Carl Glassman / Tribeca Trib

The eastern half of the World Trade Center site, where developer Larry Silverstein has secured from the Port Authority the financial backing he needs to complete at least one, and possibly two of the office towers he planned for the site.

Developer Larry Silverstein finally has the financial backing he needs to complete at least one and possibly two of his planned office towers at the World Trade Center site, thanks to a vote by the Port Authority’s board of directors Thursday morning.

The Port Authority has agreed to support up to $1.3 billion in construction loans for Silverstein’s Towers 3 and 4, along Church Street.

The bulk of that—approximately $1.1 billion—will be put towards propping up loans for Tower 4 at Church and Liberty Streets, due to be completed in 2013. The Authority, New York City and New York State also have each pledged to contribute $200 million in public money to guarantee loans for construction of Silverstein’s Tower 3, at Church and Cortlandt Streets, if the developer can raise $300 million on his own for the project.

Silverstein would also be responsible for pre-leasing approximately 400,000 square feet of office space in Tower 3, at a rate of $60 per square foot, before he can complete its construction.

“We’re very pleased that we’ve been able to take a step that is so significant in living up to our critical obligation to the region,” Port Authority board chairman Anthony Coscia said, following Thursday’s vote. “We’ll keep the progress that we’re all so happy to see on a daily basis at the World Trade Center site ongoing.”

The terms of the deal closely resemble the broad outline the Port Authority and Silverstein agreed to in late March, a pact that effectively ended a months-long standoff over construction funding for Silverstein’s planned towers at the World Trade Center site.  Under the finalized agreement, the nearly-1,000-foot Tower 4 will be finished, and Tower 3 will be built up to “podium height” unless and until Silverstein can meet the pre-leasing and financing conditions. If those terms are met, the Authority predicts that the 71-story Tower 3 could be finished by 2015.

“The approval today of the World Trade Center development agreement is fantastic news for New York,” Silverstein said in a statement released shortly after the vote. “This agreement will ensure that we continue this momentum with a new generation of cutting-edge, green skyscrapers becoming available starting in 2013.”

Other provisions of the finalized agreement include a “cash trap” that prevents Silverstein from collecting profits on any of his towers at the site until after the Port Authority’s investment in their construction has been paid back. The deal also directs the developer to use the remaining insurance money he collected after the destruction of the original Twin Towers to build Towers 3 and 4 and for ground rent payments to the Port Authority.

“The cash trap is for the purpose of making sure that Mr. Silverstein is not prematurely benefiting from the buildings as they start to perform,” Port Authority executive director Christopher Ward said. “We needed to protect public resources.”

While it seems that two of his planned three towers are likely to rise in the next five years, Silverstein’s flagship, 1,250-foot-tall Tower 2 will be put on hold indefinitely. The Authority will complete the site’s foundation—which is necessary for the construction of the agency’s $3.2 billion transit station—but will not invest any public money in the tower’s above-ground build-out. Ward said the Authority has not decided what will occupy the site at street level until the tower is built, and that the only concrete plans so far for the site are two entrances into the transportation hub.

“How and what will be the infrastructure that wraps those [entrances] will need to be determined,” Ward said. “We’re working with the City of New York on how you might further develop that [site].”

Following the board’s meeting, Community Board 1 vice-chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes said she believes the site could accommodate a temporary, “flexible outdoor performance space” or park.

“There is so little open green space in the heart of the Financial District,” McVay Hughes said. “That site could be an incredible anchor for the community, especially while we’re waiting for the [World Trade Center] Performing Arts Center to be built.”