World Trade Center Rebuilding Talks Stall
By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago
news.yahoo.com
The schedule for rebuilding the World Trade Center has been thrown into doubt as state officials accused a developer of bad-faith negotiations and said there were no plans for additional talks.
Talks broke down late Tuesday with developer Larry Silverstein, who has held the lease on the complex since shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Silverstein and his partners presented an unacceptable offer just 20 minutes before the midnight deadline imposed by Gov. George Pataki for renegotiating the $3.2 billion lease, said Kenneth Ringler, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
"We're not going to sit down with them," Ringler said Wednesday. "We're not going to be held hostage at this site."
Silverstein spokesman Bud Perrone said the developer was disappointed by the suspension of talks and was willing to return to negotiate at any time.
Silverstein has promised he would rebuild the complex with five office towers, but city and state officials said he doesn't have the money and would eventually default on his lease.
Silverstein had sought $1.65 billion in tax-exempt bonds for the project, but Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg each tied the bonds to the outcome of the negotiations.
Silverstein's team had been considering a proposal to have the government take over construction of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, the symbolic building to replace the twin towers. State officials said that the tower is considered the least marketable of the five planned buildings and that Silverstein's response to the offer wasn't financially feasible.
The negotiations focused on who would build the towers and when, how much rent Silverstein would continue to pay and how to divide what remains of $4.6 billion in insurance proceeds Silverstein was awarded after the trade center's collapse.
Silverstein has paid $10 million a month to lease the site but has not received all the insurance money, and unresolved litigation could reduce his payout. Ringler said Wednesday the agency expects Silverstein "to meet his rental obligations."
Pataki chief of staff John Cahill said Silverstein mistakenly thought Pataki and the Port Authority "were so insistent on developing the Freedom Tower that the Port Authority would basically pay anything to get that accomplished."
* * * |
