Most New Yorkers know Larry Silverstein as the leaseholder on the World Trade Center. What they may not know is that he signed that lease in July 2001, just eight weeks before it was destroyed. "The decision to acquire the trade center was, as it turns out, a terrible one. My timing was awful," says Silverstein. But Silverstein's timing on 9/11 could not have luckier. Rather than attend a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World atop the north tower, his wife convinced him to keep a doctor's appointment, saving his life. One of his first decisions after the attacks was to move aggressively to rebuild 7 World Trade, which had also collapsed. "We needed to do something quickly, because everybody was fleeing Lower Manhattan. Residents, residential tenants were leaving. Commercial tenants were leaving en masse," says Silverstein. The new 7 World Trade reopened in 2006, the first and, to this day, only part of the complex to be rebuilt. At the time, the rest of the site was still a pit, proof, Silverstein says, that he was not the greedy obstructionist some portrayed him as. Rather, he attributes the delays to a lack of continuity. "We've lived with two mayors, four governors of the state of New York, five governors of the state of New Jersey, and five executive directors of the Port Authority," says Silverstein. Now, of course, construction is booming. While the Port Authority took over Tower One, Silverstein is building Towers Two and Three on the eastern side of the site. Those buildings won't be completed until financing and tenants are secured, but Silverstein says there is intense interest. There's also Silverstein's Tower Four, which is now 39 stories and rising. "You can now begin to get a sense of the design quality of that building and the beauty that will be intrinsic in it," says Silverstein. View Downtown Manhattan's future skyline This megacomplex include: Five new skyscrapers (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 WTC) The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center The World Trade Center Transportation Hub 550,000 square feet of retail space Performing Arts Center This vision represents an unprecedented merging of architects, artists, and urban developers, including Santiago Calatrava, David Childs, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Fumihiko Maki, and Richard Rogers. The singular goal is a grand new urban center for 21st century New York. All rights reserved © 2011 Silverstein Properties & Piranha

Comments

1. i still dont get why other people want the old twin towers back, because we all know what happened when one plane hit it.
2. Amazing, though it needs second tall building for harmony. But the 2 second tall building design needs improving.
3. To be fair, the new complex is more modern than the twin towers. Absolutely, the twin towers were fantastic but New York is in a transformation state to become a modern city and the twin towers were old generation.
   
   New complex is awesome and to be honest, the memorial just makes it better. So beautiful made!
4. Rebuilding the twin towers would basically just put up a big neon sign saying: "Attack us again!"
5. I don't like the design. It's the 2010's, they have to look modern I guess, but to me they're plain ugly. I liked the old towers way better.
6. are they building this second tower or are they building that other tower that looks like lego blocks stacked on top of each other ???
7. At night i hear voices in the tower... crying screaming and the smell of death.
8. A arquitetura é incrível!
9. Those new buildings look okay, but it doesn't look like New York anymore.
10. dumb twin towers.
11. 2nd wtc is too agly the new one
12. it's gonna take 8 years to build two wtc construction started in 2010 and won't be finished until 2018 so only two more years
13. I hate the new 2 WTC. It looks like a 2 year old designed it. The one in this vid is what it should've stayed at
14. Anyone know song?
15. Woah wow cool video shoutout
16. You Know, Now That I See This, I Think That It Wouldn't Be That Bad To Have These Buildings In New York, I Think Because Of The HD Quality Of The Video That They Are Beautiful Buildings
17. Hey
18. I hate the 911 they destroyed new York hard work
19. Are they building a 2nd tower
20. THESE ARE GONNA LOOK NICE GOD DAMN