Doughty Developer

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The New York Sun

Today’s hearing by the city’s Industrial Development Agency on developer Larry Silverstein’s application for the last batch of Liberty Bonds to fund office construction at ground zero marks important steps in the process of rebuilding ground zero. Mr. Silverstein would use the remaining $3.35 billion in Liberty Bonds set aside for commercial development to build four of the five office towers he wants on the site. Proceeding with his plans is an act of defiance of sorts.


The doughty developer is defying the political sclerosis that has led to protracted bickering between the governor and the mayor, a scuffle over cultural space on the site, and a redesign of the Freedom Tower. Mr. Silverstein is also, in a sense, defying Mayor Bloomberg and the mayor’s economic development guru, Daniel Doctoroff, both of whom have suggested publicly in recent weeks that the city might be better off if Mr. Silverstein were to abandon his claims to the site, although the mayor has since softened his rhetoric to suggest that his real concern is with how quickly Mr. Silverstein would or wouldn’t build on the site and not with Mr. Silverstein himself.


After we defended Mr. Silverstein in an editorial last week, a savvy reader called up to point out that the Liberty Bonds under discussion this week are a form of public financing, so the mayor has every right to join the fight on how they will be used. It’s a worthy point. Mr. Silverstein may have to pay back the $3.35 billion in bonds, but they are a government allocation, a subsidy.


Even if the city has standing, however, Mr. Silverstein deserves to have his application approved with as few limitations as possible. That such a discussion is even happening right now is a testament to how Mr. Silverstein has so far been the most successful of anyone in bringing plans for the site far enough along to be haggling about financing. Only Mr. Silverstein has actually built an office building on the site. He is still paying rent on his 99-year lease to the Port Authority. He would be more than $3 billion in debt if the Liberty Bonds are approved. If rebuilding quickly and well is the goal, Mr. Silverstein already has incentives pushing him in that direction. Our instinct is to trust Mr. Silverstein as the visible embodiment of the market’s invisible hand.


The New York Sun

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