The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is set to delay by a month a vote on whether or not to pledge a further $1 billion for Silverstein Properties’ 3 World Trade Center tower in Lower Manhattan. Officials were to meet this afternoon to decide on the fate of the controversial proposal, which would see the authority raise its financing guarantee to $1.2 billion from the current $200 million.
The vote has been delayed once before, in March. Today’s postponement is a way of “gently putting the $1.2 billion government guarantee proposal to eternal sleep,” Kenneth Lipper, a Port Authority commissioner who is opposed to the new financing deal, told Crain’s. Sources told the magazine that the delay is unlikely to affect the deal with advertising giant GroupM, which has committed to take 516,000 square feet at the 2.5 million-square-foot, 80-story tower.
The new proposal is being championed by RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler, who is also a vice-chairman of the authority. Rechler recently said that it would make more financial sense for the authority in the long run. [Crain’s] – Hiten Samtani