Silverstein hits back at Bloomberg jibes.In an unprecedented move, World Trade Center developer, 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. , this week issued a statement he said would "set the record straight" following a series of public attacks by 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. on his ability to rebuild the site. "Silverstein Noun 1. Silverstein - United States poet and cartoonist remembered for his stories and poems for children (1932-1999) Shel Silverstein, Shelby Silverstein Properties wishes to set the record straight on what it considers to be a series of misleading and, at times, outright wrong statements from city officials and offices over the past weeks," said the statement. In what appears to have been a concentrated effort to under mine the developer, Bloomberg Bloomberg A major global provider of 24-hour financial news and information including real-time and historic price data, financials data, trading news and analyst coverage, as well as general news and sports. has made several very public statements in recent weeks calling on Silverstein to relinquish his right to rebuild towers three and four, saying that bringing in another developer would has ten progress at the site. Bloomberg also took a swipe at Silverstein's insurance coverage, claiming he had deliberately under-insured the World Trade Center. And, following a financial analysis by the city that suggested Silverstein wouldn't have enough money to pay for the multi-billion dollar redevelopment, Bloomberg claimed the developer would end up walking away from an unfinished job with $500 million profit in his back pocket. That's downright down·right adj. 1. Thoroughgoing; unequivocal: a downright lie. 2. Forthright; candid. adv. Thoroughly; absolutely. wrong, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Silverstein Properties which said in its official statement, "Three quarters of the so-called 'profits' projected in the city analysis are iltusionary -not cash in Mr Silverstein's pocket, but the hypothetical Hypothetical is an adjective, meaning of or pertaining to a hypothesis. See:
Silverstein said the claim that the firm would run out of money mid-way through the project is based on the assumption that the city and state will not provide any Liberty Bonds to the rebuilding effort, bonds which were for the express purpose of restoring what New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. lost in the September 11 terrorist attacks. "The city has authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: Liberty Bonds for office towers in midtown mid·town n. A central portion of a city, between uptown and downtown. midtown Noun US & Canad the centre of a town , luxury apartment buildings during a residential boom and even a power plant in Queens," said the Silverstein statement. "If the city refuses to release the same financing for the office towers destroyed on 9/11, it is the city, not Silverstein, that is preventing the project from being completed." Silverstein called the city's proposal that he give up the rights to two of the towers a "Soviet-style confiscation confiscation In law, the act of seizing property without compensation and submitting it to the public treasury. Illegal items such as narcotics or firearms, or profits from the sale of illegal items, may be confiscated by the police. Additionally, government action (e.g. " and dismissed suggestions that a second developer could speed up work. The company points out that it quickly completed the construction of 7 World Trade Center, the one building that wasn't pending government approvals. Construction of towers three and four cannot begin until the Port Authority completes the excavation excavation In archaeology, the exposure, recording, and recovery of buried material remains. The techniques employed vary by the type of site, but all forms of archaeological excavation require great skill and careful preparation. and construction of a new slurry wall A slurry wall is a type of wall used to build tunnels, to open cuts, and to lay foundations in areas of soft earth close to open water or with a high ground water table. A set of guide walls, typically 1 metre (3.3 ft) deep and 0.5 metre (1. , which is isn't expected to be done by 2008. "There is nothing fair about taking the two best sites and giving one to government and the other to an outside developer," said the statement. "Larry Silverstein has cooperated in a four-year process of planning and replanning the site, though it delayed rebuilding. He even redesigned the Freedom Tower when government miscommunication mis·com·mu·ni·ca·tion n. 1. Lack of clear or adequate communication. 2. An unclear or inadequate communication. led to a change in the security standard. "And, more importantly, he has continued to pay approximately $10 million in rent to the Port Authority every month since 9/11, even though the buildings that he leased are gone." Addressing the insurance claims, Silverstein's statement said, "Silverstein Properties took out the largest amount of insurance ever obtained for any single project when it leased the World Trade Center in 2001. That package was more than twice as much as the Port Authority maintained for all of its properties combined, including the entire WTC WTC World Trade Center, see there , three airports, the PATH and all of its bridges and tunnels." Silverstein also slammed what it called the city's "grimly grim adj. grim·mer, grim·mest 1. Unrelenting; rigid. 2. Uninviting or unnerving in aspect; forbidding: "undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw" negative view" of downtown's future. The city's view that any new WTC buildings will only be able to command rents in the $35-$40 bracket In programming, brackets (the [ and ] characters) are used to enclose numbers and subscripts. For example, in the C statement int menustart [4] = ; the [4] indicates the number of elements in the array, and the contents are enclosed in curly braces. assumes the business environment will deteriorate de·te·ri·o·rate v. 1. To grow worse in function or condition. 2. To weaken or disintegrate. over the next few years. In fact, the city's projected rent levels are around 30% below the initial leases secured at 7 WTC and lower than recent deals at 20 year old buildings across West Street, according to Silverstein. Silverstein Properties analysis, conducted with experts at Morgan Stanley  To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite. , assumes an average rent of roughly $50 psf in order to achieve
full build-out on schedule.
The statement reads, "The city inaccurately assumes that the first two buildings are responsible for paying the entire ground rent on the full 10 million square feet. If ground rent payable to the Port Authority is divided among the buildings on a pro rata [Latin, Proportionately.] A phrase that describes a division made according to a certain rate, percentage, or share. In a Bankruptcy case, when the debtor is insolvent, creditors generally agree to accept a pro rata share of what is owed to them. square loot basis, the break-even rent would drop by at least $16 per s/f. "Once this inaccuracy in·ac·cu·ra·cy n. pl. in·ac·cu·ra·cies 1. The quality or condition of being inaccurate. 2. An instance of being inaccurate; an error. in the analysis is corrected, the total revised break-even would be $50 psf, which is lower than the initial leases on 7 WTC. This suggest the probability of success is much higher what the city is showing." The statement said Silverstein has demonstrated his financial commitment by agreeing to allocate To reserve a resource such as memory or disk. See memory allocation. business interruption insurance Noun 1. business interruption insurance - insurance that provides protection for the loss of profits and continuing fixed expenses resulting from a break in commercial activities due to the occurrence of a peril (on top of property insurance) to the rebuilding effort and proposed to devote all net cash flow from completed buildings into the construction of later buildings. "Unlike the city and the Port Authority, Mr Silverstein is treating the World Trade Center as a single, continuous project, not five separate buildings." The statement says the comments from the city have obscured the significant progress that has been made on the largest and most complicated building project in the nation's history, adding, "Silverstein Properties believes in downtown as a world-class business, residential and retail district. Silverstein Properties believes in a 24/7 mixed use community with, at its heart, a magnificent, rebuilt World Trade Center. "While it is Silverstein Properties' desire to simply get on with the rebuilding as soon as possible, these destructive charges must be addressed."
ON THE WEB:
Academy for Continuing Education: www.RealEstateAcademy.com
Adams & Company Real Estate: www.adamsre.com
Alpine Commercial Capital: www.alpinecommercial.com
www.alpinecc.com
Amerada Hess Corp.: www.hess.com
Associated Building Owners: www.abogny.com
Baruch/Newman RE Institute: www.baruch.cuny.edu/realestate
Besen & Associates: www.besenassociates.com
BOMA NY: www.bomany.org
Bx-Manhattan Assoc. of Realtors: www.bmar.org
Buchbinder & Warren: www.buchbinderwarren.com
Castle Oil: www.castleoil.com
CB Richard Ellis: www.cbre.com
City One Real Estate, LLC: www.CityOneRealEstate.com
Colliers ABR: www.colliersabr.com
Community Housing Improvement
Program Inc.: www.chipnyc.org
Cushman & Wakefield: www.cushwake.com
Dumann Realty: www.dumann.com
Eastern Consolidated: www.easternconsolidated.com
Eastern Union Commercial: www.eastemuc.com
The Faith Report: www.faith-consolo.com
Garrick Aug: www.garrick@aug.com
GCP Capital Group, LLC.: www.gcpcap.com
George Confort & Sons: www.georgecomfort.com
Greiner-Maltz www.greinermaltz.com
Grubb & Ellis: www.grubb-ellis.com
GVA Williams: www.gvawilliams.com
Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc.: www.hartzmountain.cem
Haves, Pine & Seligman: www.hpsre.com
Helmsley-Spear, Inc.: www.helmsleyspear.com
HSBC Bank USA: www.us.hsbc.com
Ivy Real Estate Education: www.nyrealed.com
Jack Resnick & Sons, Inc.: www.resnicknyc.com
Jaime Weiss Realty: www.jweissrealty.com
Jones Lang LaSalle: www.joneslanglasalle.com
JPS Capital Partners, LLC: www.jpscap.com
Kaufman Organization: www.KaufmanOrganization.com
Mack-Cali Realty Corp.: www.mack-cali.com
Macklowe Properties: www.macklowe.com
Manhattan Assoc. of REALTORS[R]: www.manarrealtor.com
Manhattan MLS, Inc.: www.MLSmanhattan.com
Marcus & Millichap: www.marcusmillichap.com
Massey Knakal Realty Servies: www.masseyknakal.com
Meridian Capital: www.meridiancapital.com
Murray Hill Properties/TCN: www.murrayhill.com
Newmark Knight Frank: www.newmarkkf.com
Newmark Knight Frank Retail: www.newmarkkf.com/retail
NYU Real Estate Institute: www.scps.nyu.edu/rei
PBS Realty Advisors: www.pbsra.com
Pergolis Swartz Associates Inc.: www.pergolis.com
Real Estate Board of New York: www.rebny.com
Real Estate Weekly: www.rew-online.com
Refund Consultants
& Remote Meter Technology: www.refundconsultants.com
Rent Stabilization Association: www.rsanyc.org
Saparn Realty, Inc.: www.saparn.com
Senack Real Estate: www.senackrealestate.com
Sinvin Realty Corp.: www.sinvin.com
Simple Remote: www.simpleremote.com
SL Green Realty Corp.: www.slgreen.com
Space Track Inc.: www.lotinfo.com
Sterling Equities/Sterling
American Property Inc.: www.sterlingequities.com
The Lincoln Building: www.thelincolnbuilding.com
Time Equities, Inc.: www.timeequities.com
Torresco Realty, LLC: www.torrescorealty.com
W&M Properties: www.wmproperties.com
Yale Robhins Inc: www.yrinc.com
|
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion