Upon completion, Silverstein said the building will provide primary access from Wall Street to the World Trade Center’s underground transportation and retail concourse, which in turn connects to the central PATH terminal and 13 different subway lines.

“When we open our doors, it will not just be for our tenants, it will be for all New Yorkers,” Silverstein said. “I want to thank the people who built this place with their own hands – the men and women of the construction trades. From ironworkers, masons, carpenters, teamsters, laborers, welders…you work everyday rain or shine to reclaim the skyline and give New Yorkers back the city that the terrorists tried to take away.”

When the building opens in 2013, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey will take a quarter of the building, and another 582,000 square feet will be occupied by the City of New York’s Department of Human Resources, where they will consolidate their office space from 180 Water St., 2 Washington St. and 250 Church St.

As for the remainder of the building, Silverstein tells GlobeSt.com that there has been interest from other tenants, but no official deals just yet. “There’s a lot going on,” he said.

The ceremony attracted the city and state’s political elite, including Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Congressman Peter King, Councilwoman Margaret Chin, Councilwoman Julie Menin, New York State Senator Daniel Squadron, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and New York State assembly speaker Sheldon Silver – all who have pushed the redevelopment of Downtown, as well as the Zardoga Bill for first-responders and those affected by the aftermath of the collapse of the Twin Towers.

“Having grown up in Lower Manhattan and living here all of my life and witnessing the September 11^th attacks from my home, it is hard to adequately put into words just how wonderful it is to see this magnificent building come to be the first tower that will open on the World Trade Center site,” he said. “A beautiful tower now stands where a shocking ugliness and terrible pain. It is breathtaking and incredibly inspiring. It is so perfectly symbolic of New York’s can do, never surrender spirit. Gazing upon this building, one can only feel that hope does indeed spring eternal. Many years from now when the work is completed and historians begin writing the story of Lower Manhattan’s rebirth, the greatest comeback story ever to be told, the name Larry Silverstein will be among its pages.”

He added: “Ten years ago, many were saying that Lower Manhattan was dead, that we would never again be a world-class business district. Larry Silverstein refused to accept that fate. He set out to prove the naysayers wrong. He put up 7 World Trade Center and built it when few believed he could. Larry you were right – never bet against New York, and I would say never bet against you.”

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