Conde Nast finalized its lease of one million square feet of office space at 1 World Trade Center, guaranteeing the 1,776-foot tall tower an anchor tenant. According to the New York Times, Conde Nast’s annual rent for the 20th through 41st floors in the building will start in 2014 at a little more than $60 per square foot, about equal to what it currently pays at 4 Times Square. Over the course of the 25-year lease the publisher will pay the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site, $2 billion. But the Port Authority offered several incentives — including agreeing to pay the rent between 2014 and 2019 on Conde Nast’s current lease, offering tax exemptions on interior furnishings, and promising $46 million in rent rebates over 17 years — to land the media giant. Comments

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The World Trade Center arbitration panel ruled yesterday that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Silverstein Properties have to create a “new collaborative plan” to complete the Downtown project, according to a press release sent today by Silverstein Properties, while also ruling that the Port Authority is not obligated to pay the developer monetary damages or reduce rent, according to Crain’s. The decision is being considered a loss to developer Larry Silverstein, who was seeking $2.7 billion in damages from the Port Authority and a $788 million reduction in rent. However, in a written statement, Silverstein said he was optimistic about the project’s future. “I remain absolutely determined to see the World Trade Center become the centerpiece of the new world-class mixed-use community that is emerging Downtown,” Silverstein said. “In this decision, the arbitrators directed us to work out a new plan to finish the WTC project quickly.” The two parties in the arbitration have been ordered to create a new schedule for the project and report back to the World Trade Center panel in 45 days. Mayor Michael Bloomberg described the outcome of the arbitration as “a critical moment to move forward with the long-term development of the site,” in a written statement, adding that “the parties cannot let it pass without progress.” New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also released a statement today, emphasizing the importance of moving forward on the project. “What is at stake is nothing less than returning Lower Manhattan to its position as the third largest central business district in the nation,” Silver said. TRD

A 1.2-acrea swatch of land in Jamaica Bay is set to become a waterfront park, after initial plans to transform it into a space for private developments was scrapped. Trust for Public Land, a non-profit conservation group, purchased the land from Hudson Companies, which had planned to build 20 homes on the site. The group purchased the land for $1.925 million, with additional funds provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, before immediately donating it to the city for public use. Alan Ball, one of the owners of Hudson Companies, said that his group was happy with the outcome of the deal. “We had no debt on the property, and we could have held on to it pretty easily, so we said we might as well cut bait and move on,” Ball said. “Moving this project to the Trust for Public Land was a very good thing to do.”

A three-judge arbitration panel has finished hearings on whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has met its financial obligations to developer Larry Silverstein, who plans to build three towers at Ground Zero, Crain’s reported today. The two parties have been in a deadlock since this summer, with the Port Authority offering to fund one tower and Silverstein contending that the agency should financially back two of the towers. One of Silverstein’s towers, and a fourth tower for the site that the Port Authority is building, is already under construction. The panel’s decision is expected to come in early 2010. While the panel cannot necessarily rectify the dispute, experts contend that its call could bring the two warring parties back to the negotiating table.

In the dispute between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
and Larry Silverstein, Governor David Paterson has publicly expressed
support for the Port Authority. Paterson told the New York Daily News
that he didn’t know where the money to finance a second tower would be
found. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have
both supported Silverstein’s request for funding. Paterson said he
would support building just the retail portions of two of the
Silverstein towers, but Silverstein has already dismissed that option,
as well as a Port Authority offer to finance the second tower if
Silverstein raised $625 million. Silverstein has proposed two office
towers with lower-level retail space. [more]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offered this week to guarantee financing for both of developer Larry Silverstein’s office towers on Church Street at the World Trade Center site, which are expected to cost about $4.2 billion. But Silverstein would only receive up to $1.2 billion in financing for the second tower if he raised $625 million from lenders or investors, according to a letter the Port Authority sent Monday to the Bloomberg administration. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he does not think the proposal gets Silverstein and the Port Authority any closer to a deal. On Monday, Silverstein Properties served the Port Authority with a “notice of dispute,” triggering a 10-day period in which the two parties will meet to try to resolve disagreements over the World Trade Center redevelopment. If the dispute isn’t resolved, Joseph Daniels, president of the WTC’s 10th anniversary memorial, warned yesterday that the commemoration could be in danger. [more]

Silverstein
Properties sent the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey a “notice
of dispute” today regarding the two parties’ World Trade Center
redevelopment argument. The notice triggers a 10 business-day period
in which Silverstein and the Port Authority will meet to try to come up
with a resolution. If there is no agreement in the negotiations, either
party can call in an impartial panel to resolve the dispute through
binding arbitration. Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently singled out the
Port Authority for dragging out the World Trade Center redevelopment
talks, which so far have been unsuccessful in finding a resolution. TRD
[more]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and developer Larry
Silverstein are supposed to reach an agreement on the World Trade
Center redevelopment by Thursday, but officials for both sides say the
two parties remain deadlocked. Silverstein asked the Port Authority to
guarantee as much as $3.2 billion in financing for the construction of
two towers, but the authority, which is already spending billions of dollars on
its own tower at the site, is reluctant to spend more money on
speculative office buildings, especially now that revenues are
declining. City officials hope for a breakthrough in the hours leading
up to Thursday’s deadline. [more]

The
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it won’t help finance
more than one of Larry Silverstein’s three planned office towers at the
World Trade Center site. Christopher Ward, the authority’s executive
director, said financing more than one tower would risk public money at
a time when the leasing outlook appears bleak. Ward said the authority
would be willing to finance one tower and then build portions of the
other two that would allow retail on the site, and when the credit
market improves, Silverstein could seek funding for additional towers.