NYC Mayor Pushes Silverstein to Back Off

"We need to push aside individual financial interests and focus on what's best for our city," he continued. "That means it's time to pick up the pace of commercial construction, and to build for uses that reflect the realities of the market and the needs of Lower Manhattan -like the retail development that's so crucial to linking the site back into the life of the city."

In response, Janno Lieber, director of World Trade Center development for the Silverstein organization, says, "We share the Mayor's goal of rebuilding the World Trade Center site as swiftly as possible and welcome his involvement. The Silverstein organization is eager and determined to move forward as quickly as the government bureaucracies will allow."

He notes that the firm will build towers 2, 3 and 4 just as soon as the government delivers the physical sites. "As City Hall is well aware, the Port Authority has not yet begun this key preparation work, including excavating the sites and building a protective slurry wall, and will therefore not be able to deliver the sites to Silverstein--or anyone else--or some time. It's unclear how the business proposal included in the Mayor's speech today addresses this, the largest obstacle to a timely rebuilding."

Bloomberg called on the Port Authority to commits to occupying one of the towers, while working to identify a developer for the other, so that all projects can proceed simultaneously at the same time. "If we immediately start building retail stores along with a commercial, residential, and hotel mix, Lower Manhattan will become one of the most energetic and exciting neighborhoods in New York."

The Port Authority did select a joint venture to construct the World Trade Center Transportation Hub for approximately $1.1 billion. The project includes the construction of rail tunnels, including track laying and the installation of power, communications and signal systems as well as new climate-controlled train platforms and mezzanines. The project also includes pedestrian tunnels that will link with the PATH train stations and facilitate transit connections with other train and subway lines.

Skanska and Fluor are majority shareholders of the joint-venture Phoenix Constructors. The other members of the joint-venture are Granite Construction Inc. and Bovis Lend Lease. Fluor Enterprises is managing partner of the joint venture. Work will begin this year and is expected to be completed by 2009.