TIG will pay Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey $12.5 million in addition to the $9.1 million the company already paid in connection with the terrorist attacks that devastated the Downtown market.

This settlement is due to the 2004 finding of a federal jury that the terrorist attacks were in fact two individual terrorist attacks and the 10 insurance companies are therefore required to pay two full occurrence payments. TIG already paid the first $9.1 million, and has agreed to pay the second $9.1 million in addition to $3.4 million in prejudgment interest, according to a statement from Silverstein Properties.

"This agreement is important because it will help to assure that we have all the money necessary to rebuild the World Trade Center on the super-accelerated timetable everyone wants," Silverstein says. "And this deal clearly demonstrates that we at Silverstein and our partners at the Port Authority are ready to settle our outstanding insurance claims on fair terms, as necessary, to keep the rebuilding on track and on schedule."

The 2004 decision was appealed by the insurance companies, but the second circuit court upheld the earlier decision and said Silverstein was owed a total of $4.6 billion.

Last year Silverstein completed construction of 7 WTC, which is a 52-story, 1.7-million-sf building that is already 60% leased, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The Port Authority and Silverstein recently received official state blessing to move ahead with the development of the $2.9 billion, 2.6-million-sf Freedom Tower. In addition to these two projects, Silverstein has plans for three other office buildings, 200, 175 and 150 Greenwich St., on the World Trade Center site.