The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 167

This is good news. Democrat Eliot Spitzer and the presumptive Spitzer roadkill on the way to an easy Spitzer win, Republican John Faso, have both come out in support of the plan that would have federal and state agencies lease about 1 million sf of office space in the Freedom Tower.

The Bloomberg Administration has not made any committments to lease space at Ground Zero, and Bloomberg has repeatedly tried to get more residential space built at the site at the expense of office space. Gothamist has more.

The Post reports that the lease will be for $59 per sf, while Silverstein had been asking $78 per sf. Among the tenants will be the federal General Services Administration and the state Office of General Services along with the Governor's Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

UPDATE:
One agency that will not be in the Freedom Tower: The Port Authority of NY/NJ.

But when the Freedom Tower inherits the trade center's title as the tallest building in New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's preeminent asset, the agency's employees won't be working in it.

"Twice these people were the subject of that attack, and I am not going to ask them to move into that building," Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said in a recent interview. "I'll resign, but I won't ask them to move into that building."

Instead, other government employees will be asked to work there, even if they prefer not to. The State of New York and the federal government announced Sunday that they would occupy up to 62 percent of the building, although their commitments are in the form of agreements that have not yet been turned into signed leases.

In recent interviews, former and current state and Port Authority employees expressed concern about returning to the site, which they worry would be a potential terror target.

There are also comments from those who think that there isn't a market for the office space envisioned for Ground Zero, but that doesn't mesh with the fact that the Lower Manhattan real estate market is hot, businesses are moving downtown from midtown for lower rates and class A space, and that there are millions of sf in office space envisioned for sites elsewhere in the city, including Long Island City, Atlantic Yards, and the West Side of Manhattan.

Meanwhile, still more bombshells over Whitman's handling of the EPA statements on Ground Zero air quality. Experts are currently drawing up guidelines for diagnoses and treatment of workers exposed at Ground Zero.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.