Silverstein Exec Wants Remaining Liberty Bonds for WTC Rebuild

NEW YORK CITY-During testimony at the first in a series of City Council hearings on funding for Lower Manhattan redevelopment, John Lieber, senior vice president of World Trade Center LLC, a Silverstein Properties company, issued a call that the funds remaining in the Liberty Bond pool should be allocated and preserved for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. That call was echoed by Community Board 1 and the Downtown Alliance.

“It will be a tragic mistake if the pool is exhausted,” Lieber testified.

“Nothing is more important than the rebuilding of the World Trade Center,” added the Downtown Alliance’s Carl Weisbrod, who called the site, the “economic engine” of the area.

According to Andrew Alper, president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., $4.8 billion is still available, though a $1-billion allocation for a Goldman Sachs project is among the projects “in the pipeline.” He anticipates that approximately $3.5 billion has not been earmarked for specific projects. The program, which is set to expire at the end of the year, started after the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, earmarked $8 billion for commercial and residential endeavors. In February, a five-year extension was included as part of the 2005 Federal budget.

Alper spoke of some of the projects that caused controversy and received Liberty Bond inducement such as the Bank of America project in Midtown and the Bank of New York project at the Atlantic Terminal Building in Brooklyn. Alper noted that both projects involved companies displaced by the 9/11 tragedy. “Lower Manhattan remains the first priority,” he said, “but it’s driven by tenant demand. We can’t dictate to companies to go Downtown.” In regard to the two-million-sf Durst Development for Bank of America, which received a $650-million Liberty Bond inducement, Alper said the bank would have looked to the south for an appropriate site for its global headquarters. If not for a commitment from the bank, Alper said, the site would not be developed and the city would lose tax revenue as well as a significant number of jobs.

Projects that applied for but did not receive Liberty Bond approval include Macklowe’s 610 Broadway, the proposed New York Times Building and the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel. Alper noted the benefits of each project, but said they didn’t require Liberty Bond financing to be completed.

Additional hearings on various aspects of the Liberty Bond program and other economic factors affecting the revitalization of Lower Manhattan are planned.