So, if Silverstein executes the option, the city's presence at the WTC site will increase markedly over its pre-Sept. 11 footprint.
That's not a problem for at least some downtown interests. "It's a great thing," says Catherine McVeigh Hughes, who chairs Community Board 1's committee on WTC rebuilding. "For us, whether it's public or private, it's great that people are leasing downtown." While the city's Department of Administrative Services is officially in charge of leasing city office space, the New York City Economic Development Corporation is taking the lead on the Tower 4 deal – a signal that the transaction is as much about boosting the rebuilding process as it is about securing needed space for city offices.
Critics of the original World Trade Center development faulted the towers' dependence on government tenants as evidence of a mismatch between the massive towers and the marketplace for office space. At one point in the 1970s, some 1.5 million square feet – about a fifth – of WTC 1 and WTC 2 were vacant. In the mid-1980s, state agencies occupied at least 57 floors of the two buildings.
But those critics have been absent from any discussion about the city's pending lease deal. Community Board 1 did not weigh in on it, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer offered no recommendation, and when the City Planning Commission held the land use hearing on it last April, no one testified. At Wednesday's hearing on the contract, there was but one speaker: Kay Dunham, an inveterate gadfly who is often the only attendee or commenter at the city's biweekly contract hearings. Her advice on the Tower 4 deal? "I think they should condo it and see to it that they have something as the years go by."
With rebuilding only recently seeming to gather steam, it's possible that the space won't be ready until even later than 2013. "We have milestones and provisions that protect the city in the event there is a delay in construction. However, we are confident that construction will proceed apace," says Janel Patterson, spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corporation. Once Silverstein is finished building, the city would probably have to do some work to make the space suit its uses – and the city would cover those costs, too. "Like any other tenant, the city will ultimately pay for its improvements. The lease is flexible as to how that cost is spread out over time," Patterson adds.
