Larry Silverstein

Larry A. Silverstein (born May 30, 1931) is an American businessman and a billionaire. He is known for his real estate projects. He developed the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. He also owns a home in one of New York's tallest apartment towers, at 30 Park Place. As of December 2024, he had an estimated net worth of US$1 billion, according to Forbes.

Silverstein was born in Brooklyn. He started working in real estate with his father, and together they started Silverstein Properties. He split from his business partner, Bernard Mendik, in 1977. In the late 1970s, he bought several large office buildings in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

In 1980, Silverstein won a contract from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build 7 World Trade Center on Vesey Street, just north of the main World Trade Center site. He also wanted to take over the original World Trade Center complex. When the Port Authority offered it for lease in 2000, he made an offer. He won after a deal between the first winner and the Port Authority fell through. He signed the lease on July 24, 2001.

Soon after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Silverstein said he planned to rebuild. However, he and his insurance companies argued for several years. They disagreed over whether the attacks counted as one event or two under the insurance policy. In 2007, they reached an agreement. The insurers agreed to pay $4.55 billion, which was less than Silverstein had asked for.

Silverstein also had disagreements with other groups working on the rebuilding, including the Port Authority. In an agreement reached in April 2006, he kept the rights to build three office towers: 150 Greenwich Street, 175 Greenwich Street, and 200 Greenwich Street. One World Trade Center, once called the "Freedom Tower," would be owned by the Port Authority. Tower Five would also be owned by the Port Authority. This meant the Port Authority could lease the tower to a different private developer, who could redesign it as a apartment building.

Early life and education

Silverstein was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 1931. His family was Jewish. As a child, he loved classical music and played the piano. He went to the High School of Music and Art in New York. Then he went to New York University, where he graduated in 1952. In college, he worked at a summer camp, where he met his future wife, Klara. They married in 1956 and had three children. His wife worked as a school teacher. She supported the family for the first few years of their marriage. During that time, Silverstein took classes at Brooklyn Law School.

Silverstein started working in real estate with his father, Harry G. Silverstein. He also worked with his friend and brother-in-law, Bernard H. Mendik. In 1957, they started their own company and bought their first building in Manhattan. Silverstein's father died in 1966. After that, Mendik and Silverstein kept running the business together. In 1977, their partnership ended. Mendik wanted to buy buildings, while Silverstein wanted to build new ones.

Career

Main article: World Trade Center (1973–2001)

Main article: September 11 attacks

Silverstein and Mendik stayed in the real-estate business, but in separate companies. By 1978, Silverstein owned five buildings on Fifth Avenue, plus 44 Wall Street and a shopping center in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1980, he fixed up 11 West 42nd Street and got the lease for the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. In 1983, he sold 711 Fifth Avenue to Coca-Cola for $57.6 million. Also in 1980, he bought 120 Wall Street, a building from 1930. In 1991, he set aside 20 floors for nonprofit groups. By 1997, the building had 38 nonprofit tenants, including the National Urban League and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Also in 1980, he won a bid from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to lease and develop the last empty piece of land. He planned to build the 47-story 7 World Trade Center there.

During the 1990s, New York was struggling after the 1987 stock market crash. This left many offices empty at the World Trade Center. After George Pataki became Governor of New York in 1995, the Port Authority chose to offer a 99-year lease to competing bidders. In January 2001, Silverstein made a $3.22 billion bid through Silverstein Properties to lease-purchase the complex. But Vornado Realty offered $30 million more. Boston Properties and Brookfield Properties were also competing. Vornado withdrew in March. Silverstein's negotiated bid, made with Westfield America, Inc., was accepted on July 24, 2001. After Vornado withdrew, it made a deal with Bloomberg LP to finance Bloomberg's new headquarters at 731 Lexington Avenue.

Silverstein often spent his mornings at breakfast meetings at Windows on the World. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, his wife insisted he go to a medical appointment instead. All of the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair that day. Silverstein then had a long dispute over insurance policies covering 1 WTC, 2 WTC, 4 WTC and 5 WTC. Courts settled the matter in 2007, deciding that up to $4.55 billion was payable. In the first insurance trial, Swiss Reinsurance was among the companies found to fall under the "one occurrence" rule. Silverstein appealed and lost in 2006.

As leaseholder, Silverstein had the legal right to rebuild the buildings. This included 1 World Trade Center at the World Trade Center site, which stayed empty while he kept paying rent. After the attacks, the United States Congress approved $8 billion in Liberty Bonds for private development, with money set aside for Lower Manhattan. In 2006, Silverstein gave some of his rights back to the Port Authority so rebuilding could begin. Construction of One World Trade Center started on April 27, 2006. Later, 4 World Trade Center reopened in 2013, 3 World Trade Center opened in 2018, and 2 World Trade Center has not yet been completed. In 2024, Silverstein released his memoir, The Rising: The Twenty-Year Battle to Rebuild the World Trade Center.

Silverstein's other holdings include 1177 Avenue of the Americas. His residential projects include a large complex in Hell's Kitchen, where the twin-towered Silver Towers opened in 2009. He also developed the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., which is home to the Woodrow Wilson Center. In 2006, he agreed to buy 99 Church Street. The tower built there, marketed as 30 Park Place and designed by Robert A. M. Stern, opened on October 5, 2016. Silverstein also developed One West End-style condominiums at Riverside Center, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli. In 1989, he proposed a free trade zone in the Negev region of Israel. In 2020, Silverstein Properties acquired the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles.

Philanthropy

Silverstein has helped his alma mater, the school where he studied. He founded and is chairman emeritus of New York University's Real Estate Institute. He is also a trustee of the New York University Medical Center and Health System. He has served as chairman of the United Jewish Appeal in New York and as a trustee of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. He was also treasurer of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. In addition, he is a governor of the Real Estate Board of New York.

In 2012, Silverstein gave $5 million to Hunter College, which his wife Klara attended. The money helped create the Klara and Larry Silverstein Student Success Center. He surprised Klara with the gift after she gave her farewell speech as chairwoman of the Hunter College Foundation board of directors. That same year, he and Klara gave $5.25 million to New York University School of Medicine. The gift created the Silverstein Scholarship Fund. On May 17, 2017, Silverstein gave the main speech to the School of Medicine's graduating class. Seven Silverstein Scholars were in that class.