The tower is located on a city block bounded by Greenwich, Vesey, Washington, and Barclay Streets on the east, south, west, and north, respectively.

7 World Trade Center was developed by Larry Silverstein, who holds a ground lease for the site from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

The current building's design emphasizes safety, with a reinforced concrete core, wider stairways, and thicker fireproofing on steel columns.

[1] Restoring the Consolidated Edison substation was an urgent priority to meet power demands of Lower Manhattan; the utility stated that it needed to replace four of the ten destroyed transformers by 2003.

[12] By July 2005, American Express Financial Advisors was planning to lease 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of space, making it the building's first tenant.

[14][15] Although Silverstein intended for the building's design to attract tenants, he wanted occupants to pay $50/sq ft ($540/m2) to lease space by 2005, which New York magazine called "easily the highest price in lower Manhattan".

The park comprises an open central plaza with a fountain and flanking groves of sweetgum trees and boxwood shrubs.

[20] At the center of the fountain, sculptor Jeff Koons created a 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) stainless steel sculpture called Balloon Flower (Red).

[22] The opening was marked by a free concert featuring Suzanne Vega, Citizen Cope, Bill Ware Vibes, Brazilian Girls, Ollabelle, Pharaoh's Daughter, Ronan Tynan (of the Irish Tenors), and special guest Lou Reed.

[41] The building became fully leased that September after MSCI agreed to occupy 125,000 square feet (11,600 m2) on the top floor;[42][43] other tenants at the time included FXDD, WilmerHale, and the bank WestLB.

[49] Wedding planning company Zola[50] and the building's own architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill both leased space at 7 WTC in early 2019.

The office tower has a narrower footprint at ground level than did its predecessor, so the course of Greenwich Street could be restored to reunite TriBeCa and the Financial District.

The window panes on the upper floors are 13.6 feet (4.1 m) high and are made of white glass with low concentrations of iron.

[13] To enclose the power substation and improve its aesthetics, the base of the building has a curtain wall with stainless steel louvers that provide ventilation for the machinery.

[60] The curtain wall around the lobby uses heavily laminated, heat-strengthened glass that meets high standards for blast resistance.

[67] Inside the main lobby, artist Jenny Holzer created an LED installation[16][64][68] with glowing text moving across wide plastic panels.

The space occupied by Mansueto Ventures was designed to maximize natural light exposure and has an open floor plan.

[69] The 40th-floor space used by the New York Academy of Sciences was designed by H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture and includes a reception lobby with an openwork screen; a 296-seat event room; and a horizontal 72-foot-long (22 m) mural.

[74] The building was promoted as one of the safest skyscrapers in the U.S. upon its completion[75] According to Silverstein Properties, it "incorporate[s] a host of life-safety enhancements that will become the prototype for new high-rise construction.