Located between Barclay and Park Place, Moody's called the site home before moving to 600,000 sf at 7 World Trade Center. As a result of the move, Silverstein and CalSTRS bought 99 Church St. in late 2006 for $170 million, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. Metro Fund LLC, a joint venture between the two owners, is redeveloping the property.

With office, retail and residential development growing Downtown, Silverstein turned to one real estate industry sorely missing in the neighborhood: hospitality. "Downtown has a hospitality deficit," he explained at a Tuesday morning conference sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown New York and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association. "There are currently 400 fewer hotel rooms Downtown than before Sept. 11." With approximately 2,500 existing rooms, Downtown has less than 4% of all existing hotel rooms in Manhattan, he added.

Silverstein announcing the new hotel-condo project.

Development costs were not released. Construction is slated to begin in June, with a 2011 completion date.

Kathleen Taylor, president and COO, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, explained that all the signals pointed to the hospitality giant going Downtown: a premiere location, perceptive developer, world-renowned architect and a renewed sense of future in the neighborhood. The city is home to one other Four Seasons Hotel on 57 Street, which opened in 1993.