The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 228

The battle over the insurance proceeds on the World Trade Center complex has finally come to an end. Confidentiality agreements will shield what the various insurance companies will have to shell out individually, but the culmulative total of the deal is $2 billion that will be split between the Port Authority and Larry Silverstein. This money will help secure financing on the construction of the Freedom Tower and the remaining office towers to be erected at the site.

The settlement with seven of the two dozen insurers — Allianz Global Risk, Travelers Companies, Zurich American, Swiss Re, Employers Insurance, Industrial Risk Insurers and Royal Indemnity — that provided coverage for the World Trade Center is the culmination of a two-month campaign by the state insurance superintendent, Eric R. Dinallo, involving meetings in Geneva, Paris and Delaware.

In recent weeks, Gov. Eliot Spitzer joined the negotiations, which lasted until the early morning hours today. The other insurers made good on their claims.

The agreement removes a dark cloud over the rebuilding effort, although the insurance money represents only about half of the $9 billion cost of rebuilding the office towers and retail space at ground zero.

Without the money, officials say they might not have been able to obtain private financing or the use of tax-free Liberty Bonds. The dispute, officials say, could have dragged on for some time without a resolution, while eating up millions of dollars in lawyers’ fees.

“The unsettled insurance claims were the last major barrier to rebuilding and have been bitterly and intensely contested for almost six years,” Governor Spitzer said in an interview. “This means we can now fund construction, access the financial markets and move on to what should be our primary focus: rebuilding.”

He said the agreement, which ends all the litigation, was part of a collaborative effort on the part of many officials who had lost “patience with the ongoing fighting that didn’t serve the public interest or the effort to rebuild.” Mr. Dinallo was working in tandem with the retired judge Albert Rosenblatt, who was overseeing an arbitration proceeding in the case.

Business leaders downtown, who have been frustrated by years of delays and political and legal wrangling, were elated by the news.

As for the actual construction at the site, Virocon will be providing glass for the Freedom Tower. One million square feet of glass will be needed to sheath the tower's exterior.

Meanwhile, the LMDC, which was supposed to fade into oblivion (and Gov. Spitzer called on its shuttering), will now carry on a mission of oversight:

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which once was the most important agency involved in the rebuilding of ground zero and ran competitions for a master plan and a memorial to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, appeared last year to be shutting down.

But it has hundreds of millions of dollars to monitor, several million to spend and new leaders appointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer to keep watch over the rebuilding.

“I think it’s obvious that the governor is going to utilize this agency that is responsible for ensuring that the revitalized lower Manhattan that has been promised will in fact be delivered,” said Avi Schick, chairman of the LMDC’s board.

Spitzer last month appointed Schick, who is also president and chief operating officer of the Empire State Development Corp., and new president David Emil, the former owner of the Windows on the World restaurant at the trade center, to take over the agency he once suggested should not continue.

“The site is obviously meaningful to me, emotionally and personally,” said Emil, who lost 73 employees in the 2001 attacks.

The LMDC still has the task of completing years-old design guidelines for buildings and facilities at the site, despite the fact that construction has begun on the Freedom Tower skyscraper, the memorial and a transit hub. Emil said the LMDC should know by September how to allocate $45 million set aside for downtown community groups.

UPDATE:
Plus one. The NYC Medical Examiners has determined that Felicia Dunn-Jones died of respiratory ailments six months after 9/11 died as a result of her inhalation of dust from the collapsing towers. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Her name will join 2,749 others who were murdered by the al Qaeda terrorists on 9/11/2001. Her name will be added to the 9/11 WTC Memorial.