State Backing Out of 1 WTC Lease — And That’s Actually Good News
By Matt Chaban January 4, 2011 11:56 pm
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Back in the dark old days of Ground Zero, when it still seemed like nothing would ever get built, the state, along with the city, Port Authority and Feds, agreed to the first leases at 1 World Trade Center, taking 600,000 square feet of office space in the building, just under a quarter of the tower’s total space.
Yet now that the building is making stellar progress — the Durst deal, hitting the halfway mark — New York State has decided it wants out of 1 World Trade Center, according to Steve Cuozzo. Especially amid a stiff state budget, an expensive move into an expensive new tower does not exactly make sense.
This actually turns out to be a blessing in disguise:
Too much space leased to government offices automatically cheapens a commercial building’s image. The last thing “iconic” 1 WTC needs are government workers hogging more than one-third of its floors at subsidized rents higher than public entities should be paying, but still far below market.
Cuozzo also reports that “several financial tenants are also kicking the tires,” which, in addition to the Conde Nast deal, means very good things for the once-beleagured building.
