Nearly two years after opening One World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey may soon be looking to sell the 104-story building in an effort to reorient its priorities toward transportation.
The Port Authority said in a statement "when the time is right" it will look into monetizing ownership in the 1,776-foot-high building.
Often referred to as Freedom Tower, the Western Hemisphere's tallest building rose to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In 2014, a panel on the future of the Port Authority convened by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recommended the agency divest and monetize its commercial real estate holdings at the World Trade Center and return to its "core" transportation mission.
"One World Trade Center is an iconic, 21st century class A plus office tower with universal brand recognition and strong leasing momentum," said the Port Authority in its statement. "Its substantial and growing net operating income will, when the time is right for the Port Authority to monetize all or part of its ownership in the building, support a premium, world-class valuation."
One World Trade Center has 3 million of rentable square feet and was 69% leased as of June when the Port Authority and the building's landlord, The Durst Organization, announced that Ameriprise Financial would be occupying the 78th floor. Some real estate executives recently told
An October 2015 report from New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation said the Port Authority would likely recover nearly all of its anticipated $16 billion investment for the rebuilding of the 16-acre World Trade Center site following the terrorist attacks. The agency sold its stake in a new shopping center complex at the World Trade Center property that opened on Aug. 16 to Westfield Corporation.
"The Port Authority has been managing its real estate interests, with the divestiture of the World Trade Center retail project to Westfield for $1.4 billion as a prime example, as part of our commitment to refocus on our core transportation mission, taking into account impacts on its financial position," the agency added in its statement about a possible sale.
The Port Authority is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The entity's current $7.9 billion 2016 budget allocates $1.2 billion for debt service and $978 million for the new World Trade Center transportation hub.
