Larry Silverstein Continues Quest For World Trade Center Expansion, 23 Years Later

The man who rebuilt Lower Manhattan is ready for the area to enter its next era. 

Following reports that Silverstein Properties is in exclusive talks with American Express to finally start building 2 World Trade Center, the company's founder and chairman, Larry Silverstein, held a press conference Monday to discuss his new memoir, The Rising, and answer questions about the complex that he has spent the past two decades — and counting — rebuilding. 

The developer didn't confirm the reports and largely dodged questions on the second tower, except to say, “Keep tuned, stuff is happening.” 

If Silverstein does secure American Express as an anchor tenant and lands financing for 2 World Trade Center, the 3M SF project would be the final office skyscraper added to his ​​16-acre mixed-use campus.

Several potential tenants have considered anchoring the development, including News Corp, Citigroup and Jane Street Capital, but Silverstein hasn't landed them. That has prevented his firm from obtaining the capital needed to start construction.

It is an obstacle that Silverstein has faced before. When building the original 7 World Trade Center, JPMorgan Chase, Salomon Brothers and Drexel Burnham Lambert all pulled out of deals with Silverstein, the 93-year-old wrote in his book, which was released on Tuesday. Eventually, Salomon reconsidered, signing a lease for half of the building.

Finding tenants once again became an issue when Silverstein rebuilt 7 WTC following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We got so many goddamn ‘nevers,’ I didn’t know there were so many nevers in the world,” Silverstein told reporters of responses when he was courting tenants for a rebuilt WTC.

But “we had no trouble,” Silverstein said, eventually signing Moody’s to a 600K SF lease in 2006. Now, the built campus is 97% occupied, he said.

The 93-year-old developer still has more dreams for the area. After completing 2 WTC, Silverstein wants to build a residential tower. His firm has partnered with Brookfield, Omni New York and Dabar Development to build the 1,200-unit 5 World Trade Center tower, where a chunk of units will be set aside as affordable housing for 9/11 survivors and their families.

The timeline for construction on that tower remains up in the air, but in the meantime, Silverstein has set his sights on conversions. Last year, Silverstein acquired the majority interest in 55 Broad St. from the Rudin family and is working with Metro Loft to convert the 410K SF office building into 571 market-rate apartments. 

“If it can work, and I think it will, we’ll end up doing many, many more conversions,” Silverstein said.

He believes many other property owners will join him, especially since upgrading aging offices into something that modern-day tenants want is “very tough, incredibly expensive, in most cases, not workable.” 

“You will see [conversions] happening all over the city,” Silverstein said. “It'll change the nature, the exposure and the experience of the city from what it is today into something much more dynamic and exciting for tomorrow.”