Port Authority Moving Away from RE Investments

Selling New York City’s One World Trade Center is one part of a plan to reform the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) after the George Washington Bridge Scandal brought negative attention to the agency. Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie are aiming to refocus on PANYNJ’s core mission of transportation projects. Real estate sales would be at the forefront of a proposed overhaul.

The most valuable among PANYNJ’s real estate holdings is One WTC. The agency controls a 90 percent stake. But PANYNJ chairman John Degnan has said that figuring out how to sell the tower could take years. After spending billions of dollars to build the Freedom Towers, the agency would wait until the project is profitable before getting rid of it. Degnan wants the agency to financially benefit, which won’t happen through a “fire sale” before the property is marketable.

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