World Trade Center owners disagree on urban plan

The argument between real estate developer Silverstein Properties and the Australian-owned shopping mall company Westfield America reportedly centers on whether a restored street grid would be detrimental to future retail development on the Lower Manhattan site. The two companies won the lease to the World Trade Center in April 2001. Larry Silverstein has prepared a tentative master plan that proposes building four 50- to 60-story buildings and restoring the street grid that was lost when the Twin Towers and the adjoining plaza were built, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is a direction that would please new urbanists and many other observers who see the redevelopment as a unique chance to improve the urban fabric and the public transportation network in Lower Manhattan. Westfield, which owns shopping malls around the country, is reportedly concerned that restoring the urban grid would fragment the retail space on the site make it less valuable than when it was an underground mall. The 427,000 sq. ft. concourse mall was one of the most successful in the country, with sales of about $900/square foot, according to the Wall Street Journal. Before September 11, Westfield had plans to increase the retail space. In a letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., Westfield’s Richard Green stated that the company has been unable to reach an agreement with Silverstein. A final plan is a long way off, and many voices will have a say in the outcome. A newly formed group, the Civic Alliance, which is managed by the Regional Plan Association, has generated a conceptual plan that restores the urban grid and is seeking a voice in the planning process. Silverstein’s negotiations with his insurance companies will also factor into the final plan — at stake is whether the terrorist attack was one event or two separate events. In other words, it is yet undecided whether the insurers will have to pay out $3.6 billion or $7.2 billion. In a related development, it looks likely that 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed on the evening of September 11, will be the first part of the complex to be rebuilt. Silverstein has tapped the Tishman Construction Company to build a 2 million sq. ft., 47-story tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Unlike the Twin Towers, 7 World Trade Center was owned out right by Silverman.