Property mogul Larry Silverstein looks back on the arduous rebuilding of Ground Zero

Crystal Cox/Insider

New York City developer Larry Silverstein will always be indelibly linked with the World Trade Center. His real estate firm, Silverstein Properties, won a heated competition to lease the Twin Towers and the surrounding commercial space from the site's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, two months before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 leveled the property, killing nearly 3,000 people.