Silverstein's big announcement.

Larry Silverstein said it, CB Richard Ellis executives said it. and so did Jones Lang LaSalle head honcho Peter Riguardi: contrary to rampant speculation that 7 World Trade is close to leasing hundreds of thousands of square feet, there are no imminent deals in the works just yet for the 1.7 million s/f tower that so far has received only 20,000 s/f of commitment.

A speaker at CB Richard Ellis's annual Downtown Market Forecast Breakfast last Friday, Silverstein, it was rumored, would make a much awaited announcement regarding the completion of a big lease at 7 WTC.

He seemed poised to do just that after speaking on the various developments and progress at the World Trade Center site.

Tapping the audience's palpable anticipation Silverstein said, "There has been much rumor of new arrivals coming to this territory. I've seen speculations of this in the press ... and I decided that this is the perfect place for an enormously important announcement about our newest arrival."

But it wasn't the arrival the audience was expecting.

Lisa, Silverstein's daughter, "just gave birth to a 7 pound baby boy on Monday the 17th," Silverstein proudly announced, drawing surprise and laughter from the audience.

As for arrivals measured in square feet rather than pounds, Silverstein didn't have anything to report.

It has been rumored that the Chinese real estate firm Vantone is on the verge of signing a lease at 7 WTC for roughly 200,000 s/f. But Riguardi, who is repping Vantone in its Manhattan space search, took the same line as Silverstein and indicated that a deal wasn't imminent.

Another rumor circulated last week that Citlgroup was also considering signing on at 7 WTC.

Despite denials of any deals, a source told REW that "there is a better than 50% chance" that either the Vantone or Citigroup deals would soon go through.