“More than a half century after Robert Moses first conceived of a redevelopment of Willets Point, Bob and his team have helped us lay the groundwork to achieve it,” says Bloomberg in a statement. “At the World Trade Center site, Coney Island, Hunter’s Point South, Governors Island and so many other important city sites, Bob helped set paths for growth that will benefit generations of New Yorkers.”

Bloomberg adds that simultaneously, Lieber helped the city through “a period of unprecedented national economic turmoil” via expansion of job placement services, the small business loan program and anti-foreclosure efforts, He says that Lieber came into office “with a reputation for getting big things done, and in his time here he certainly has.”

A note of appreciation was also sounded by developer Larry Silverstein in a statement of his own. “Our city has benefited enormously from Bob Lieber’s leadership and vision, as well as his ability to forge consensus among all participants in the city’s economic development agenda, including government agencies, the private sector and the local community,” says Silverstein, president and CEO of SPI. “Together with Seth Pinsky, Josh Wallack and others on his team, Bob managed to steer the World Trade Center parties through long and difficult negotiations. And he did it with grace and charm, despite all the drama and complexity.”

Lieber’s successor will face the task of furthering the Bloomberg administration’s agenda with diminished public funds at both the city and state levels, and a slow rebound of the economic activity that helps replenish them. The mayor earlier his month proposed a budget that would eliminate more than 10,000 municipal jobs, although his four-year infrastructure capital plan remains funded at a high level.