The New York Post is boasting that it broke the story that Freedom Tower may be sold to a private developer. Well, on September 21, 2007, we ran out a story under the headline “Port Authority May Sell Parts of Freedom Tower.” The Sun article reported, “While the agency has not committed to selling off some or all of the building, the feasibility study marks a clear step in that direction.” We’ve been saying for years that the Port Authority is an agency with a mandate to run ports, not to compete in the commercial real estate business.

If the Port Authority is finally coming to that conclusion itself, it’s about time. If the Port is having trouble finding buyers, it may be that the other real estate figures have seen the way the Port Authority treated the last buyer of the World Trade Center, Larry Silverstein. He paid billions for a 99-year lease, but when the going got tough, the Port Authority’s vice chairman publicly described Mr. Silverstein as “greedy” and essentially seized control of the building it had sold to Mr. Silverstein. If the Freedom Tower is to be sold again, let it be an actual sale rather than a sale that gives the government agency the right to use its political power to wrest the property back from the buyer whenever it sees fit.