Clark said Brookfield was "well in line with our expectations" and that he was confident Brookfield would achieve 15% growth in funds from operations this year. The company also raised its dividend on common shares by 50% to 15 cents a share. For the three months ended June 30, Brookfield, which has more than half its portfolio in New York, earned $53 million, or 30 cents a share, before lease termination income and gains. That was up from earnings of $51 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-before quarter. Funds from operations, before lease termination income and gains, were $90 million, or 53 cents a share, up from $82 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue fell to $301 million from $322 million. In early January, Brookfield Properties spun-off its US homebuilding subsidiary, Brookfield Homes Corp., a residential homebuilder which also develops land in master-planned communities and infill locations.

"It seems that momentum (in Lower Manhattan) is starting to build...Tenants also have been starting to relocate downtown from midtown," Clark said. In April, Eckerd signed a 10-year lease for 9,000 sf of street level retail space in Four World Financial Center. The new Eckerd store, its first in Manhattan, will be 20% larger than a top-performing drugstore previously located in the adjacent World Trade Center retail complex. It utilizes new, never-before-leased space at the World Financial Center. At that time, Brookfield also announced the renewal of two leases at the World Financial Center with Hallmark Gold Crown and the Kodak Colortek Image Store for a total of 4,500 sf Hallmark and Kodak, forced to close by the events of September 11 built new stores, extending their leases to ten years. The company also recorded a 60,000 sf 20-year lease with American Express at Three World Financial. Clark commented that Midtown shadow space has made for increased competition for leases in that part of the city.