Until a few months ago, the part of New York City where crowds will gather on Thursday morning to mark the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States had been mostly fenced off to the public.
Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler was quoted as saying, "In the aftermath of the attacks, this project would have been hard to predict."
Plans are on hold for construction of 2 World Trade Center while Silverstein seeks tenants.
"Their decision to relocate to the World Trade Center proves that New Yorkers were right to bet on downtown."
"Both MediaMath and GroupM represent the technology, advertising, media and information industries that are currently driving the city's economy," Silverstein said.
He said he plans to open the tower by early 2018. The new date comes after media investment company GroupM signed a 20-year lease to occupy nine of 80 floors.
Developer Larry Silverstein said his company is obtaining financing to complete 3 World Trade Center by early 2018. Its construction was halted last year because the building lacked an anchor tenant.
The center and a transportation hub will open in phases and may not have a grand opening, he said. The center will open when media company Conde Nast moves into its 1.1 million square feet (100,000 square meters) of office space, he said. The
"We owed it to all those who perished" to persist and complete the building, Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler said.
A completed World Trade Center complex will create a vibrant district and make Lower Manhattan a business and shopping destination, they said.
State and city officials held a news conference Tuesday from the 67th floor of 4 World Trade Center, which opened in November.
Two of the four World Trade Center buildings have been completed, and 5 million square feet (460,000 square meters) of office space has already been leased.
The memorial and museum have opened, as have parts of the transportation hub.
The complex sits on the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks and plans include four buildings, the 9/11 memorial and museum, a shopping center, and a transportation hub, known as the oculus.
Thirteen years after the Sept. 11 attacks forever changed the New York skyline, officials say most work at the World Trade Center complex is on track and on budget. Photo: AP
The Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian award, honoring the passengers and crew who were aboard that flight, will go on public display for the first time, the National Park Service said.
Obama is expected to speak at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, during a private ceremony on Thursday morning for relatives of the people killed in the attack on the building.
Although the reconstruction has been plagued by delays, two of the new skyscrapers built around the site of the fallen twin towers are now open, while 1 World Trade Center, the tallest skyscraper in the Western hemisphere, is due to open later this
The Islamist group, which released videos of its fighters beheading two American hostages, has even revived fears of an attack on American soil. US President Barack Obama is expected to announce his strategy to fight Islamic State on Wednesday
While lower Manhattan may look and feel different this year, the external threat to the United States represented by the 9/11 attacks still weighs. Islamic State, a militant group that began as an offshoot of al Qaeda, is viewed by Washington as an
In New York, it is the first commemoration ceremony since the opening of the 9/11 museum and the adjoining repository for unidentified human remains at the site. That is an important milestone for families of the victims, officials say.
Similar ceremonies will also be held in Washington, where a hijacked plane plowed into the Pentagon, and the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where another hijacked plane crashed.
Against that backdrop, politicians, families of those who died in the attacks and other dignitaries will gather on Thursday to observe moments of silence and hear recitations of nearly 3,000 victims' names. It has become an annual ritual.
Rebuilding efforts at the site, where 2,753 people died, are nearing completion. The area, by turns a smoldering grave and an off-limits construction site for more than a decade, is now increasingly reconnected with the surrounding streets.
Marc Jacobs collection for spring 2015. (Photo: official website)