First WTC building comes back to life

NEW YORK, May 24 (UPI) -- The first structure erected near where New York's World Trade Center towers stood before being destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, is a 52-story office building.

At the gala opening Tuesday of 7 World Trade Center, developer Larry Silverstein called it a "reflection of our resolve, our determination, our resiliency," the New York Post reported.

The shimmering $700 million office tower, built atop a 10-story Con Ed substation, stands in stark contrast to the hole that still remains at Ground Zero, the report said.

"When we started construction, there were a million naysayers," said Silverstein, who donated a one acre park in front of the building to the city.

"The net result of all this (is) the opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong. Here we are five years after 9/11 having gotten it done," he said.

The building is about 15 percent leased.

New York Port Authority Executive Director Kenneth Ringler, whose agency fought with Silverstein over who would build what on the WTC site, praised him as "an entrepreneur who takes risks," said newspaper said.