Time-Warner Center 3 years away.

By March, developers of the AOL TimeWarner Center are hoping to have signed leases with 60 percent of the tenants for the $1.7 billion Columbus Circle project that many claim will become "an icon for the 21st Century."

"We're handpicking those tenants right now. The response has been overwhelming to the project," said Kenneth Himmel, president and chief executive officer of the Palladium Company during a Nov. 14 groundbreaking ceremony for the project.

Himmel was among those who addressed a rain-soaked crowd overlooking the 3.4-acre hole-in-the-ground that -- three years from now -- will be home to AOL Time-Warner, luxury condominiums, office space, a luxury hotel and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Work inside the giant pit stopped temporarily while developers took note of the historic significance of the project and wished out-loud for its timely completion.

"The reason we've been able to put this together is the team we've assembled," Stephen Ross, chairman and chief executive officer of the Related Companies L.P. "We're hope we'll be able to build this on-time and on-budget."

The Related Companies L.P., Apollo Real Estate Advisors L.P., and the Palladium Company are development partners on the project. Bovis Lend Lease is the general contractor.

Himmel said finding tenants early in the construction process has enabled developers to elicit tenant input into the final design details of the project's base. This differs from most developments that contain "speculative" ground-level space that developers plan to lease after construction is completed. Without establishing the tenants prior to construction, it is more difficult to take architectural risks, he said.

"This project is going to be the cap stone of everybody's career," he said.

When the 2.1-million-square-foot development is completed it will contain 864,000 square feet of office and studio space for AOL Time-Warner, 364,000 square feet of retail space, 203 luxury condominiums, the 249-room Mandarin Oriental Five-Star Luxury Hotel, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 193,000 square feet of Glass A office space, and a 548-space underground parking lot.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, there was scant mention of the regulatory questions clouding the merger between AOL and Time Warner. But Ross seemed to be alluding to the merger uncertainty when he said the project "will be the headquarters for Time Warner, which we hope will be joined by AOL."

Many of speakers took note of the project's complexity, with Himmel calling it "the most sophisticated and complex project in the world today." After the foundation work has been completed, over 2,300 workers will be working on the site each day. The owners and workers have negotiated a "nostrike" clause, whereby work cannot be stopped, said Ed Malloy, executive director, Building Construction Trade Council.

"The work will continue unimpeded," Malloy said.

Peter Marchetto, northeast region president of Bovis Lend Lease, also mentioned the project's scope.

"The project will present some of the most difficult construction management challenges ever faced in the city," Marchetto said.