The 52-story site is the first Lower Manhattan office tower to be rebuilt after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. According to Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, the building will top out next month and he expects to have it completed by the beginning of 2006. "Lower Manhattan has a spectacular new skyscraper and a powerful symbol of the rebirth of the World Trade Center," he says.The building will incorporate life-safety enhancements that, Silverstein says, will become the prototype for all new high-rise construction, including the Freedom Tower and four other buildings that he plans for the Twin Towers site. Siegel says he is sure that the safety issue will be "a question that comes up," but he notes that the "building has a lot to offer." Mary Ann Tighe, chief executive officer, New York Tri-State Region for CBRE, adds that the building "will provide tenants with the most advanced technological, environmental and life safety features available anywhere in the world."

The new 7 World Trade Center, which is bound by Greenwich, Vesey, Washington and Barclay streets, was designed by architect David Childs, Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP/New York. 7 World Trade Center Tishman Construction Corp., which built the original 7 World Trade Center for Silverstein, is also serving as general contractor for this project.