The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 124

Mayor Bloomberg certainly appears that he wants Ground Zero to remain empty. He said that he's prefer the hole to making a bad deal with Larry Silverstein. Silverstein has claimed that he had the financial means to rebuild the project, but Bloomberg has been skeptical and it appears that there's a serious grudge match bubbling just under the surface.

Saying he's fed up with the seemingly endless talks, the mayor for the first time raised the prospect of a mammoth court battle if Silverstein rejects the latest offer made by the city, state and Port Authority.

"You can always say, 'What do you do?' if they keep holding us up," Bloomberg said on his weekly WABC radio show.

"If it stays a hole for a while and we fight it out in court, that's what it's going to be. We're not going to make a bad deal."

The potential for a court showdown has always loomed in the tense negotiations with Silverstein, who signed a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center site just weeks before the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

But, until yesterday, everyone involved has tried to steer clear of litigation, knowing full well that it could take years to resolve the flood of suits.

Bloomberg has been arguing for months that more than one developer should be involved to speed up the construction process.

Sorry, but the past several months have been spent with the Port Authority trying to figure out what it wants to do, not negotiating with Silverstein. They've only reached an agreement internally - after Corzine, Pataki and Bloomberg held talks last week. And it seems that Corzine and Bloomberg's views won out, which is pushing this to a crisis point. Yet, Gov. Pataki's office noted the following:

Joanna Rose, Gov. Pataki's spokeswoman, pointed out that Silverstein has to proceed with construction if he doesn't accept one of two alternatives.

"Construction is underway on the memorial, the two transportation hubs, West Street, Goldman Sachs, and we fully expect Silverstein Properties to keep his commitment to the people of New York and commence construction on the Freedom Tower in the upcoming weeks," she said.

Silverstein declined comment.

Silverstein is getting dragged into the middle of a political fight between Pataki, Bloomberg, and other local politicians (Shelly Silver, where are you?). The Post rips Bloomberg for his comments. As should anyone else paying attention - he's trying to forment a crisis and prevent any rebuilding at this point. And the editorial correctly points out that even if Silverstein walks into the sunset tomorrow, we're no closer to getting anything rebuilt at Ground Zero because the entire process would then be subject to new contracting processes and a search for developers would have to begin (though one would suspect that a politically connected developer to Bloomberg might emerge as the candidate - Forest City Ratner perhaps?)

Steve Cuozzo notes that there's been zero progress at Ground Zero. "Nothing will come of nothing."

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