New York pols pursue 3 World Trade Center loan approval

Financing would enable further rebuilding of district destroyed on 9/11, letter says

From left: Sheldon Silver, Margaret Chin, Daniel Squadron, 3 World Trade Center and Larry Silverstein
From left: Sheldon Silver, Margaret Chin, Daniel Squadron, 3 World Trade Center and Larry Silverstein

A gaggle of high-powered pols from New York and New Jersey are pushing for approval of $1.2 billion in loans to build Silverstein Properties’ 3 World Trade Center.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Councilwoman Margaret Chin and State Senator Daniel Squadron wrote a letter to governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie, who jointly control the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, urging them to back the planned tower.

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“We are writing to urge the Port Authority to approve the financing agreement that will allow the construction of 3 World Trade Center to continue,” Silver wrote. “This would be a historic achievement that would bring us one step closer to fulfilling our shared goal to rebuild the heart of downtown business district, which was destroyed on 9/11.”

The letter went out last week, ahead of a planned Wednesday vote among the Port Authority’s nine board members. A debate over Larry Silverstein’s quest for the funding has split between those who view 3 World Trade Center as the final piece of the area’s post-Sept. 11 rebirth and those who say the tower would create a glut of office space in the area. [Crain’s]Julie Strickland