A Deal at Ground Zero?

A Deal at Ground Zero?


NYT EDITORIAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/opinion/03sat4.html?th&emc=th

April 2, 2010

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians are celebrating a deal to finally finish the major buildings at the World Trade Center site. Let’s hope they are right to break out the confetti. Larry Silverstein, who is developing office towers on the site, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16 acres, need to make sure that the agreement does not fall apart yet again, as they fill in the remaining details.

Times Topics: World Trade Center (NYC)No one should be surprised to hear that the latest stalemate — which has dragged on for more than a year — was about money. Mr. Silverstein has been insisting that the Port Authority use scarce public funds to help finance his three private office towers. The authority has rightly balked, citing more basic needs like tunnels and bridges and ports. Last week, both sides agreed in principle to go ahead with two skyscrapers, and Mr. Silverstein will pick up more of the bill than he wanted.

The Port Authority has pledged to provide $1.2 billion in financing to complete the first tower, which would cost an estimated $1.75 billion. For that tower and the second one, expected to cost almost $2 billion, Mr. Silverstein would commit to using what is left of the huge insurance payout he got after the attack and from tax-free Liberty Bonds. He has also committed to raising $300 million and finding renters for 400,000 square feet (16 percent) of the office space in the second tower before the city, state and authority provide $600 million more in financing.

Plans for the third tower will be wisely kept on hold, the area preferably turned into a park, until the downtown real estate market is ready for more offices.

The details still to be worked out include questions about development fees for Mr. Silverstein and the interest rate for the authority’s financing. The two sides need to settle those and get things moving. The 10-year anniversary of the attacks is 17 months away. With good faith and a serious effort, the memorial to the victims of Sept. 11, the site’s centerpiece, can be ready by then.