World Trade Center projects becalmed

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- A lack of tenants is stalling construction of new office space at Ground Zero in New York, where the World Trade Center towers once dominated the skyline.

The building known as 3 World Trade Center is having such trouble finding tenants that construction has been halted at eight stories, one-tenth of its design, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Larry Silverstein of Silverstein Properties Inc. said a deal with the government forbids him to build any higher without a commitment from tenants.

At the same site, 4 World Trade Center is expected to be completed by 2014. Half of that building is leased by government agencies, the newspaper said.

One World Trade Center, a project of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is also half leased, much of that going to Conde Nast, the publishing firm.

That building is expected to be finished in 2014.

The construction of 2 World Trade Center, another Silverstein project, is completely on hold, also a victim of the slow economy.

"They're excellent office buildings. There's just not demand," said Mark Weiss, vice chairman at real-estate services firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, a firm working to find tenants for the buildings.