The Closing with Larry Silverstein

From the archives: Just over 10 years ago, Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, closed on the then-largest real estate transaction in the city’s history: a $3.25 billion, 99-year leasehold on the Port Authority’s 10.6 million-square-foot World Trade Center site. Seven weeks later, the buildings were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Silverstein has spent the better part of the past decade focused on the rebuilding. His 52-story, 7 World Trade Center office tower is now more than 90 percent leased, while the 72-story, 4 World Trade Center is scheduled to open next, in 2013. An alumnus of New York University, Silverstein is the founder and chairman emeritus of NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate and a former vice chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. Click here to read the full Closing from The Real Deal‘s September 2011 issue.