The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, already hobbled by years of delays and infighting, is facing fresh problems as private developer Larry Silverstein asks the government for crucial financial assistance, according to people familiar with the matter.
The result would be that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government entity that owns the site, would take on more of the risk of the project at a time when the agency already faces budget restraints to pursue its core transportation and infrastructure missions.
The Port Authority, eager to prevent the project from stalling, is considering helping to finance at least one of Mr. Silverstein's planned three office towers, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Silverstein is requesting financing help on at least two of the three towers. The Port Authority would require concessions from Mr. Silverstein, including possibly giving up some of upside profits should the towers succeed in the long term.
The project, meant to be a symbol of the recovery after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been through years of costly delays and acrimony. The plan for the 16-acre site includes five skyscrapers, a memorial, a transit hub, a shopping mall and a performing-arts center. Much of that was recently expected to open between 2011 and 2013.
Photos of Ground Zero
The project, meant to be a symbol of the recovery after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been through years of costly delays and acrimony. The plan for the 16-acre site includes five skyscrapers, a memorial, a transit hub, a shopping mall and a performing-arts center. Much of that was recently expected to open between 2011 and 2013.
Those dates are in jeopardy and at least some elements are unlikely to be finished until the later part of the next decade. The memorial is set to open by the 10th anniversary of the attacks, but even it faces budget shortfalls and is pursuing federal stimulus money.
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