Merrill Lynch Gives Larry Another Break

Is it karma, a charmed life, or just amazingly ruthless power wielding that has put Larry Silverstein back in the perfect position to protect his interests? And with plenty of extra time to get all his balls lined up. Here's the news from Crain's Business News:

Merrill Lynch renews talks for move to WTC
Merrill reopened talks with developer Larry Silverstein to move into Tower 3; Mr. Silverstein received a six-month extension to complete the tower by August 2012.
May 22. 2008 10:57AM By: Theresa Agovino
Merrill Lynch & Co. is negotiating with developer Larry Silverstein to move into one of the office towers to be built on the World Trade Center site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday paved the way for talks to continue when it voted to grant Mr. Silverstein a six-month extension so he can delay completing construction of the building, known as Tower 3, until August 2012. Mr. Silverstein requested the extension so he will have time to redesign the building to accommodate the large trading floor Merrill Lynch requires. Under an agreement Mr. Silverstein reached in 2006 with the site’s landlord, the Port Authority, he is supposed to deliver the completed buildings by February 2012.
“While we fully expect to complete World Trade Tower 3 in 2012, the six-month schedule adjustments approved today by the Port Authority clearly makes sense,” said World Trade Center Properties president Jano Lieber in a statement. “This extension gives us the time to design and construct a modified building foundation that could accommodate Merrill’s specialized requirements.”
If Merrill Lynch opts to move to Tower 3 it would be an enormous boost for the site, which has yet to attract many private sector tenants. Merrill Lynch is currently located at the World Financial Center, where its lease expires in 2013. A spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center, says it is still negotiating a five-year extension with Merrill.
Last year, Merrill Lynch came very close to signing a deal to move its headquarters to the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown. However, the plan was shelved after its major proponent, former Chief Executive Stanley O’Neal, left the firm amid massive losses stemming from the credit crunch.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/FREE/547438548/1048/information/

I wonder how much tax money will be "forgiven" for Larry to pull this swift move? The rich get richer...

WTC: 15 Years After Attack

Larry Silverstein got a huge chunk of $$$ (actually made a PROFIT) for each individual building that collapsed on 9/11/01 by holding lower Manhattan hostage to future construction. So what can we learn from this? Check out Don Paul's research at 9-11Research.wtc7.net. Here's his summation of what happened, with my bold emPHAsis:
In February of 2002 Silverstein Properties won $861 million from Industrial Risk Insurers to rebuild on the site of WTC 7. Silverstein Properties' estimated investment in WTC 7 was $386 million. So: This building's collapse resulted in a profit of about $500 million. 8
A Parable
To put these events in perspective, imagine that a person leases an expensive house, and immediately takes out an insurance policy covering the entire value of the house and specifically covering bomb attacks. Six weeks later two bombs go off in the house, separated by an hour. The house burns down, and the lessor immediately sues the insurance company to pay him twice the value of the house, and ultimately wins. The lessor also gets the city to dispose of the wreckage, excavate the site, and help him build a new house on the site.
http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/background/owners.html
Blame for 1993 Attack at Center Is Still at Issue
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: January 10, 2008
One of the most painful parts has been the wait, a lawyer for victims of the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center told an appeals court on Wednesday.
Next month will be the 15th anniversary of the Feb. 26, 1993, terrorist strike in the trade center’s underground garage, an event that has almost been forgotten in the glare of the attack that brought down the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
It was only two years ago, though, that its victims won a major victory, when a Manhattan jury found that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owned the trade center, was more to blame for the bombing than the terrorists.
This was the sixth appeal in the case, one of the victims’ lawyers, Victor A. Kovner, told the judges’ panel, and “the fourth time I personally am before the court.” In nearly 15 years, he said, “there hasn’t been a single damages trial” to determine how much the victims should receive for the pain and suffering they endured and for their financial losses.[…] The 50 percent figure is important because if the authority is more than 50 percent liable for the attack, then it must pay 100 percent of any damages for pain and suffering, the victims’ lawyers said later. The authority is responsible for financial damages regardless of how the blame is apportioned, the lawyers said. […] At the trial, the plaintiffs focused on a 1985 report commissioned by the Port Authority, warning that the underground garage was vulnerable to a car bombing and recommending that it be closed to public parking.
[…] the [Port] authority asked a five-judge panel to throw out what it called the jury’s “bizarre” verdict declaring that the agency was 68 percent responsible for the bombing and the terrorists bore only 32 percent of the responsibility.
[…] Originally, hundreds of people and companies sued. By early 2005, many still had lawsuits, while others had dropped out or settled. Victims’ lawyers said yesterday that there were 47 cases remaining, including 43 personal injury cases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/nyregion/10wtc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin