joined Silverstein in 2003.

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.

Such was life at the World Trade Center complex in the week leading up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. City, state and federal officials come and go, events flood in and out, and security clearances are de rigueur.

“It is always emotional—every single day,” said Janno Lieber, the man who, probably more than anyone else, is responsible for making sure that the World Trade Center project remains on course. “If there are bumps, and if there are slow-downs, and if there is not progress, or if there are any struggles—it’s always a challenge, and it’s all right outside of our window. So that never goes away. That sense of mission and that special importance rises up as we come up toward the anniversary every year.”

In the eight and a half years since Mr. Lieber and other colleagues working with the developer Larry Silverstein relocated offices to Lower Manhattan, Ground Zero, and all that it has come to represent, has been a daily presence. But mixed among the fear and sadness, Mr. Lieber insisted, is an emerging story of hope.

With all but three higher-story floors leased at 7 World Trade Center since construction ended five years ago, any lingering doubt of whether businesses would return to the area following the terrorist attacks has diminished. Besides Moody’s Corporation, which occupies 17 floors and 670,000 square feet of space at the 52-story tower, others like law firm Darby & Darby and West LB, the German investment bank, have inked deals for many of the top floors while Silverstein Properties occupies a 38th-floor office overlooking the main site across the street.

More recently, WilmerHale, among the nation’s largest law firms, chose to relocate its longtime headquarters from Park Avenue, a traditional hub for the legal industry, to four of the high floors at 7 World Trade Center. That 210,000-square-foot deal, which was inked in April, includes a clause that will allow the firm to share in energy-efficiency costs and benefits linked to the tower, which in 2006 became the city’s first LEED gold-certified asset.

“Interestingly, that was much less of a concern than anyone could have really anticipated,” said Mr. Lieber, 49, who noted that remaining floors are expected to be leased up by the end of 2011. “The premium and attraction of views have remained in this building as much as it has always existed in the rest of the New York City office tower market.

“We have a couple of tenants who are seriously looking at the space,” he added. “It’s financial service firms, it’s creative companies and it’s the law firms—but this is the premium space that’s available right now downtown, and there are a lot of companies that want to take advantage right now.”

With occupancy nearly full at 7 World Trade Center, Mr. Lieber, the president of Silverstein’s World Trade Center Properties LLC, has been shifting his focus to the construction of 3 and 4 World Trade Centers and 1 World Trade Center. The latter, of course, is where Condé Nast in May signed that one-million-square-foot lease that seeks to do for Lower Manhattan what the magazine publisher helped do for Times Square nearly two decades ago.

With the publisher expected to move its 5,000 employees—from a litany of titles that includes The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue—to floors 20 through 41 by 2014, many analysts believe the deal will prompt others in publishing and new media to follow suit. For Mr. Lieber, however, the Condé Nast deal confirmed what he and many at Silverstein Properties already knew.

“It validated what we’ve been talking about for quite some time, which is to push the diversification of downtown away from financial services and more and more toward creative companies who want to be here,” said Mr. Lieber. “I mean, Anna Wintour and Graydon Carter live in the West Village, and one of their senior decision makers lives in Brooklyn. I think they looked at their work force demographics and realized that writers, editors and people in the magazine industry are more likely to live in Brooklyn, New Jersey or Lower Manhattan than over in Connecticut.”

Mr. Lieber would know. An Upper West Side native, he currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children, and was once a journalist at The New York Republic. A Harvard and N.Y.U. Law grad, he worked as an attorney and in the Clinton-era Transportation Department on his way toward the real estate industry.

Even with all the activity of late—and the understandable spotlight it draws globally—late last week was a time for Mr. Lieber and others to once again mourn the 2,819 men and women killed in the attacks.

“Every year we stop work and observe at the same time that other people are observing outside at the site,” he said. “But the other thing that’s happening is that all of the things we hoped about downtown are really starting to come to pass. That’s exciting and positive.”

jsederstrom@observer.com

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.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

We are the world. (TTGG)

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.

The idea, even with the backing of Donald Trump and the Post, did not succeed, and it never will now that the project has progressed so far. There was a time, in the laggard days of 2006 and 2007, with little visible progress under way, when the call was renewed. It is a persistent plea, one that echoes today, a month shy of the 10th anniversary. With that dark hallmark approaching, a design competition has just been launched by a group called Twin Towers Go Global that is seeking submissions for a new set of Twin Towers built anywhere in the world.

Living on a Prayer: Watch 1 World Trade Center Rise Halfway >>

The group has actually been working for a number of years to have replicas of the Minoru Yamasaki structures built somewhere in the world, and now it has turned to the public for help. The purpose behind the Twin Towers competition, according to the competition website, is "to create a memorial expressive of the Towers’ significance to a wide array of individuals and cultures, as well as their continuing unifying power."

Entries are due by Sept. 2, and a few suggestions, though no renderings, have been posted to an online gallery. "They should be rebuilt on ground zero just as they were," remarks one. Another says, "I think another should be built in Washington D.C." Makes sense, given the attack on the Pentagon and the hot D.C. office market. "Rebuild them in Athens, Greece, the cradle of democracy," declares a third. There are two votes for Houston and one very annoyed submission. "I've rarely seen such a pointless attempt to self-profit off a tragedy, you guys take the cake," it begins.

There is one suggestion, post to the group's Facebook, that The Observer took for an arch-commentary on what ground zero has become, until we saw it was submitted by a high school student from Indiana: "I say miniature versions, in Lower Manhattan, about one-fourth the size of the originals housing gift shops, skyscraper museums, etc. I'll send full designs soon."

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

That shaft business settled, Si Newhouse signs.

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."

Ug-ly. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed: the shaft, which could cost up to $1 million, will be on the north  side of 1 WTC and will point toward midtown, thereby blowing the detritus of all that sushi and tofu toward Condé's soon-to-be-old home at 4 Times Square.

The shaft could still be visible from the street, however, at 25 feet wide and one story high.

tacitelli@observer.com :: Follow me on Twitter @tacitelli

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 Post reported on its Web site Friday.

The city is acquiring a huge swath of prime downtown office space, even as the mayor preaches fiscal prudence and city agencies are trying to get rid of 400,000 square feet of unused office space. At 250 Broadway, where the City Council is housed, the rent is just $35.07 a square foot through 2014, according to the Post.

Two-thirds of the space at 4 WTC is now spoken for, with the Port Authority already slated to move in as well. The tower is expected to be completed in 2013, and the city's promise to lease space was instrumental in allowing construction to move forward.

One city official told the Post that the package negotiated was made primarily to facilitate the development of the troubled World Center site: "The city could have committed additional cash or capital resources, but the promise to take space was the more desireable [sic] approach for us," said the official.

lkusisto@observer.com

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 in time for the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy. This comes in the wake of a recent deal between Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority, which allots $1.6 billion of public funds to the construction of Towers 3 and 4.

Mr. Silverstein said that Towers 1 and 4 will welcome their first tenants in 2013, and that by 2015, the new World Trade Center site will be complete. He estimates that 250,000 people will either visit or work at the complex each day. At that same press conference, Joe Daniels, the president of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, estimated that the memorial alone would attract five million annual visitors.

For a taste of the sentiment they'll offer, see the newly updated section on WTC progress on the Port Authority Web site: "There is a new spirit at the World Trade Center site. Progress is replacing delay. Decisions are being implemented. And consensus is the order of the day. It’s a new way of doing business, and it’s happening right now."  

For those who can't make it, NY1 will provide minute-by-minute coverage. There's also this live camera feed of the site's progress. Almost as exciting as watching wet paint dry—if only it were in this case.  

lkusisto@observer.com

The board of the Port Authority today voted in favor of a deal struck between Mr. Silverstein, the agency's staff and the city and state governments that provides the developer a bailout package of sorts to allow him to build two towers on the site, provided he can find a relatively small tenant commitment and raise $300 million in capital. Given that the package accounted for hundreds of millions in new subsidies on top of old subsidies already in place, it was not a deal typical of government economic development efforts; but, in the end, the governmental powers that be opted for this over an unending stalemate that rendered the World Trade Center site paralyzed.

And thus the fighting is over. Finally. At least for now.

Assuming Mr. Silverstein (pictured) follows through on his commitments (he should have sufficient money to bring the eastern portion of the site—the only part still a large hole—up to grade), and the Port Authority sticks to its schedule, there will be two completed towers at the site by 2013: the centerpiece 1 World Trade Center and the austere 4 World Trade Center.

Should Mr. Silverstein win tenants and financing for 3 World Trade Center as he begins building it, that would be completed by 2015, according to Silverstein schedules.

With that, soon most every portion of the site will actually be moving up for the first time in the history of the redevelopment (there was a lot of excavation needed on the Silverstein sites to get them ready). All of this has meant a busy few months at the Port Authority, which finalized a purchase agreement for 1 W.T.C. with the Durst Organization, signed a letter of intent with Conde Nast to lease in that tower, and struck a deal with Delta to expand Terminal 4 at JFK.

The video of the board meeting is here.

ebrown@observer.com

Following a rocky initial reception from some Port Authority commissioners, the bi-state agency's board is now scheduled to meet tomorrow, with the expectation that it will approve the Silverstein deal, according to multiple people informed of the meeting.

The Port Authority owns the site and is giving hundreds of millions in direct subsidies and rent abatements to Mr. Silverstein to assist in building two of his towers there. The board had expressed concerns over the initial deal struck in March, feeling it was too generous to Mr. Silverstein on a number of points (such as development fees).

No official notice has gone out yet about the meeting, so things could still change, but for now, it appears the board is ready to approve the deal. 

ebrown@observer.com

The city, state and Port Authority would each put in $200 million, plus rent abatements and other benefits, toward one of Mr. Silverstein's towers—3 W.T.C.—and Mr. Silverstein would continue with work on his portion of the site, per the terms of the deal announced at the time. All of this, however, was tentative, contingent on the Port Authority, Silverstein Properties and the other parties inking a final deal, a task they gave themselves 120 days to do.

That 120-day window closed without much notice in late July, and now, four weeks later, the deal has run into some difficulties at the Port Authority. Presented last week with a term sheet (agreed to by all the other parties), multiple commissioners on the bi-state agency's board have signaled numerous concerns with the deal, according to multiple people familiar with discussions. The reaction has troubled Port Authority officials and others involved in the deal, with many worrying that a finished deal could now take weeks to complete given the board's concerns, or, if talks go poorly, the deal could be imperiled.

All of this comes with a few ticking clocks for the Port Authority and Silverstein. Foremost from the perspective of public perception is a large press event scheduled for Sept. 7 at Mr. Silverstein's 7 World Trade Center. The event is an annual affair meant to show off progress on the site, and local officials frequently attend and give speeches (the mayor and governor might come this year). If a deal is not completed by then, it would clearly be a black eye for the Port Authority and others involved.

Then there is a more practical reason: Mr. Silverstein has been readying a sale this fall of his tax-exempt liberty bonds to finance the construction of Tower 4. Without the bonds, construction could be interrupted; and the firm cannot sell the bonds until a deal is inked.

The Bloomberg administration has been pushing the Port Authority as well, a city official said, with the expectation that the agency will vote well before Sept. 11.

Among other issues, some on the board have concerns with the plan to give Mr. Silverstein development fees during construction (the board had wanted to see all of his fees, which amount to tens of millions of dollars, captured and inaccessible to Mr. Silverstein until the agency is paid back). There are also concerns about the nature of the $300 million that Mr. Silverstein must raise and put into Tower 3 in order for the government to put in its subsidy on the building.

Of course, discord between the Port Authority board and staff could easily amount to a small bump in the road. The agency has a long history of friction between its board and its staff—its bi-state structure lends itself to this—and such back and forth is not unusual on large deals. Further, the board has only seem the term sheet for a few days, so this simply could end up proving a small obstacle on the road to a completed deal.

With that said, the board has been particularly active on this deal, and in March it refused to sign off on a much less detailed term sheet, opting to wait until the final deal is reached. Some of this friction was revealed in a letter from commissioner Henry Silverman to the rest of the board—The Times wrote about this then—that outlined a number of demands, including an insistence that Mr. Silverstein not take development fees until the public is paid back. 

ebrown@observer.com