UPDATE 1-One World Trade Center tower again seeks investor

[Faith of the Fallen]

UPDATE 1-One World Trade Center tower again seeks investor

 By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Private investors are getting another shot at developing One World Trade Center, the $3 billion lower Manhattan skyscraper the New York-New Jersey Port Authority is building in the teeth of a real estate downturn.

"As One World Trade Center increasingly becomes a reality in the skyline, it is a time that makes sense to determine if there is a strategic partner who can add to the long-term success of the building," Port Authority Stephen Sigmund said by telephone on Monday.

The Port Authority, whose revenues have slid as the recession squeezes the money it gets from its airports, bridges and tunnels, has for the past few years weighed various ways of tapping private money for the tower's rebuilding.

In 2007, for example, it contacted private buyers about possibly buying the entire tower.

But now, in return for a "small slice" of the development costs -- a minimum of $100 million -- a new equity investor would share in the long-term profits from rising rents, two sources familiar with the agency's strategy said.

This is a reversal from the authority's previous policy under which it leased the World Trade Center for 99 years to developer Larry Silverstein two months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Investment banks, hedge funds and private equity funds have raised billions of dollars to bet on distressed commercial real estate; U.S. prices have shrunk over 43 percent during the recession, according to Moody's/Real Commercial Property Price Index. [ID:nN24186404]

But so far at least, the Port Authority is only seeking companies with expertise in leasing offices and shops and running commercial buildings.

The mostly New York companies the agency has contacted might however, bring in other partners, such as banks, hedge funds and private equity firms.

The list of potential investors includes: Boston Properties (BXP.N), Brookfield Properties (BPO.TO), Related Companies, Vornado Realty Trust (VNO.N), and the Durst Organization.

[Faith of the Fallen]

 TIMING, TENANTS

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has repeatedly said that downturns can be the best times to build new projects because they can be opened as the economy is reviving.

Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz echoed that point, "It's a great time to build," he said but declined to comment further.

The Port Authority has struggled to find tenants for the skyscraper -- even agency officials have said their employees did not want to return to the site which has been attacked twice. Last March, the office tower, which has risen several floors above street level, was renamed One World Trade Center to make it easier to market its offices.

The building previously was called the Freedom Tower, a name that along with its 1,776-foot (541-metre) height was chosen to exemplify New York City's resurgence after two passenger jets were flown into the Twin Towers, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The rebuilding of the entire complex has repeatedly stalled, first due to legal fights with insurers, then clashes over designs and security, and now another brawl between Silverstein and the Port Authority over financing for three other towers.

During this period, New York City's real estate market has crumbled. Since the market's peak in mid-2007, prices for top quality buildings have fallen about 55 percent, according to Josh Gelormini, a vice president of research for real estate service company Jones Lang LaSalle.

Few sellers have been willing to accept the sharply lower prices. Only six office buildings changed hands in the first three quarters of 2009 versus an average of 55 during the same period over the past five years, according to CB Richard Ellis, another real estate services firm.

One deal was done last year at roughly 60 to 70 percent "below where it might have been at the peak," Nat Rockett, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle's capital markets group, said by e-mail.

Vacancy rates for downtown Manhattan's trophy properties have clung to about 9 percent for the past few months, but they might top 20 percent by 2014, according to James Delmonte, director of research for Jones Lang LaSalle's New York office. [ID:nN21248733] (Reporting by Joan Gralla; additional reporting by Ilaina Jonas; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0422657820100104