Port Authority searches for partner at 1 WTC

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has asked a group of commercial real estate developers and owners to bid for a partnership interest in the $3.2 billion One World Trade Center tower, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, in an effort to raise $100 million for the project. Potential partners identified and contacted by the Port Authority include Boston Properties, the Related Companies, the Durst real estate family, Hines, Vornado Realty Trust and Brookfield Properties. Each has been offered access to a restricted Web site containing detailed, confidential information about the tower, which is slated for completion by 2013. The Port Authority is hoping that a partner would handle the marketing and leasing in what will be one of the most expensive office buildings on the continent. Cushman & Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle have been hired as real estate advisors to handle negotiations with prospective partners. Construction at the World Trade Center site has been delayed due to legal woes between developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority, which are in the last stages of arbitration. A three-judge panel finished hearing the case in early December, and the two sides hope it will rule in early 2010. [NYT] and [Crain’s]