No worries over quest to find 7 WTC anchor lease.

Larry Silverstein might have a lot of things to worry about these days, but downtown brokers don't think 7 World Trade Center should be one of them.

With the completion date scheduled for next year, the 1.7 million s/f office building is still without an anchor tenant. But its first rate design and the reputation of its owner are going to be hard to resist, brokers say.

So far, the most likely candidate for the 7 World Trade Center space seems to be the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which was located in the original World Trade Center complex before September 11. But there is also a rumor of a large law firm that is currently considering taking space in lower Manhattan.

"The logical tenant to return to 7 World Trade Center would be the Port Authority. But that said, it wouldn't be surprising if Silverstein were to secure the tenant for the tower of the building in advance of PA's commitment," said David Goldstein, executive managing director with Studley.

"7 World Trade Center is going to have the most sophisticated infrastructure of any class A property in the city and it will be the premier class A facility downtown. It will have 40,000 s/f floor plates, which are very efficient and could work for large law firms, as well as financial firms. Silverstein is going to build a high quality product and he will command premium rents compared with what the balance of the market is offering."

Joel Wechsler, senior managing director with Grubb & Ellis, is also of the opinion that the building's quality alone is guaranteed to get it a tenant.

"7 World Trade Center is the only new construction coming on the market downtown and it has an excellent owner," he said. "There are some law firms that were displaced from the World Trade Center that are looking to come back.

"There is a significant law practice downtown that is rumored to be seriously considering the building for roughly 300,000 s/f. And then there is the government, the Port Authority."

Adam Foster, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis, mentioned that downtown's improving image might help lure new tenants to the area. With the new Path train station and all the residential conversions, it is slowly turning into a 24/7 community.

"Parks are being created, the transportation hub is going to happen, it's starting to look like a better place," he said. "And with the space that is available today in new buildings, tenants are going to be able to make fabulous deals."

At the same time, however, most brokers express an underlying concern about the large blocks of space that are coming on the market as a result of the JP Morgan Chase/Bank One merger.

The rising prices in midtown might make downtown more attractive to some tenants, but will there be enough demand to fill all the vacant space?

"I think the major issue downtown is that many of the traditional users of downtown space--financial services firms, insurance companies--have decentralized their operation and have not started a quest for additional space at this point in time," Wechsler said.