TESTIMONY
by Patricia Noonan, Senior Vice President, Policy & Economic Development
PARTNERSHIP FOR NEW YORK CITY

New York, New York
December 8, 2005

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Testimony before the New York City Industrial Development Agency

The Partnership for New York City supports the allocation of the remaining pool of Liberty Bonds to the redevelopment of commercial facilities on the World Trade Center site, which, in addition to office space, should include retail space, and could also include other commercial facilities such as a hotel. We believe that the top priority for these remaining federal financing tools should be to bring back the more than 30,000 jobs that were displaced from this site after 9/11 thereby restoring the commercial core to the western portion of the Lower Manhattan financial district.

The benefits of the Liberty Bonds, matched by the incentives that the City and State have established to attract commercial tenants to the Trade Center site, should result in the timely construction and occupancy of the new buildings so that the area can become a fully-functioning district as soon as possible. This is the Partnership’s primary goal for Lower Manhattan.

Already, significant progress has been made towards this goal. Construction has begun on the Calatrava Path Terminal, the Fulton Street Transit Hub, and the extension of the South Ferry Subway Station. With the recent passage of the Transportation Bond Act, plans should move forward to create a rail link from JFK Airport to Long Island and Lower Manhattan. And, already, the new Staten Island Ferry Terminal has been completed.

Yet the allocation of the remaining Liberty Bonds for commercial development at the World Trade Center site is essential, as it is a critical component of the public financial package that will leverage $15 billion —or $20 billion if you include all of Lower Manhattan to Canal Street—in private investment in the Lower Manhattan Central Business District over the next five years.

During the past four years, the Partnership has supported the allocation of Liberty Bonds to several important projects that have contributed to the resurgence of the local economy and solidified New York's world leadership in the financial services industry. The bond allocations for the headquarters of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are just two examples. Our position has been that entire industries—but particularly the financial services industry—suffered serious damage on 9/11, and investment in projects to solidify New York City’s predominance in this sector was an appropriate use of Liberty Bonds, whether or not the development occurred in Lower Manhattan.

The original legislation creating the Liberty Bond program required the bonds to be issued by December 31, 2004; however, when approximately $5.7 billion of the $8 billion authorized was still unused just seven months prior to the original sunset date, Congress extended the deadline to issue the bonds by 5 years, to December 31, 2009. This extension was necessary to accommodate the complexities of recovery and rebuilding.

Now the time has come to accelerate the last and most important component of the rebuilding effort—which is the redevelopment of the Trade Center site itself. Development of the Memorial quadrant is moving forward, and the Port Authority is doing an excellent job expediting the construction of the site’s infrastructure. The commitment of the remaining Liberty Bonds will help create the basis for several of the commercial and retail portions of the project to move forward immediately and attract tenants to the site.

The Partnership for New York City strongly urges the IDA to allocate the full allotment of Liberty Bonds to the development of commercial space on the World Trade Center site.

The Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org) is a network of business leaders dedicated to enhancing the economy of the five boroughs of New York City and maintaining the city’s position as the global center of commerce, culture and innovation.