Days before 9/11, businessman took Twin Towers' lease; now, the rebuilding nears end

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, the redevelopment of the 16-acre site has entered its final commercial phase, with construction now under way on 2 World Trade Center, the last office tower envisaged in the original master plan.The 55-storey tower at 200 Greenwich Street broke ground in July and is expected to open in 2031 as the new global headquarters of American Express. The nearly 2-million-square-foot building will accommodate up to 10,000 employees and will be the final commercial office building on the World Trade Center campus to be completed or under construction.For Larry Silverstein, whose company holds the development rights to several of the site’s towers, the construction marks the latest step in a rebuilding effort that began after he took the lease on the Twin Towers for $3.2 billion in July 2001, just weeks before the attacks.“New York has always…