Silverstein: Downtown Is Durable, Everlasting

NEW YORK CITY-”Downtown is proving naysayer’s wrong.” So said Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties Inc., in regards to those who believed Downtown was finished after 9/11. The Center for Real Estate Studies at New York Law School presented its one-year anniversary breakfast forum with the World Trade Center developer as its guest speaker on “Building the Future of Lower Manhattan,” on Thursday morning, at the Law School, located at 47 Worth St.

“The redevelopment of the World Trade Center is one of the most challenging and critical real estate projects facing New York City,” explained Professor Andrew Berman, director of the Center for Real Estate Studies. “Not only is the successful redevelopment of the World Trade Center site vital to the future of New York City, but it is also especially important to the New York Law School community given our close proximity.”

Silverstein pointed out to attendees–which included the general public as well as students–that “we are involved in what’s going on Downtown,” noting that those who study, work and live in the neighborhood are the reason why it is such an exciting developable opportunity. “Many believed that Downtown was dead after 5 p.m. and quiet on the weekends,” Silverstein said; however, “the Downtown economy is durable and everlasting. It is reinventing itself.”