The building will house the firm's investment banking, investment management and trading operations. Approximately 9,000 Goldman Sachs employees will work in the city and the company expects to add 4,000 jobs in the years to come. The project, which is estimated to cost nearly $2 billion, would be the first development of headquarters space in Lower Manhattan in 16 years. Designed by Henry N. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the building will rise to a height of approximately 740 feet. For previous coverage, click here.

"Goldman Sachs has called Lower Manhattan its home for 136 years and we are proud to reaffirm our commitment to this neighborhood and to the city," the Goldman Sachs Group chairman and chief executive officer Henry M. Paulson, Jr. said during the ceremony. Mayor Michael Bloomberg added that Goldman Sachs is "making the kind of commitment that ensures that Lower Manhattan will remain a center of global commerce in the 21st Century."

The project will be partially financed with up to $1.65 billion in Liberty Bonds. Goldman Sachs is also eligible for up to $25 million in Job Creation and Retention Program funds. Under the Lower Manhattan incentives legislation and the ground lease with Battery Park City Authority, a sales tax exemption on construction costs, initial fit-out expenses and equipment purchases is also available. According to officials, Goldman Sachs will generate at least $8 billion a year in direct and indirect economic activity in the city over the life of the deal. The total discretionary incentive package provided to Goldman Sachs is worth $115 million, independent of Pilot Payments, in state and city funds over the same period. In addition to ground rent, Goldman Sachs is expected to pay approximately $150 million in civic facilities fees to the Battery Park City Authority during the term of the lease.