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Liberty Bonds approved for three WTC towers
by Catherine Tymkiw

The Liberty Development Corp. gave preliminary approval for $1.67 billion in Liberty Bonds to help build three of the five towers at Ground Zero.

The City is expected to give preliminary approval for an additional $921 million in Liberty Bonds for the towers next month.

"We expect that this [approval] will not only help leaseholder Larry Silverstein finalize the balance of his financing, but will facilitate the expenditure of funds at the World Trade Center site and accelerate real progress of construction," said Empire State Development Corp. Chairman Charles Gargano in a statement.

The site’s owner, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Mr. Silverstein originally entered into a 99-year ground lease for the site in the summer of 2001, shortly before the destruction of the original World Trade Center. A revised ground lease is in the process of being negotiated.

The two sides butted heads earlier this year over who would have control over rebuilding efforts. Gov. George Pataki had made the release of the bonds contingent upon an agreement between the Port Authority and Mr. Silverstein.

They came to an agreement in April, with Mr. Silverstein giving up development of the Freedom Tower in exchange for these three towers. Port Authority agreed to occupy space in one of the towers and to secure leases for 1 million square feet at the Freedom Tower.

Construction of Towers Two, Three and Four, which will comprise 6.2 million square feet of space, is slated to start later this year. The whole project is estimated to cost $4.38 billion.
©2006 Crain Communications Inc.