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Westfield Group, the world's largest shopping centre owner, may jointly run the retail stores planned for the World Trade Centre site with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The agency, which owns the 6.5ha lower Manhattan site, is considering Sydney-based Westfield as a retail development partner, says Michael Francois, the authority's real estate and regional development chief.
Westfield ran the retail complex beneath the trade centre for six weeks before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It is the intention of both parties to move on an aggressive schedule, with the aim and hope of concluding these discussions by the end of the year," Francois said yesterday at a meeting of the authority's trade centre redevelopment subcommittee.
The discussions were "an alternative" to the authority operating the approximately 46,000 sq m of retail space itself, Francois said. Last month, the agency issued a request for proposals from potential retail consultants. Those were due on January 19, he said.
Westfield sold its lease back to the authority in 2003 for US$140 million, while retaining first refusal rights for future retail development there.
Last month, the authority hired Cushman & Wakefield, the largest closely held commercial property brokerage, to oversee leasing of office space in the Freedom Tower, a 541m skyscraper whose foundations are now being poured.
Rebuilding plans for the site call for above and below-ground stores in the four planned skyscrapers, as well as in the Santiago Calatrava-designed commuter rail hub.
The design includes "Cortlandt Way", a pedestrian walkway between two of the towers that will feature terraces and outdoor cafes and also serve as a "gateway" to the September 11 memorial.
The original trade centre had a 39,700 sq m retail concourse, almost all of it underground, and was one of the most profitable malls in the US.
Westfield bowed out of the rebuilding project after New York officials said they preferred that as much of the new retail as possible be built at street level.
In September 2006, Westfield chief financial officer Peter Allen said the company was in talks with the authority and with Larry Silverstein, the New York developer who owns the right to build three office towers on the site.
- Bloomberg
