Westfield Group has agreed to invest $612.5 million in a joint venture to develop the retail part of the World Trade Center, Bloomberg reported.
The Sydney-based company has agreed in principle on a 50% share of a joint venture with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to develop the retail facilities on the lower Manhattan site.
Westfield and the Port Authority started talks to develop the retail complex in January 2008 after signing the letter of intent. The current agreement will replace the initial letter of intent, Westfield said.
The Port Authority and Westfield will jointly develop some 365,000 square feet of leasable retail space, and the shopping mall group will be in charge of management and leasing, the company said. Another 90,000 square feet is expected to be added in the future.
The Port Authority owns the 16 acre site, which also includes the 1,776 foot (541- meter) 1 World Trade Center, a 9/11 memorial and a mass-transit hub designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
Westfield Group operates world’s largest shopping portfolios. The global portfolio has 119 high quality regional shopping centres in Australia, NewZealand, the United States and United Kingdom valued in excess of $58.2 billion, with approximately 23,900 retailers in 10.5 million square meters of retail space.
