Newspaper article excerpt regarding World Trade Center site, undated

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

4

□N RI

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST24. 2005 a

Board Clears Deal for Tower /■

Downtown Expanded Incentives : Lure Goldman Sachs : By CHARLES V.BAGLI < A! state board formally approved a yesterday that would enable Goldman Sat^ . to revive its plan to build a $2 billion hetStf- quarters across the street from the Wogld Trade Center site. But it would cost tazp^* ers even more in subsidies than has bc«n previously disclosed. > . State and city officials announced earllet this month that they had agreed to provide Goldman Sachs, the Investment bank, wlth a bigger incentive package, worth hundreds of npilUons of dollars, to lure it downtown af­ ter it had explored a move to Midtown. But officials confirmed this week that they had also agreed to lower the bank’s an- ' nuef payment in lieu of taxes for the new headquarters, a decrease that could amount as much as $9 million a year. Some gov- ,' emment watchdog groups criticized the ex- / tent of government laig^se, but state and city officials defended the new deal, saying Goldman Sachs was critical to the commer­ cial future of Lower Manhattan. John P. Cahill, the governor’s chief of staff, who negotiated with Goldman execu- lives, said that Goldman’s decision to build a 43-story tower in Battery Park City “re­ inforces Lower Manhattan’s position as the financial capital of the world’’ and would help the city’s effort to keep American Ex­ press and Merrill Lynch domtown. The state board that approved the deal. the Battery Park Qty Authorityk agreed to lease the last remaining commercial devel-

Aid to the ground ssero area shouldn *t cost this much, watchdogs say. I '

opment site at Battery Park City to Gold­ man Sachs for 65 years. The bank, in turn, agreed to make a one-time leasejiayment of $161 million in February. ' “The economics of our deal have not .changed since the beginning,’’ said Thn . Carey, presldent of the authority. But the larger deal has changed? . “From what’s been reported, you can’t Imagine a sweeter de^’’ said Betting Damiani, project director at Good Jobs New York, a government watchdog group. < Goldman had abandoned Its effort to build" ' a now glass and stainless steel tower across West Street from the World Trade Center site in April out of frustration with the seem­ ing disarray of the state’s plans to manage security and traffic in the area. Goldmm then began a very public search for an ah temative site in Midtown. :• Many public officials and downtown land- lords/feared that if Goldman migrated Io Mfdt'own, Merrill Lynch, whose lease at the W^ld Financial Center expires in a couple of years, and other large employers would fdUow!. Lower Manhattan has been plagued hi^ commercial vacancy rates since the l/'atta^ on the World Trade Center In 2001. / The developer Larry A. Silverstein has j nearly completed rebuilding 7 World Trade Center, but solar he has been unable to land an anchortenant ' In recCTt weeks, state and. city officials went bai^ to Goldman with new security ' and traffic plans as weU as more entice^ ments. They agreed to increase the valuebf the tax-free Liberty Bonds available ] Continued on Pc^e B2

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