Law Firm Relocates to Ground Zero
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Two years after the September 11 attack, a New York firm is having a special homecoming. It was forced to relocate after the attack on the World Trade Center towers. But as CNN's Michael Okwu reports, the firm is moving back to Ground Zero.</s>MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Simone is considering the view from his new office, high above 16 acres in lower Manhattan. The world still calls this Ground Zero. And Simone says it's the only view he wants.</s>DONALD SIMONE, THACHER PROFFITT AND WOOD: Personally, I'm excited to be here. We just -- you know, all stay away from downtown and avoid the area, make it a 16-acre cemetery, the terrorists have won. This emergency staircase is -- the main elevator's here.</s>OKWU: Simone worked for Thacher, Proffitt & wood, an office that used to occupy three floors of the south tower. After 9/11, the firm relocated. But this Labor Day weekend, just shy of the two-year anniversary of the attack, Thacher Proffitt is moving back, just across the street, the first major tenant of the towers to return to the site.</s>PAUL TVETENSTRAND, THACHER PROFFITT AND WOOD: We really felt rooted here. We feel like this is a homecoming. It's a -- it sounds silly. I mean, we're business people, we're lawyers. We're supposed to be practical and pragmatic, but we're emotional, too.</s>OKWU: The 300-lawyer firm was lucky not to lose anyone on 9/11, although many employees still replay the images of that day. Still, given the option not to sit by windows overlooking Ground Zero, most staffers said they'd rather witness the rebuilding and the construction of the memorial. There are actually fewer commercial vacancies in downtown Manhattan than elsewhere on the island, partly because people want to return to the area. But maybe, also, because rates are lower. Still, many World Trade Center businesses have relocated uptown, upstate and across the river to New Jersey. Supporting the area's rebirth every day will not always be easy.</s>MARIA LIVANOS, THACHER PROFFITT AND WOOD: It's a rebirth. It's a rebuilding. For me, I'm not there yet. I don't want to see that right now. To me, it's a reminder of what's not there.</s>OKWU: Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.