By Josh Williams and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Staff
LOWER MANHATTAN — Construction at the World Trade Center site will move forward after an agreement was reached Thursday between developer Larry Silverstein, city and state officials, and the Port Authority.
The plan, which was presented at a Port Authority board meeting Thursday afternoon, comes after nearly a year and a half of deadlocked negotiations over financing for the towers.
Under the agreement, three of the four towers will move forward with construction. The Tower 2 site would be built to at least street level, but full construction will be delayed because of the ailing economy.
Catherine McVay Hughes, chair of Community Board 1’s World Trade Center Committee, said she thought it was “great” that development was moving forward, saying, “It’s important to get the work out of the law offices and down to the site.”
But the committee chair was still concerned about the delay in rebuilding the Tower 2 site.
McVay Hughes said she would like to see “a possible outdoor performing-arts space or park until a building is built.”
The new framework stipulates that construction of Tower 3 will be funded with the help of the Port Authority, the state and the city, so long as Silverstein raises $300 million in private funding and pre-leases 400,000 square feet of the office tower.
Tower 4 is slated for completion in 2013. Sixty percent of that tower has already been pre-leased to both the Port Authority and the City of New York.
Construction at One World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial, the WTC Transportation Hub and other projects are ongoing.
Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia said after the meeting that everyone involved is now “all on the same page.”
Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke about the agreement at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“Even in the midst of the worst economic climate of our lifetime, we have found a way to continue rebuilding," Paterson said. "Today, we have found a way to protect the public interest and give the private sector a pathway to success.”
Bloomberg echoed the governor's sentiments, saying, “This is the right outcome for this site. And it’s the right outcome for New Yorkers, who deserve to see this hole in the heart of our city healed at last."
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also weighed in, saying in statement, "the World Trade Center is a symbol to the world of our faith in our city and in my Lower Manhattan community, and attests to our resilience and our commitment to rebuild after the worst terrorist attack on American soil in our nation’s history.
“Today’s agreement honors that faith and is a tremendous victory for all New Yorkers."
Officials said they will put the finishing touches on the agreement within the next 120 days and present it to the Port Authority board for final approval.
