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  #641  
Old Posted Apr 21, 2009, 11:32 AM
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Once again, even as critics say the market is dead, there is yet another search in Manhattan for office space...

Quote:
http://www.observer.com/2009/real-es...0k-square-feet

Depository Trust Seeks 700K Square Feet

By Dana Rubinstein
March 24, 2009

The stultifyingly named Depository Trust is one of the latest tenants to tantalize the Manhattan real estate market.

...the Trust is looking for 700,000 square feet, since its lease is up in 2012, according to sources.

http://www.observer.com/2009/real-es...eeds-new-us-hq

Quote:
Zut Alors! French Bank Needs a New U.S. HQ

By Dana Rubinstein
March 31, 2009

Société Générale has hired CB Richard Ellis to scout for new space, thanks to the impending expiration of its 1221 Avenue of the Americas lease in 2013, according to sources.

Sadly, neither CB Richard Ellis nor the French banking giant would comment for this story. But one source told us the bank is looking for something like 500,000 feet, which would make it one of the bigger kids on a leasing block

Doesn't mean these are tenants that would move to the WTC site, but the market isn't completely dead, even today.

http://www.observer.com/2009/real-es...nancial-center

Huge, Credit-Worthy Tenant Deloitte Thickens the Plot at World Financial Center

By Dana Rubinstein
April 20, 2009

The plot has thickened at Brookfield Properties' World Financial Center, a mammoth office complex that's been the source of endless speculation since Bank of America bought its primary tenant, Merrill Lynch, during the bank consolidations of yesteryear.

Now, new complications! Deloitte -- the enormous accounting firm with headquarters at Two World Financial Center--has issued a request for proposals to landlords across the city in search of between 600,000 and 800,000 square feet of office space, according to industry sources.

Deloitte's reps at Cushman & Wakefield, John Cefaly and Dale Schlather, wouldn't comment for this story, but insiders tell The Observer that the landlords of both 11 Times Square and the future 4 World Trade Center have received the request for proposal.


Lord knows, Deloitte, whose lease isn't up for a while yet, has ample opportunities. The suffering and/or demise of the commercial real estate's three pillars -- finance, law and media/advertising -- have left the market with a surfeit of lovely office space and a paucity of tenants. Aside from the two aforementioned buildings, the old New York Times building at 229 West 43rd Street, and Merrill's current 4.2 million square feet at World Financial Center could also accommodate the tenant.

Stay tuned. The Observer will have more on this in Wednesday's print edition.
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  #642  
Old Posted Apr 21, 2009, 6:28 PM
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"If You Build It They Will Come"
     
     
  #643  
Old Posted Apr 21, 2009, 7:21 PM
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Originally Posted by A-K O.G. View Post
"If You Build It They Will Come"
this is probably the most important phrase to remember for this project
     
     
  #644  
Old Posted Apr 21, 2009, 8:31 PM
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Well, that is Silverstein's theme.
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  #645  
Old Posted Apr 22, 2009, 11:48 AM
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This pertains to the Freedom Tower, but it has more to do with that report that came out last week that called for delaying the other office towers...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04212009...382.htm?page=0

CUSHMAN ZEROES IN ON 1 WTC


April 21, 2009


THERE are lies, damn lies and statistics. And then, there are numbers games that go even beyond parsing present-day realities, but instead presume to predict the future based on a mistaken reading of past history.

In certain fields, this is called "risk analysis." In the real world, it's called "guesswork."

It's that latter category into which the widely reported, "confidential" Cushman & Wakefield analysis for the Port Authority falls.

Not only that, but it's guesswork commissioned by a bureaucracy that just happens to be Cushman & Wakefield's client.

The brokerage is the PA's leasing agent for 1 World Trade Center, the 1,776 foot-tall tower now under construction.

The study has the effect of discrediting both the strategy and purposefulness of Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein, with whom the PA is locked in a brutal battle over financing -- a fight in which the PA isn't necessarily wrong.

But, according to the study, leasing prospects for Silverstein's new office towers at Ground Zero are dim, and one of his buildings might not even start construction until 2026.

The PA is using the analysis to buck Silverstein's pitch for the agency to "backstop' financing on Towers 2 and 3. If Tower 2 faces leasing prospects as bleak as the analysis suggests, and if the developer won't even start Tower 3 until 17 years from now, why should the PA back him up to the tune of a dime?

Now, downtown obviously faces trouble over the short term, thanks to Wall Street's retrenchment and alarming, looming job losses (although it's today tied with Midtown South as the strongest office market in the US, with a scant 8.1 percent vacancy rate as reported last week by none other than Cushman & Wakefield).

But can today's travails justify an utter loss of faith in New York's commercial resiliency five and 10 years from now?

Cushman is a great global firm; its leadership, influence and integrity are not in question.

But its risk analysis for the PA -- done not by its regular office market-research team but by its corporate investment-banking group -- is loaded on the side of permanent doom and gloom.

When I asked Cushman CEO Bruce Mosler if he endorsed the report, he said he wasn't "involved" in its preparation, but merely reiterated his view, which he's enunciated before, that the office space lost on 9/11 should not be rebuilt "all at once."

Later, Cushman decided to show us the report but without letting us make or keep a copy.

Unless I've forgotten how to do arithmetic, its methodology falls well short of offering a fair or helpful guide to forecasting how well Silverstein's towers might do.

In fairness, it did not state -- as was reported elsewhere -- that Silverstein would delay building Tower 3 until 2026.

In fact, that notion was merely part of a larger, "what-if" scenario for the whole WTC site that an executive involved in writing the report termed "one possibility."


Among the study's chief predictions is that Silverstein's 2.8 million square-foot Tower 2 (or 2 WTC) will lease up at the sluggish rate of around 250,000 square feet per year.

That was based mainly on two facts: First, from 1995-2008, downtown saw a total 2.5 million square feet of Class-A office leasing annually (including new leases and renewals). Second, during that period, the annual "capture rate" of downtown's total leasing volume by new, "trophy" buildings was only 10 percent.

But wait: During that period, only one new, trophy product actually came to market downtown: Silverstein's 7 WTC, which has leased 83 percent of its total 1.7 million square feet since it opened three years ago.

That's 470,000 square feet annually -- nearly twice the 250,000-a-year forecast for 2 WTC.

The PA would not comment on the record.

But authority insiders are known to believe that 7 WTC actually had a leasing advantage in that it's a great building and because insurance financing allowed Silverstein to take lower rents.

That will surprise anyone who recalls Mayor Bloomberg accusing Silverstein of asking too much; or who's aware of the baggage the "World Trade Center" name carried at the first tower to be rebuilt after 9/11, or of the continued blight of ruined Fiterman Hall at 7 WTC's foot.

Here's another weird fact about the Cushman survey: It forecasts that while 2 WTC's 2.8 million square feet will re quire 11 years to lease up, the 1.5 million feet still available in the PA's 1 WTC (which pre-leased some space to government agencies and China's Vantone) will need only four years to fill, if the towers open at the same time by the end of 2013.

That means the remaining floors of 1 WTC will somehow fill at the rate of 375,000 square feet a year, compared with only 254,000 feet a year at 2 WTC.


How likely is that, though -- considering that 2 WTC will have a better location with closer subway access, and carry none of the baggage that might be associated with a former "Freedom Tower" full of government offices?

A PA insider claims the agency wasn't predicting that 1 WTC would whip 2 WTC in a leasing race -- only that it's proposing a slower leasing pace for 2 WTC as a favor to Silverstein's bottom line, a notion hard for us to comprehend.

Cushman, for its part, says the leasing chart was based on the "assumption" that Silverstein won't even try to bring tenants to 2 WTC until he's filled every square inch of smaller 4 WTC, the first of his towers scheduled to go up.

Lots of "assumptions" indeed in this report -- every one of them in favor of the PA's side, and none in favor of Silverstein's.
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  #646  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 5:18 AM
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http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_313/wardfires.html

Ward fires back at Silverstein in W.T.C. fight


The Port Authority wants to continue construction of Towers 1 and 4, and build retail podiums at the Tower 2 and 3 sites. Silverstein Properties has offered to delay Tower 3 construction, but wants the Port help to begin building 2 now.


By Julie Shapiro
April 24 - 30, 2009

Adding too much office space too quickly at the World Trade Center could spell disaster for the city’s real estate market, Chris Ward, executive director at the Port Authority, said this week.

Ward does not want to back the financing for Towers 2 and 3, which Silverstein Properties hopes to build at the site, because the Trade Center will already have two other office towers coming online in the next five years: One W.T.C. and Tower 4. Those new towers will present enough of a leasing challenge as financial firms shutter their Lower Manhattan offices, Ward told Downtown Express in an interview at the Port’s offices.

“The market we are all competing for is so limited,” Ward said Tuesday. “Saying we need to be thoughtful about the market isn’t being restrictive — it’s being realistic.”

The Port has fallen under fire from Larry Silverstein’s camp for not helping Silverstein finance Towers 2 and 3. Silverstein executives have accused the Port of being overly pessimistic about Downtown’s future.

Ward said that is not the case.

“The idea that somehow the Port Authority is restricting Silverstein from building or deterministically saying that the real estate market won’t be back is false,” Ward said. “He could build today if he had a tenant and someone lent him the money. When the market is back, it won’t be because the Port Authority said, ‘Come back.’… It will happen because of market forces.”

Larry Silverstein has not been able to get financing for Towers 2, 3 and 4 and has not yet signed any tenants beside the city and Port Authority. The Port, which is building One W.T.C., also known as the Freedom Tower, has reportedly offered to invest $1 billion in helping Silverstein build Tower 4 and build the infrastructure of Towers 2 and 3 to grade, with six-story retail podiums on top. But the Port wants Silverstein to wait to build Towers 2 and 3 until Silverstein can get private financing.

Silverstein replied with a counteroffer: He wants to build Tower 2 now, and is willing to wait on Tower 3. In response, the Port commissioned a Cushman & Wakefield report projecting that Tower 2 would take 11 years to lease if it opened in 2014 with the other buildings.


Citing a confidentiality agreement, Ward declined to discuss details of the $1 billion offer the Port made to Silverstein but said it was imperative that Silverstein accept and not continue holding out to build Towers 2 and 3 now.

“I just don’t see a Plan B,” Ward said. “The implications of that — I don’t want to consider them.”

If the Port and Silverstein do not resolve their dispute by the end of the summer or early fall, the site will see serious delays, Ward said.

Bud Perrone, a spokesperson for Silverstein Properties, said in a statement that the Port’s proposal would “put off finishing the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site for decades, based on pessimistic projections about the future of New York and Downtown’s economy. We obviously disagree.”

“It’s at a stalemate,” added a rebuilding source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The source guessed that the dispute will go into arbitration, just as a comparatively minor dispute did last fall.

In the meantime, the Port is planning ahead as though Silverstein agreed to the proposed deal. The Port is already designing the glossy, white retail podiums, but declined to release the renderings. They would be placeholders for Towers 2 and 3 for 10 to 15 years. Ward said the podiums could contain public space, perhaps like the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, in addition to retail.

“In any other city, a six-story structure is a good-size building,” Ward said.


He gave examples of other towers in New York that were built on smaller structures, including the Hearst building in Midtown. Coincidentally or not, Lord Norman Foster designed the Hearst tower and is Silverstein’s architect at Tower 2.

Faith Hope Consolo, a retail broker, said the podiums could attract high-quality retail if the Port and Silverstein agreed to keep the stores in place for at least 10 years without beginning construction on the towers above.

“That’s still one of the most desirable retail locations Downtown,” Consolo said.

In planning for the future, Ward hopes to learn lessons from the leasing of the original World Trade Center, when the Port priced the millions of square feet of space below market value and dragged down the real estate market citywide. That’s what happens when public dollars are spent building office space without private demand, Ward said.

The rebuilding source said the leasing of Silverstein’s new office towers would look more like 7 W.T.C. than the original Trade Center. At 7 W.T.C., Silverstein priced the space above the surrounding market in the face of harsh criticism from the mayor and others, and waited until he found tenants who would pay his prices.

Like 7 W.T.C., the green Silverstein towers will draw from Midtown and outside of the city, not just poach tenants from other Lower Manhattan buildings, the source said.

“It’s space unlike anything else that’s here,” he said. And since few office buildings are rising now, new office space will be hard to find in the city five years from now, the source said.


Ward said it’s not up to the Port Authority to predict markets, but that the markets are making themselves clear and the Port is already offering to pump extra money into Silverstein’s ventures, just not as much as Silverstein wants. The Port is arguing that its offer is generous since without it, Silverstein would likely lose the sites under their 2006 agreement since he cannot build the towers as promised.

“We are in effect financing Larry Silverstein,” Ward said. “It was supposed to be a public-private partnership.”

Perrone, the Silverstein spokesperson, said that the Port hasn’t lived up to its end of the deal, since the Port has been late delivering the sites and announced last October that infrastructure like the PATH hub and Vehicle Security Center were years behind schedule.

Julie Menin, chairperson of Community Board 1, said that rebuilding the World Trade Center is imperative, but the Port Authority also has to be careful how much money goes to subsidize Silverstein.

“To build all these buildings on spec without any hope of getting a tenant in certainly isn’t responsible,” Menin said.

The site’s schedule has been another point of contention between the Port and Silverstein. Janno Lieber, president of Silverstein’s World Trade Center Properties, recently criticized the Port for not having a detailed construction schedule for the entire project to match the broad timeline released last fall.

A Port Authority official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Lieber was right that the detailed schedule does not exist. The official said Lieber was not wrong to be concerned, and the Port is working on building that type of schedule for some aspects of the project, like bringing steel at the site to grade.

“We’re concerned about it and we’re working on it,” the official said. “But I don’t think you necessarily have to say that the only way you know you can build it is if you have a whole schedule.”
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  #647  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 5:59 AM
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http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categor...id=31&id=27806

Sen. Golden Says: “It’s Time to Stimulate The Freedom Towers”

by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 04-23-2009


Senator Martin Golden has called on President Barack Obama to dedicate funding specifically for the construction of the Freedom Towers — all three buildings totaling 7.57 million square feet — as part of his economic stimulus package for the nation.

“New York City has had a hole in its heart since 9/11,” said Senator Golden. “That hole cannot be filled, and the pain of that day cannot be lessened until we build the Freedom Towers. The attack on the World Trade Center is recognized around the world as the image of September 11, 2001. President Obama should make a statement to New York, the nation and the world by providing the economic stimulus needed to build the three Freedom Towers in lower Manhattan. Americans are dying to see freedom rise at the former World Trade Center site.”

The Port Authority and the property developer, Larry Silverstein, are currently in discussions regarding the funding of the construction of the Freedom Towers. Financial concerns seem to again be halting progress at this site delaying the completion of construction almost another 30 years.

“The working families of our great State should not be sitting idly by because of a disagreement between New York, New Jersey and the developer. We need jobs and we need them now. The offices in these planned buildings will provide a real economic stimulus to New York and America once they are built and operational.

“President Obama has a golden opportunity to provide direct economic stimulus to the working men and women of our State. It’s time for our President to back his words with action. There is no greater area in American that requires economic recovery that Ground Zero.”
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  #648  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 6:01 AM
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This Ward is an idiot.

A six story structure in any other city is a good sized building? Yes okay, but this is NYC and this is the WTC, are you really that dumb?

If they build the podiums, I doubt they will ever actually build the towers above them. Why not just build the towers and allow people to rent them out when they rent them out.
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  #649  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 1:09 PM
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Originally Posted by NYCLuver View Post
This Ward is an idiot.

A six story structure in any other city is a good sized building? Yes okay, but this is NYC and this is the WTC, are you really that dumb?
Yeah, this guy is out of control with his ridiculous commentary. This is just one more example of the danger faced from not using our resolve to rebuild the site quickly. When you look at how hard it is to build the complex now, you realize how amazing it was that it got built in the first place. When things are right, the City can build almost anything. The Robert Moses run entities were public, and things got built. The Port Authority, another public agency, got the original WTC built.

Quote:
In the meantime, the Port is planning ahead as though Silverstein agreed to the proposed deal. The Port is already designing the glossy, white retail podiums, but declined to release the renderings. They would be placeholders for Towers 2 and 3 for 10 to 15 years. Ward said the podiums could contain public space, perhaps like the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, in addition to retail.

“In any other city, a six-story structure is a good-size building,” Ward said.
But now we are to believe that a $3 Billiion train station is a suitable investement for what would essentially be a shopping mall.

Quote:
Faith Hope Consolo, a retail broker, said the podiums could attract high-quality retail if the Port and Silverstein agreed to keep the stores in place for at least 10 years without beginning construction on the towers above.

“That’s still one of the most desirable retail locations Downtown,” Consolo said.
Why this idiot thinks someone would agree not to build the office space for another 10 years just so retail could stand is beyond me, but someone should inform her that the retail at the WTC was desirable because of the office workers there. All of the businesses (those that survived) have been hurt because of the loss of those workers.
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  #650  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 4:17 PM
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I'm quickly losing faith in NYC. Don't these officials have any foresight? Well, besides the one guy who is now asking for stimulus money. That should have been done months ago. I'd like to see the general populace object to stimulus money going to rebuild the site after all of the complaining people do about it being a hole in the ground 8 years later.
     
     
  #651  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 4:17 PM
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Obama got a lot of support (I mean a lot of support) both in votes and financial support during his campaign from New York. He should show his appreciation for that support by doing exactly as Sen. Martin Golden is saying: send some Federal aid to help rebuild the WTC.

The city and the rebuilding WTC effort desperately needs it.
     
     
  #652  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 10:52 PM
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I'm sick of this nonsense. Excuse my language but the fucking government should have helped in funding this project. They're the ones who ignored all the warnings prior to 9/11 therefore it's their responsibility to make this right. Let's stop clowning around and get this fucking thing built already. The families of the 9/11 victims would be proud to see something built there and it would display America's true strength.

Last edited by NYguy; Apr 25, 2009 at 12:42 AM.
     
     
  #653  
Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 11:24 PM
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This is so sad to hear. Forgive me for getting off topic, but I think this boils down to the source of our country's many problems - foresight, or a lack thereof. The 2 and 3 will likely (and must IMO) be built, so why do it half-assed?

IF these are all built, I see no evidence of why they would not be filled. I've heard "if you build it they will come" used lightly here, but seriously - there's no way these things would sit empty.

Last edited by NYguy; Apr 25, 2009 at 12:42 AM.
     
     
  #654  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2009, 12:53 AM
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What's alarming about what has become the latest WTC brawl is the lack of any of the so called "leaders" getting involved with this. Sheldon Silver, who some argue is the most "powerful" man in the state, once breathed fire and threatened to stop all west side development for fear it would stall development of the WTC Downtown. Yet, he's been in hiding when the WTC faces a real threat. Bloomberg is too busy trying to buy another election. Governor Paterson is too inept, and I'm not sure if Governor Corzine even knows where the WTC is. So now if falls on the lesser known guys, the guys who really lack the "bully pulpit", unless they march on Albany.

Quote:
Senator Martin Golden has called on President Barack Obama to dedicate funding specifically for the construction of the Freedom Towers — all three buildings totaling 7.57 million square feet — as part of his economic stimulus package for the nation.
At the very least, it should put a spotlight on the debacle that's been going on, most of it at the hands of the Port Authority. I can't believe that those guys running the PA are so stupid as to believe that the Manhattan office market - which prides itself on its new, Class A office space, will see virtually no demand for a decade or more. Could be that it's an attempt to wrest control of the site back from Silverstein, who defaults on his lease if he can't get these towers built by 2013.
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  #655  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 12:47 AM
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Just one more reason why I'm getting to the point I don't even care to watch the news anymore - I think the best thing to do is just tend the garden for the next few years and pray a lot and then sneak a peek at the skyline maybe 5 years from now...

Just depressing.
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  #656  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 12:14 PM
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Just one more reason why I'm getting to the point I don't even care to watch the news anymore - I think the best thing to do is just tend the garden for the next few years and pray a lot and then sneak a peek at the skyline maybe 5 years from now....
The Manhattan skyline, even now, just can't be ignored. And the Freedom Tower is rising (if the Port Authority had its way, that one wouldn't be rising at all). Something has got to give either way, because the foundations (and all that comes with that) have to be built. So let the game of chicken continue...
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  #657  
Old Posted May 3, 2009, 11:49 AM
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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article.../SUB/305039985

WTC solution hinges on Larry
Many made mistakes, but Silverstein must lead a compromise


May 2, 2009

Another impasse at the World Trade Center threatens the meager progress that has been made in rebuilding the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Citing the financial crisis, developer Larry Silverstein has asked the Port Authority to guarantee financing for the three towers he is slated to build over the next six years. The agency is willing to guarantee only one office building. It says that construction of any more is foolish, given the contraction of the financial industry, and that backing more WTC towers would force it to devote all its resources to downtown rather than other needed projects. Mr. Silverstein—who optimistically says downtown will re-bound sooner than most observers think—is cranking up the pressure by blocking the Port Authority from completing the underground work necessary for construction to continue.

While a compromise is necessary, the Port Authority at this point holds the high ground. The agency has made many mistakes at the site, as have the city and the state. But that doesn't have much bearing on the current situation. Three considerations are paramount:

1. Mr. Silverstein's optimism.

The unique feature of the World Trade Center site is that the developer has no money at stake. Mr. Silverstein has used his insurance proceeds to reclaim the equity he originally put into the site. Meanwhile, he's gotten some $150 million from the Port Authority as a fee for turning over to the agency the right to build what used to be called the Freedom Tower, as well as from his insurance. He will collect fees if construction is undertaken on his towers, profit handsomely if he builds towers that succeed, and lose nothing if they fail.

2. The Port Authority's proposal.

The agency will finance Mr. Silverstein's first office building, and it has agreed to move its headquarters there at an above-market rent. The city has committed to taking space as well, reducing the need to lure other tenants to make the building viable. In return, the Port Authority wants to share in any profits.

3. The question of an additional tower.

Some officials question the rest of the Port Authority's plan, which is to build the bases of the two remaining towers to house retailers, as well as infrastructure crucial for the entire site. Eventually, when demand warrants, towers could be built above them. Critics say the agency underestimates the cost of building the bases and overes-timates their attraction for retailers. Even if that's true, the only alternative is to build a major office tower with no tenants in a terrible market. That is the definition of speculation, and the question is who should bear the risk.

If Mr. Silverstein believes that additional office towers will be a smashing success, he should be the one to put up the money to build them. He can do so by using the insurance proceeds that he diverted to himself or by cashing in some of his other assets. If others agree with him, like the city, they can put up money, too.

Time is running out. Without a resolution, the Sept. 11 memorial won't open by the 10th anniversary of the attacks, which would be a sign of failure to the entire world. It is up to Mr. Silverstein to lead the way to a compromise.
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  #658  
Old Posted May 3, 2009, 11:59 AM
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http://www.nypost.com/seven/04202009...273.htm?page=2


April 20, 2009

The Mexican standoff is egging on those with their own vested reasons for opposing any new office construction. Real estate titan Mort Zuckerman's Daily News yesterday mendaciously editorialized for throwing out all of Silverstein's towers, citing a "glut of office space on the market" -- even though Downtown's mere 8.1 percent vacancy rate is the lowest of any large American business district.
Once again, just a couple of weeks later, Boston Properties' Mort Zuckerman uses his paper's editorial page for his argument against rebuilding. They hide behind "transparency", but read the full editorial. SHAMELESS.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/..._builder_.html

Come clean on Ground Zero: Port Authority must end secret talks with builder

May 3rd 2009

The future of Ground Zero remains shrouded in secret negotiations between the Port Authority and builder Larry Silverstein. It's time to bring the discussions into the open.

Silverstein and the authority are haggling over billions in public money as well as the shape and timing of construction on the city's most important development site.

Outrageously, they have signed a confidentiality agreement to prevent scrutiny of their talks. PA Chairman Anthony Coscia and Executive Director Chris Ward should have known better than to enter such a deal. They should shred the pact forthwith.

Paralyzed by the economic downturn and the financial crisis, Silverstein has reportedly asked the PA to finance two office towers with at least a couple billion dollars. Coscia and Ward have reportedly countered by offering $1 billion to help Silverstein build a single skyscraper.

The authority has no business diverting public money from transportation projects, let alone a billion or two, to support a real estate development that has no tenants and not a prayer of private financing.

The virtual certainty is that, together, Silverstein and the PA would end up with vacant, publicly financed office buildings that compete against the authority's own enormous skyscraper project, formerly known as the Freedom Tower.

Coscia and Ward apparently believe that it's wise to shore up Silverstein with public money. That being the unfortunate case, they need to explain their thinking to New Yorkers at large, as well as to the 9/11 families, who have the highest stakes in progress on Ground Zero.

What happens between Silverstein and the PA will determine, among other things, the schedule for completing the memorial to those killed in the terror attack.

When Ward took over as Port Authority chief a year ago he vowed to end the confusion, deceptions and incompetence that plagued rebuilding on the World Trade Center site. He also promised full accountability and transparency.

He can fulfill his pledge by presenting a full public brief that explains the choices facing the PA as well as the grounds for his recommendations. New Yorkers need to know what's going on at Ground Zero.
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“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
     
     
  #659  
Old Posted May 3, 2009, 12:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYguy View Post
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/..._builder_.html

Paralyzed by the economic downturn and the financial crisis, Silverstein has reportedly asked the PA to finance two office towers with at least a couple billion dollars. Coscia and Ward have reportedly countered by offering $1 billion to help Silverstein build a single skyscraper.

The virtual certainty is that, together, Silverstein and the PA would end up with vacant, publicly financed office buildings that compete against the authority's own enormous skyscraper project, formerly known as the Freedom Tower.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...FREE/904169973

Quote:
Mr. Ward said the Port would be willing to finance one tower and then build portions of the other two that would allow for retail on the site. He said when the credit markets improve, Mr. Silverstein could seek funding for his additional towers.

“We are not asking the Port Authority for money. We are asking them to backstop our financing, which will allow us to obtain conventional financing so we can build these towers,” said Janno Lieber, president of the World Trade Center Properties, in a statement.
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NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
     
     
  #660  
Old Posted May 4, 2009, 10:40 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,692
The elephant in the PA's quarterly report...
http://www.panynj.gov/wtcprogress/pdf/1Q2009_Report.pdf

* Turnover of Tower 2/3/4 Sites – Incomplete

On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority turned over the site for Tower 4 to
Silverstein Properties. The sites for Towers 2 and 3 will be turned over in a
matter of months. This milestone is integral and subsumed in the ongoing
Silverstein negotiations.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
     
     
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