Nearly 15 years after the September 11th attacks, the World Trade Center site is almost entirely rebuilt - a symbol of the city's resilience. NY1's Michael Scotto filed the following report.

The World Trade Center is again soaring into the sky. Once a place of destruction and death, the area is alive again - reborn as a vibrant center of business.

"It's a statement by the city, the state that the horrors and murders of nearly 3,000 people nearly 15 years ago was not going to stand," said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye.

Over the last few years, major pieces of the site have opened - from One World Trade Center to the transit center and high-end mall called the Oculus.

Gone are many of the cranes and construction workers. In their place, thousands of office workers - not just from the finance industry - but from the media and technology worlds which have gravitated to the World Trade Center and the surrounding area.

"It's not just people in flannel suits. You see people in hoodies and fashionistas who are coming at different hours and are interested in doing different things, so that has very much changed the look and feel of the neighborhood," said Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin.

Officials say access to transportation and, of course, government subsidies have helped lure those businesses downtown. And more are on the way. 

The 80-story 3 World Trade Center is expected to open in 2018.

NY1 recently took a ride up to the 49th floor to check out how construction is coming along. Work there is underway to build out the interior of the building and to install mechanical systems.  

That progress, though, has its critics who say structures like the $4 billion transit hub are a complete boondoggle and the expensive chain shops soulless. 

Looking back at the complex task of rebuilding the World Trade Center, developer Larry Silverstein still wonders why it took so long. He says he's making progress on finding a tenant to anchor the yet-to-be-built 2 World Trade Center and still expects the building will be constructed by 2021. 

"Then we can sort of sit back and say did we do or good job or didn't we," Silverstein said.

By that point, it will have been twenty years since the site was forever changed...and the city set out to prove its resilience.