After months, if not years, of squabbling, the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein may be near an agreement over rebuilding, including two new skyscrapers, at the World Trade Center site. The NY Times reports, "The hope is that the board would approve what one executive called a 'final framework' for the development of the 16-acre site. In the following weeks, negotiators would then complete a detailed development agreement as work continues at ground zero."
Silverstein has argued that the Port Authority should help him finance building at the site (the PA is building Freedom Tower), but the agency refused up until a few weeks ago, when there was talk of the PA possibly changing its mind. The PA will finance one building, while the PA, NY State and NYC will each kick in $200 million for the financing of a second tower while Silverstein must raise $300 million in private investment and lease 400,000 square feet of the space.
The Observer, which says Mayor Bloomberg put pressure on the PA to agree to finance the buildings, proclaims,"In all, the deal come as a victory for Mr. Silverstein, who drew a line at two towers, demanding that the Port Authority owed him the responsibility to make it happen on account of the agency's delays."
