WTC Bids Close, Race Expected to Go to Brookfield/Boston Properties JV

NEW YORK CITY-The jury is still out and could conceivably take weeks to come to a determination, but yesterday at 5 p.m. was the cutoff for bids on ownership for the World Trade Center. While Silverstein and Vornado Realty Trust are among the lead players, various reports yesterday put an alleged joint venture of Boston Properties and Brookfield Financial Properties as the team to beat in what could be a $3-billion stake.

While specific bids are being closely guarded, the asking price was $3 billion, and according to one source close to the deal, “the final bid should be in that range.” The source suggested that if the actual bid comes in under the price tag, it would not reflect an appreciable discount.

The sale, which comes just weeks after the $1.85-billion acquisition of Rockefeller Center by Tishman Speyer and the Crown Family, encompasses a package that includes the twin towers, Four and Five World Trade Center and the underground shopping mall. The owner of the complex, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, requested proposals this past spring to lease, manage and operate the property for 99 years. In 1998, when plans were approved to privatize the buildings, estimates were that it would bring in about $1.5 billion to the Port Authority over the life of the lease.