The rebuilding at the World Trade Center site is set to begin today after officials approved plans to erect the Freedom Tower and other buildings where the Twin Towers stood until September 11th.
Developer Larry Silverstein said construction crews will arrive at 8.30am (New York time) to start work on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, the tallest of the buildings, that will stand at a height symbolic of America's independence.
The landowner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, approved the deal that Mr Silverstein had agreed to on Tuesday, ending four years of often acrimonious debate over what to do with the site destroyed by the 2001 attacks.
Three other new office buildings and a residential tower will eventually surround a memorial, museum and cultural centre dedicated to what relatives of the September 11th victims consider a sacred site. Construction would finish by 2011 or 2012.
"Let's keep in mind that the world, the region, everyone was looking for how we rebuild the Freedom Tower and for what it represents in the rebuilding process," said Charles Gargano, vice chairman of the Port Authority board.
The board unanimously approved a "conceptual framework" that will leave some details for later. But officials said the difficult part was over.
Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia said he noticed a change in attitude from Mr Silverstein "toward getting it done" after the famously hard bargainer was given what the Port Authority called a final offer last week.