Larry Silverstein and Downtown Shenzhen, China

Silverstein Properties’ chairman Larry Silverstein is looking to expand his real estate investments in China and will also enter the Israeli market, Bloomberg News reported. [more]

David Cooper of WSP Group

After consolidating its four U.S.-based businesses last month, London-based global engineering firm WSP Group plans to bring a new focus on integrated design to several New York City projects, including the World Trade Center site and 432 Park Avenue, the New York Observer reported.

The new focus on integrated design, or the principal of concentrating on how a building functions through all its collective systems, will begin at the World Trade Center site, where the firm is already involved, David Cooper, acting president and CEO of the company, told the Observer. [more]

From left: Larry Silverstein, 1 WTC and the Empire State Building

New York City’s commercial real estate industry is edgy over the possibility of the government yanking what has come to be known as terrorism insurance, the New York Post reported.

The program, called the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, comes up for renewal next year; if Congress does not extend it, the cost of doing business will increase for owners of iconic properties — their insurance premiums will rise and their buildings will drop in value. [more]

9/11 Memorial

World Trade Center Properties, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties, lost its bid to prevent American Airlines from using “act of war” as a defense to its alleged negligence in the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bloomberg News reported. [more]

120 Wall Street

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers is leaving behind Murray Hill for a skyscraper in the Financial District.

The nonprofit signed a long-term, 16,506-square-foot lease at the Silverstein Properties-owned 120 Wall Street after scouring Midtown South and Downtown for two years, said Leon Manoff of brokerage Colliers International in a release reported by the New York Observer. Asking rents were in the upper-$30s per square foot at the property, where the organization will occupy the full 23rd floor. [more]

From left: Larry Silverstein, Martin Burger and a rendering of 30 Park Place

Silverstein Properties has reached an agreement with a London-based investment firm for a construction loan of up to $660 million to build an ultra-luxury Lower Manhattan tower, the Wall Street Journal reported. [more]

From left: Larry Silverstein and Marty Burger

Larry Silverstein is stepping down as chief executive of Silverstein Properties, the Wall Street Journal reported.  [more]

120 Broadway and Larry Silverstein

The YMCA Retirement Fund has inked a 15-year, 52,000-square-foot lease at 120 Broadway, an office building owned by Silverstein Properties, the New York Observer reported.  [more]

Tal Kerret, Silver Suites Offices and 7 World Trade Center

Half of Silver Suites Offices, a collaborative work space in the Financial District, is already leased — only two months after its launch by developer Silverstein Properties, Tal Kerret, a company senior vice president, told the New York Observer. [more]