According to Alex Frangos' report in the Wall Street Journal, roughly $1.8 billion of the $4.6 billion insurance proceeds for the WTC have been spent so far on things like buyouts (is that Westfield, the Autralian mall company that used to have the retail rights?) and $15 million/year in management fees for Larry Silverstein. [Not mentioned: the eight figure monthly lease payments Silverstein pays to the Port Authority to stay in the game.]
What IS mentioned, though, is Silverstein's heartfelt but hmm, never-mentioned-until-now love of Tribeca:
To woo tenants, Silverstein Properties is trying to distance the building from the image of the Trade Center, though it literally sits on the site's edge. Instead of 7 World Trade Center, the building will be marketed under a newly created street address, 250 Greenwich St. The idea, according to someone familiar with the matter is to emphasize the building's proximity to TriBeCa, the trendy neighborhood to the north. It's also a tacit admission, according to real-estate executives, that the World Trade Center name scares prospective tenants.Showdown at Ground Zero [wsj, sub. req.]
