A terrific deal for Mr Silverstein — but will Governor Pataki get his monument?

Larry Silverstein, the 75-year-old property developer who bought a lease on the twin towers of the World Trade Center six weeks before they collapsed, has been a lonely defender these past five years of his right to build the office space of his choosing on what to others is sacred ground. But he has played a difficult hand well — not least because he is, by all accounts, a difficult man. Facing off against the Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center site, and the state government, which half-owns the Port Authority, and the city government, which has had its own ideas for the site, he has haggled doggedly over who gets the last say on what gets built. The state and city would have loved to find a way of squeezing him out cheaply. Instead he is likely to be bought out partially and expensively.

Roughly speaking, the compromise now taking shape is that the Port Authority will emerge with rights to build the headline-grabbing 1,776ft-tall Freedom Tower beloved of George Pataki, New York’s state governor. Mr Silverstein will get the rights to build three further towers on a better part of the site, plus $2.6 billion in subsidised loans — a terrific deal, even if he will never admit it.

A couple of weeks ago, just before the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Mr Silverstein showed plans for his three intended buildings from Lord (Richard) Rogers, Lord (Norman) Foster and Fumihiko Maki. They looked as sharp as you might expect and, since these blocks will flank a new railway and subway station, they should be relatively easy to let. Silverstein received a fine politician’s compliment that day from New York’s deputy mayor, Dan Doctoroff. ‘What we are unveiling today,’ said Doctoroff, ‘is a true testament, Larry, to you and to your vision, to your perseverance, which we all sometimes wish you didn’t have as much of.’