WTC owners to develop stores at site
NEW YORK (AP) - January 4, 2008 The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved the $1.45
billion deal Friday with The Westfield Group, one of the world's
largest mall operators.
The company held retail rights to the trade center complex
before the twin towers were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist
attack. But Westfield sold them to the Port Authority two years
later for $140 million after disagreements about how to rebuild the
complex, preferring to recreate the trade center's lucrative
underground mall instead of planned street-level shops at the new
towers.
Westfield, which retained a first-refusal right to buy back into
the complex, and the Port Authority are now sharing development
costs and profits for nearly 500,000 square feet of retail space at
three skyscrapers and in concourses connecting the buildings to a
transit hub.
"It's a thrill for Westfield to be back," said Westfield Group
co-managing director Peter Lowy. "We are excited to have the
opportunity to reinvest in this great city and be involved with the
redevelopment of this historic site."
Westfield will contribute $625 million and the Port Authority
$825 million to build high-end stores and restaurants, half of them
facing city streets that are being resurrected at the former
superblock complex.
Downtown New Yorkers had been clamoring to return a major
shopping center to the city's booming residential community. The
underground shopping mall at the trade center was one of the most
lucrative in the country before it was destroyed in the Sept. 11
terrorist attack.
Construction is expected to begin sometime this month on the
first of the three office towers where stores are planned; they are
supposed to be finished in about five years.