Amidst rubble, Silverstein optimistic about the future.

Completely excavated from the mounds of rubble under which it was buried when the Twin Towers were felled four years ago, the WTC Bathtub is now a desolate, empty place. Along its east wall are the exposed subterranean guts of the temporary Path station, a structure of silver girders whose emergency exits empty directly to the gravel-strewn floor of the Bath tub, and whose elegant entrance of glass, steel latticework, and cables stands above on Church Street.

Weeds grow in a small fenced off section encircling a group of rusty manhole covers located roughly in the middle of the site and near a large ramp that provides primary access to the pit floor from the street, three stories above.

In the crystal blue days of early September that are so hauntingly reminiscent of 9/ 11, dragonflies dart playfully through the site and, every so often, a cool breeze off the water manages to dip down, sometimes forcefully enough to kick up mini tornados of swirling dust and dirt.

It's not hard to fathom why the site has been hounded by accusations of stagnancy--such criticism likely would seem right on the mark to one who just takes the time to go downtown and gaze into the Bathtub.

But in a conversation with Real Estate Weekly, developer Larry Silverstein, who has pledged to redevelop the lost office space at the World Trade Center and is nearly complete with the construction of 7 World Trade Center just across Vesey Street from Ground Zero, indicated that the site won't remain bare for long.

"We're about to see a major construction activity commence on the Freedom Tower, we should be going into the ground in April with footings," Silverstein revealed.

The long awaited start of construction for the Freedom Tower won't be the only office development Silverstein will soon embark on.

He said that the architect for the second of the four commercial office towers planned for the Ground Zero site as part of Daniel Libeskind's master plan will be announced by the end of the year and that construction for that building would begin by 2007.

"We will be announcing the choice of architect for the second tower, Tower 2, that's going to happen in the next few months, before the end of this year," Silverstein said.

"And the purpose of that is so we can start the process and go into the ground with that in 2007."

It had been estimated that the costs of building 7 WTC and the Freedom Tower would consume the bulk of the billions of dollars in insurance payouts Silverstein won in trial against his insurers, and that Silverstein would consequently be potentially hampered in developing the other office towers planned for the Ground Zero site.

Perhaps even more discouraging to the construction of the vast amounts of office space Libeskind's master plan calls for is the so far lack of commitment at 7 WTC, a building whose fortunes many brokers say are a measure of demand for the type of new office space planned at Ground Zero.

Silverstein expressed confidence rather than concern for the 1.7 million s/f building, which will be ready for occupancy in March of 2006 and has secured only a single lease for 20K s/f with American Express Financial Services.

"[The lease at 7 WTC] will be the first of many," Silverstein said. "The advent of the incentive program that was put in place by the government has made a major improvement to the level of leasing activity, it has heightened it considerably and so this is a positive force."

Although Silverstein admitted it is unfortunate that visible progress at the site took four years to realize, he echoed what many state and city officials have said of the seeming stagnancy at Ground Zero, which is that the complexity of the planning warranted such a lengthy design stage. "Most people can't appreciate ... the complexity and the planning that's required before you can start physically constructing," Silverstein said.

While not the focus of Silverstein's involvement on the site, the commencement of construction for the WTC transportation hub last week should be an important catalyst he said towards reversing perceptions of the site.

"That was an important milestone, just one of many that we're going to become aware of in the coming months and years," Silverstein said.

"It's a time for the public to see implementation and not just hear about plans but to physically comprehend what is happening on the ground because there will be things to see on the ground that will be significant."

"The perception will change imperially and people will recognize that, by golly, this redevelopment will be going forward in a major way."