FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Retail giant Westfield Group has landed another major Downtown shopping center.
The Australian mall developer, which now owns all of the retail space in the World Trade Center complex, will also develop the commercial areas of the Fulton Center, the new transit and shopping hub expected to open in June 2014, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials announced Monday.
The MTA chose Westfield as the “master lessee" for more than 180,000 square feet of space in the $1.4 billion complex. The contract includes space in the new station at Broadway and Fulton Street; the restored Corbin Building at Broadway and John Street; a station entrance building at Broadway and Dey Street; and a corridor under Dey Street that will eventually connect to the World Trade Center.
“We are confident that Westfield will be motivated to maximize the revenues from the facility while maintaining [it] in accordance with standards befitting the substantial investment the public has made in creating this wonderful new landmark,” MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast said in a statement.
When completed, the transit center will integrate five subway stations and nine subway lines, and it will ultimately connect underground to the WTC.
Westfield did not immediately return calls for comment.
The 365,000-square-foot shopping center Westfield is managing at the World Trade Center will include more than 150 global brands, according to Westfield's website. It is slated to open in 2015.
