The Port Authority turned up the heat on developer Larry Silverstein yesterday, unveiling a plan that will force him to resume paying $216,000 a day in rent and will restart the clock on his 2014 deadline to complete three office towers.
Silverstein hasn’t paid rent in more than a year because he successfully argued that the Port Authority had failed to turn over sites for his towers on time and in a condition that met the requirements of a 2006 contract with the agency.
Because of the delays in clearing the office-tower sites, Silverstein collected $132 million in penalties from the Port Authority, which at $300,000 a day exceeded what he would have had to pay in rent for his share of the World Trade Center.
Port Authority officials yesterday said they would relocate a retaining wall under the No. 1 subway line to finally clear the site of Silverstein’s Tower 3. The work is set to be done by the end of summer, triggering a resumption of rent payments.