Developer Larry Silverstein is saying “not so fast” as Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg pressure him either to make a final deal for redeveloping the World Trade Center or step aside.

Mr. Silverstein, who is in the sixth year of a 99-year lease on the site, complained yesterday that government officials took more than a month to come up with their latest proposal but expect him to make a final decision right away.

“After waiting more than 35 days for the government to finally develop and submit its own proposal, we intend to take the time necessary to analyze it,” a spokesman for the developer, Howard Rubenstein, said.

Mr. Rubenstein complained that the Port Authority, which owns the former World Trade Center site, wants the right to back out of any deal between now and September, even while binding Mr. Silverstein to an agreement.

Mr.Silverstein was close to a deal last month, but Mr. Pataki’s representatives canceled negotiations and complained that the developer was being “greedy.” That insult came just over a year after Mr. Pataki ordered his lawyers to explore ways to remove Mr. Silverstein from the World Trade Center project.

Mr. Silverstein has retained tremendous leverage because he controls $3.2 billion in insurance proceeds and the 99-year lease on the 16-acre site.

Although government officials presented two options Wednesday, some observers say that an unspoken third option exists: that Silverstein rejects both proposals.

A contributing editor at City Journal, Nicole Gelinas, said Mr. Silverstein has an “iron-clad right” to build all five towers under his lease with the Port Authority.

“In the end, it’s really Silverstein’s decision whether or not to accept an alternative plan or to go ahead with the existing plan,” Ms. Gelinas said.

Complicating matters, Messrs. Pataki and Bloomberg share influence over the site with New Jersey officials, because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the Trade Center complex.

On Wednesday, the various government entities presented Mr. Silverstein with what was a described as a final, unified offer: Either agree to specific terms for sharing development rights with the Port Authority or abandon the project for $50 million in cash and the rights to build just one of the five planned buildings, estimated to be worth $250 million.

At an event in Brooklyn yesterday, Messrs. Bloomberg and Pataki would not say which option they preferred. But they signaled the time for negotiation is just about over.

“I think it’s time for Silverstein Properties to select between these two, and you just can’t negotiate forever,” Mr. Bloomberg said.”And I think we’ve gotten to the point where the negotiations – as far as I’m concerned – are over.”

Mr. Bloomberg and the Port Authority have loudly questioned Mr. Silverstein’s ability to develop the site’s planned 10 million square feet of office space.

If Mr. Silverstein chooses to stay involved and accepts the proposal to split up the site, government officials want him to make some significant concessions: The developer would give up about 40% of his insurance proceeds, or about $1.3 billion, and his contractually mandated rent increases would be reduced at a lower rate than in previous proposals. In exchange, officials will guarantee tenancy for 2.2 million square feet of office space. New York State has promised to lease at market rate 1 million square feet of the Freedom Tower, and state officials say they believe the federal government could be a tenant.

The Freedom Tower is largely considered to be the commercial white elephant of the site – it would be located far from transportation and be a plausible terrorist target. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for this month.

From Mr.Silverstein’s perspective,the tenant guarantees could be significant – especially because 7 World Trade Center, across from ground zero, has been slow so far to attract tenants and is set to open soon, and because most of the millions of square feet of planned office space will become available around the same time, between 2011 and 2012.