NYC Mayor Pushes Silverstein to Back Off

NEW YORK CITY-Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his most important priority for Lower Manhattan is to “push forward on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center.” During his State of the City address, he called on WTC developer Silverstein Properties to “do the right thing and hand off responsibility for building Towers 3 and 4, in exchange for a reduction of its rent.”

“We need to push aside individual financial interests and focus on what’s best for our city,” he continued. “That means it’s time to pick up the pace of commercial construction, and to build for uses that reflect the realities of the market and the needs of Lower Manhattan -like the retail development that’s so crucial to linking the site back into the life of the city.”

In response, Janno Lieber, director of World Trade Center development for the Silverstein organization, says, “We share the Mayor’s goal of rebuilding the World Trade Center site as swiftly as possible and welcome his involvement. The Silverstein organization is eager and determined to move forward as quickly as the government bureaucracies will allow.”