Land swap eyed as part of WTC deal.There was much talk last week of the city taking over control of the World Trade Center site. The proposal would trade LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports to the Port Authority in exchange for the WTC WTC World Trade Center, see there site. The city would gain much more control over the site, were this to happen. Larry Silverstein Larry A. Silverstein (born 1932 in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York) is an American billionaire real estate investor and operator and the head of Silverstein Properties, a real estate development group. , who controls the WTC lease for $120 million a year, is reportedly open to a discussion. There's no indication that this swap will take place, however. As of last Thursday, the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times reported that Mayor Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born 14 February 1942) is an American businessman, and the founder of Bloomberg L.P., currently serving as the Mayor of New York City. He was a general partner at Salomon Brothers before founding the financial software service company in 1981. acknowledged that "nobody has sat down yet and talked about the money" or terms of the deal. A meeting between city and Port Authority officials was scheduled for last Thursday. The Times article from last Thursday reports that some officials are questioning the "economic wisdom of trading 5,610 acres beneath the airports in Queens for the 16-acre trade center site in lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Lower Manhattan is generally defined as the area delineated on the north by Chambers Street, on the west by the Hudson River (North ." One anonymous state official quoted in the article said, "the numbers don't make any sense." Assuming that the city did acquire the WTC land, it might want to renegotiate re·ne·go·ti·ate tr.v. re·ne·go·ti·at·ed, re·ne·go·ti·at·ing, re·ne·go·ti·ates 1. To negotiate anew. 2. To revise the terms of (a contract) so as to limit or regain excess profits gained by the contractor. the lease with Silverstein. Or the city could charge him less rent by forbidding him from building too much commercial office space. Silverstein, for his part, is still locked in a legal dispute with his insurers over how much he is entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to receive. He maintains that the cost of re-building will be $8 million, a sum far higher than what Swiss Re--the lead insurer of the WTC--is willing to pay out. The Port Authority has pushed all along for 11 million SF of office space at the site, a proposition that has reportedly angered some who favor less commercial (and more residential) development near a large memorial. The Times article aptly noted that if there were to be a land swap, the city, would forgo the rents at. the airports in favor of an uncertain future at the WTC site. "Most analysts agree that it will be years before any new office buildings are built, and housing and cultural institutions would bring much less money," read the article. |
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