By David Seifman New York Post
Another tower at Ground Zero could soon be on the rise.
Developer Larry Silverstein is “closer than anyone realizes” to landing tenants that would allow him to complete Tower 3 at the World Trade Center, Mayor Bloomberg told The Post.
“I think we’re pretty close downtown at the World Trade Center — closer than anybody realizes — to getting tenants for [Tower] No. 3,” the mayor said during a year-end interview last week.
The likely anchor tenant is GroupM — a subsidiary of the world’s largest advertising company, WPP — which a source said is in “advanced talks” to sign a lease.
GroupM has been looking to consolidate its operations in the city by leasing about 550,000 of the 2.8 million square feet in Tower 3, an 80-story structure Silverstein hopes to construct by 2015.
The law firm of White & Case has also been reported to be looking for space in the same building.
Tower 2, meanwhile, is not making similar progress, Bloomberg said.
During the interview, Hizzoner said Tower 2 was “way down the road. You’d have every building but 2 going.”
Tower 3 became a question mark last year when prospective tenants — including Morgan Stanley and UBS — lost interest amid concerns about slowing growth in the financial industry.
Silverstein has already completed the below-ground portions of the skyscraper, which will serve as pedestrian and retail corridors. But without an anchor tenant, he couldn’t tap financing pledged by the Port Authority to help him finish the project.
If the mayor is right, that hurdle is about to fall.
Silverstein spokesman Bud Perrone declined comment.
The developer has the right to develop three of the four towers planned for the Trade Center.
With commitments from the PA and the city to pre-lease at least 400,000 square feet, Tower 4 is scheduled to be finished late this year with 2.3 million square feet of space. Tower 2, the second-tallest structure, is on hold awaiting more favorable market conditions.
The signature 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center — formerly known as the Freedom Tower — is being developed by the PA.It topped out in August and will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Bloomberg was equally upbeat about the prospects of the city’s other mega-development, the 26-acre Hudson Yards on the far West Side.
Speaking of Stephen Ross, the developer of Hudson Yards, the mayor said: “He’s got to get one more tenant for the first big building and then the platform [over the rail yards] makes sense.”
“Once you have the platform,” he added,“the West Side is going to be residential and that’s easy to finance. That will not be a problem.”
Coach, the luxury-leather-goods manufacturer, announced in 2011 that it was taking more than 600,000 square feet in the first office tower planned for the site at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, or about one-third the available space.
Tower power
- Possible tenants: GroupM, White & Case law firm
- Height: 80 stories
- Space: 2.8 million square feet
- Architect: Richard Rogers
- Scheduled opening: 2015
