LMDC gets $50M in fire settlement with Lend Lease

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, a city agency created following 9/11 to help rebuild the area, will be getting $50 million in a tentative settlement agreement with construction company Lend Lease over a 2007 fire that killed two firefighters.

Lend Lease, then known as Bovis Lend Lease, was dismantling the Deutsche Bank building near ground zero when the area became engulfed in flames and killed two. The settlement, announced yesterday, would consist of a $40 million payment and the forgiving of $10 million the city owed, according to Capital New York.

Before this announcement, some had called for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to wind down its operations, as it was meant to be a temporary agency and had allocated all of its funds. But now it will have some new cash on hand.

The corporation’s president, David Emil, said that it will be starting construction on a $27 million West Thames pedestrian bridge that it has long planned.

Recently, Empire State Development’s chief operating officer, Charles Imohiosen, joined LMDC as a senior vice president.

Lend Lease was recently sued by fellow contractors for budget overruns on Columbia University’s Manhattanville extension project. [Capital NY] — Tess Hofmann