The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 107

So, Silverstein is placing his bet on Eliot Spitzer. That's a pretty solid play for Silverstein. Silverstein knows that Spitzer is very likely to be the next governor of New York, which means Spitzer gets to name his own people to the Port Authority, LMDC, and Empire State Development Corporation. Bloomberg doesn't control those entities, so no matter how much Bloomberg complains, the site development really isn't up to him. It's up to whoever is governor of New York.

Real estate experts say it was with that in mind that Silverstein Properties recently retained a lobbyist and political consultant, Roberto Ramirez. Mr. Ramirez, a former state assemblyman and leader of the Bronx Democratic Party, now heads the Mirram Group. He is a former political adviser to Mr. Spitzer and is said to have a close relationship with him. It is Mr. Ramirez who reportedly engineered Mr. Spitzer's early endorsement of another Mirram client, Fernando Ferrer, in last year's mayoral primary.

The suggestion is that Mr. Silverstein is looking past Mr. Pataki to a new negotiating partner.

The director of the Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College, Henry Wollman, said: "The state is in the middle of these issues in a formidable way."

"Someone as smart as Larry Silverstein may feel that he may do better with a new administration," Mr. Wollman said. "It would not surprise me if there were a strategy in the back of his mind."

A senior fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute, David Dyssegaard Kallick, who follows ground zero, said: "It seems to me that the lease has to be renegotiated. How much gets done now and in the next nine months, and how much after that, is an open question.

Spitzer hasn't exactly been forthcoming with his own vision for Lower Manhattan, other than to say that there has been a "profound failure of leadership" so one has to wonder just what will happen after November.

However, a word to the wise would be to follow the money:

Mr. Spitzer, whose father was a developer, has already received large contributions from the city's biggest real estate developers, who could be betting with Mr. Silverstein that Mr. Spitzer will soon take over from Mr. Pataki.

According to the state's campaign finance records, developer Stephen Ross of Vornado Realty Trust, one of the city's most active firms, gave Mr. Spitzer $25,000 last May. The attorney general's campaign received $20,000 from the Witkoff Group, about $20,000 from the Durst family, about $10,000 from a Queens builder, Muss Development, and more than $100,000 from members of the Milstein family.

The Mirram Group has given about 20% of the $43,000 it has doled out in state races since 1999 to Mr. Spitzer's campaign for governor.

Mr. Kallick, of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said that Mr. Spitzer may be more willing to scratch plans for the Freedom Tower, which is widely known to be Mr. Pataki's creation. Many real estate experts now say it is the least commercially attractive building slated for the site.

And if they've got to toss out the plans for the Freedom Tower, you're looking at even more delays in rebuilding the site.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein.