Officials Cheer as Freedom Tower Work Begins

New York, NY —

With two yellow backhoes and a fork lift behind them, a dozen officials cheered the start of construction work on the Freedom Tower. One of them was developer Larry Silverstein, who's building the tower for the Port Authority. He says work on the iconic tower was an opportunity to show resilience and resolve.

SILVERSTEIN: The thought of moving these buildings forward to build the best designed building that we can design, and build to the highest standards of any high rise building in the country, is of great significance.

REPORTER: Silverstein is also building towers 2, 3 and 4 and says they will be open by 2012. This has urban planners concerned that too much office space will come on the market at the same time. But, Mayor Bloomberg says getting all the building done at once is preferable to turning lower Manhattan into an endless construction zone.