Port Authority Deal May Open Trade Center Door to Merrill

Port Authority Deal May Open Trade Center Door to Merrill

Tower 3, into which Merrill Lynch may move its headquarters, is the center building in this view of three future World Trade Center skyscrapers. (Rendering by RSHP and Team Macarie, courtesy of Silverstein Properties) Enlarge this image.

Updated, 4:37 p.m. | The Port Authority board met privately this morning to consider a deal that would allow Larry A. Silverstein, the developer of three of the future World Trade Center towers, to negotiate with Merrill Lynch as the tenant of the central building at the site. As it stands, under his agreement with the authority, Mr. Silverstein must complete the central building, known as Tower 3, by Dec. 31, 2011.

That deadline is not likely to give him the flexibility he needs to revise the building plans to suit Merrill’s tenancy.

While Mr. Silverstein has made no secret of his hope to lure Merrill across West Street from the World Financial Center at Battery Park City, the company’s interest had been harder to gauge. An article this morning in The Wall Street Journal said that the company was in “renewed talks” to move its headquarters to the World Trade Center.