WTC Records Folder 0123 Clippings label, Sept 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

For Displaced Companies, Details on City Aid Are Few By CHARLES V. BAGLI Mr. Carey said that some tax Empire Blue Cross and Blue breaks are available to Empire Blue Shield, one of the larger tenants of Cross and other companies that the World Trade Center, is simulta- move to Brooklyn or Queens, al- neously trying to find temporary though they fall short of what the space for 1,900 workers and a companies are seeking. permanent home, in a matter of According to TenanlWise.com, a weeks. real estate company, the top 30 ten- The decision-making process is ants at the World Trade Center have complicated not just by the speed already moved thousands of employ- with which it is being conducted, but ees from Lower Manhattan to Mid- also by the confusion surrounding town, New Jersey or Connecticut what tax breaks and other subsidies Citigroup. Deutsche Bank and others are available from the city for Blue have said they are committed to Cross and others displaced by the remaining in New York. But city destruction of the trade center, in- officials, real estate brokers and ducements that companies routinely landlords wonder how many of those seek in making real estate decisions. employees will return. Two weeks after it began negotiat- Empire Blue Cross has temperar- ing with the city over building a new ily moved its headquarters into tower in Brooklyn, Empire Blue space it has in Melville. Dr. Michael Cross is still not sure what subsidies Stocker, chief executive of Empire it can expect, said real estate execu- Blue Cross, said that the company tives, who fear that the insurance was looking at temporary space in company may soon decide to move Brooklyn and New Jersey, while tt some employees permanently to its decided exactly where it would lo- offices in Melville, on Long Island. cate permanently. He said the com- City officials, they said, are also pany was considering whether to be- worried that every other company come an anchor tenant in a new 7t10,000-square--foot tower at Metro- tech, in downtown Brooklyn. Empire Blue Cross would take Confusion about tax about 100,000 square feet in the tower and lease space for a headquarters breaks is clouding in Manhattan, Mr. Stocker said. The company is also considering taking relocation efforts. space at 450 West 33rd Street, at Tenth Avenue in Manhattan, al- though the rent would be a good deal higher than in Brooklyn. will want the same tax breaks and Empire decide) to sell its building other incentives Empire Blue Cross on Third Avenue in 1997 and moved gets, or more. in 1998 to the World Trade Center. Its The situation is complicated by the annual rent was less than $25 a fact that even before the attacks, the square foot, negotiated just before city faced a projected $3 billion budg- the downtown rents soared. et gap next year and corn ract negoti- Empire Blue Cross, like many of ations with municipal employees. the other companies in the twin tow- Budget analysts are now more con- ers, is competing for office space in cerned than ever that tax revenues Midtown, where rents are $45 a from Wall Street will slow to a trick- square tooter more, for the little that le, worsening the city's fiscal woes. is available. According to real estate In lieu of a clear municipal policy, executives, the developer at Metro- some corporate executives have tech, Forest City Ratner Companies, complained that they have not even could build a new tower for about $40 per square fart. Bruce Ramer, the received a telephone call from May- or Rudolph W. Giuliani or his top chief executive of Forest City Ratner, did not return calls request- deputies imploring them in stay put ing comment. until the city learns whether there is Dr. Stocker would not discuss his state or federal money available for negotiations with the city, but ac- displaced companies. "We've had a cording to executives who have been couple of corporate executives, peo- briefed on the meetings, city officials ple responsible for locating husiness- initially expressed a willingness to es, indicating that there's no reach- provide a package of tax breaks ing out," said City Councilman Her- worth about $4.5 million a year. But bert E. Berman of Brooklyn. as the magnitude of the destruction Michael Carey, president of the downtown became more apparent, city's Economic Development Cor- they said, city officials became less poration, which has been negotiating clear about what could be done. with Empire Blue Cross, said the city "Our assumption is that benefits had been working in recent days with related to the Sept. 11 attack would state and federal officials on some go to people who stay in New York kind of incentive package. City, not just in Manhattan,' Dr. "We are looking at what kind of Stocker said- "We need space right relief we can offer across the board away. We can't wait for a decision to companies that were displaced;' about the. subsidies." Mr. Carey said. "Ultimately, it'll be One city official said "There's a

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