Aussie group in talks to build at WTC site

Westfield Group is in daily talks with the Port Authority to complete an agreement to develop retail space at Manhattan's World Trade Center site, said Chris Ward, the agency's executive director.

The Sydney, Australia-based mall owner is committed to making a deal with the authority, which owns the 16-acre site, Ward said yesterday at a forum on the future of downtown Manhattan. The agency is planning to have about 600,000 square feet of retail as part of the development, he said.

Westfield Group owns two malls on Long Island: South Shore in Bay Shore and Sunrise in Massapequa.

Led by co-chief executive Peter and Steven Lowy, Westfield invested in the retail concourse at the original trade center just six weeks before it was destroyed by terrorists. It signed a letter of intent with the Authority in 2008 to jointly develop the new complex's stores. The rebuilding of the site also includes the 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center, a 9/11 memorial and a mass-transit hub designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

"Westfield is engaged literally with our team on a daily basis," Ward told the gathering of business executives. "Peter Lowy's commitment to take the earlier transaction, the letter of intent that we'd signed, and make it a deal for downtown is four-square in his priorities, and the Port Authority's as well."

Westfield's letter of intent called for the company to invest about $625 million in the site, with the Port Authority putting in about $825 million, the agency said at the time.