 URL the wall street journal september NUMBER NUMBER commentary rebuild at ground zero by larry silverstein earlier this month we new yorkers observed the solemn anniversary of the horrific events that befell our city on sept NUMBER NUMBER all of those who perished must never be forgotten the footprints of the fallen twin towers and a portion of the NUMBER acre site must be dedicated to a memorial and civic amenities that recall the sacrifices that were made there and the anguish that those senseless acts of terror created for the victims families and indeed for all of us but for the good of the city and the region the NUMBER million plus square feet of commercial and retail space that was destroyed with the twin towers must be replaced on the site about NUMBER NUMBER people worked in the world trade center those jobs are lost along with those of another NUMBER NUMBER people who worked in the vicinity together those jobs in lower manhattan for which the trade center was the economic stimulus produced annual gross wages of about NUMBER billion or NUMBER of the annual gross wages earned in the entire state some of the firms have relocated elsewhere in the city and region but many have not new york city is facing a budget deficit without additional jobs the deficit may become permanent this is one reason for the importance of rebuilding if we do not replace the lost space lower manhattan never will regain the vibrancy it had as the world s financial center love them or hate them and there were lots of new yorkers on both sides of the issue the towers made a powerful statement to the world that said this is new york a symbol of our free economy and of our way of life that is why they were destroyed this is a second reason why the towers must be replaced and with buildings that make a potent architectural statement in recent weeks redevelopment proposals have been circulated from many sources most of these focus not on the trade center site however but on all of lower manhattan further many believe that the NUMBER million square feet either could be located elsewhere scattered in several sites or simply never rebuilt these proposals miss the point what was destroyed and what must be recovered was the trade center not all of lower manhattan except over the towers footprints where there must be no commercial development the office and retail space lost has to be rebuilt on or close to where it was access to mass transit makes the site ideal for office space of this size that was a major reason why the twin towers were leased to NUMBER occupancy before NUMBER NUMBER none of the other sites proposed for office development has remotely equal transportation access with the reconstruction of the subway and path stations plus an additional NUMBER NUMBER billion in transit improvements planned such as the new fulton transit center and the direct train to the plane long island rail road connection the site becomes even more the logical locus of office development and new york will need the space before NUMBER NUMBER the group of NUMBER a task force of civic leaders led by sen charles schumer and former treasury secretary robert rubin concluded that the city would need an additional NUMBER million square feet of new office space by NUMBER to accommodate the anticipated addition of NUMBER NUMBER new jobs the loss of the twin towers only heightens the need as for those who say that NUMBER million square feet of office space downtown cannot be absorbed by the real estate market i would simply point out that history shows them wrong new york now has about NUMBER million square feet of office space all new construction underway already is substantially leased up new york had NUMBER million square feet of vacant office space at the beginning of the recession in NUMBER by NUMBER this space had been absorbed at an annual rate of about NUMBER million square feet we are seeking to rebuild NUMBER million square feet on the trade center site over a period of about NUMBER years with the first buildings not coming on line until NUMBER and the project reaching completion in NUMBER this is an annual absorption rate of about a million feet much lower than the NUMBERs rate those who argue that new york cannot reabsorb office space that it previously had are saying that the city has had its day and is entering an extended period of stagnation and decline i will not accept this view nor will most new yorkers mayor michael bloomberg said in a recent interview with the new york times that the city has to do two things memorialize but also build for the future i believe that the twin towers site can gracefully accommodate and that downtown requires office and retail space of architectural significance a dignified memorial that both witnesses and recalls what happened and cultural amenities that would benefit workers as well as residents of the area the challenge to accomplish this is enormous but our city is up to the task mr silverstein is president of silverstein properties a real estate firm whose affiliates hold NUMBER year leases on the world trade center site r a hettinga mailto rah ibuc com the internet bearer underwriting corporation URL NUMBER farquhar street boston ma NUMBER usa however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity predicting the end of the world has not been found agreeable to experience edward gibbon decline and fall of the roman empire 