Goldman Sachs has reportedly agreed to spend $2B on a new headquarters near the site of the former World Trade Center.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Investment bank Goldman Sachs will spend $2 billion to build a new headquarters across from the site of the former World Trade Center, according to a published report Thursday.

The New York Times reported the reversal of Goldman's earlier decision to abandon plans for the headquarters in lower Manhattan, citing city, state and company officials who have been briefed on the investment firm's plans. The firm had previously expressed concerns with the security and traffic plans proposed by the state.

The 2 million-square-foot office tower would be on West Street, just west of where the twin towers once stood.

The Times reported Thursday that Goldman would get at least $150 million in new city and state tax credits, as well as $600 million of new Liberty Bonds, a special bond created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attract to help attract businesses back to lower Manhattan through lower borrowing costs. Goldman had already been given $1 billion in Liberty Bonds for its headquarters plans.

Planners also agreed to narrow sidewalks and bike lanes to make room for short pillars designed to reduce the risk of a truck bomb, according to the report.

The paper says that officials have considered the Goldman headquarters crucial to revitalizing the area around the site of the Sept. 11 attack. It is seen attracting other firms that have avoided returning to Lower Manhattan, securing the area as the center of the nation's finance industry.

"This is the biggest shot in the arm for downtown in a very long time," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told the paper. "Hopefully, it is a harbinger of things to come. Businesses have been on hold waiting to see what Goldman would do. The only regret is that it took so long."

Asked how the firm reached its decision, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, Andrea Raphael, declined to comment to the Times.

The building would consolidate the 9,000 workers in Goldman's trading and sales operations, now spread over 10 offices in Lower Manhattan, according to the report, with construction due to start by 2008.

For a look at the other firms eyeing a return to the World Trade Center site, click here.