Press release below. 

PORT AUTHORITY BOARD HIRES REAL ESTATE BROKER to Lease remaining office space at FREEDOM TOWER

The Port Authority Board of Commissioners today approved a three-year agreement with Cushman & Wakefield Inc. to provide exclusive real estate brokerage and related services for 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower.

Under the agreement, the brokerage firm will provide advisory services and assist Port Authority staff in the marketing the Freedom Tower and negotiating leases. Cushman & Wakefield will be responsible for leasing approximately 60 percent of the building’s office space, or 1.5 million gross square feet.  The brokerage firm expects to have the Freedom Tower substantially leased by the building’s completion date at competitive rental rates.

The remaining 1.1 million gross square feet have leases approved: 412,000 square feet is approved to the New York State Office of General Services; 653,000 square feet is being finalized with the U.S. General Services Administration; and the agency is negotiating with the Metropolitan Television Alliance for the entire 89^th and 90^th floors, as well as the right to broadcast from the building’s rooftop.

The commitments made by the anchor tenants have proven critical.  Their presence created momentum for further leasing opportunities, such as today’s agreement, which ensures the building will be a vital component of the continued revival of Lower Manhattan as a second central business district.

The Port Authority assumed control over the construction and leasing of the Freedom Tower last September in an agreement with Silverstein Properties that placed Port Authority in charge of constructing the three major components of the World Trade Center. 

Major progress has been made during the past year with more than 600 workers at the site each day, more than 100 pieces of heavy equipment, and more than $1.7 billion in contracts awarded for the Freedom Tower, the Memorial and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.  The foundation work for the Freedom Tower is nearly complete with steel rising and more than 12,000 cubic yards of concrete already poured.  The tower is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

Cushman & Wakefield Inc. was selected through a request for proposal process, publicly advertised in June 2007.  The Port Authority has the right to extend the agreement for two consecutive one-year terms.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates many of the busiest and most important transportation links in the region.  They include John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports; AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark; the George Washington Bridge and Bus Station; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the three bridges between Staten Island and New Jersey; the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rapid-transit system; the Port Authority-Downtown Manhattan Heliport; Port Newark; the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal; the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island; the Brooklyn Piers/Red Hook Container Terminal; and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.  The agency also owns the 16-acre World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

The Port Authority is financially self-supporting and receives no tax revenue from either state.
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