December 8, 2004

On December 6, a federal jury decided that the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, were two separate attacks, entitling Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder, to approximately $2.2 billion from nine different insurance companies. Had the jury, in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, decided that the two planes constituted only a single attack, Silverstein would only have been paid half of that.

Silverstein lost a first trial regarding insurance payouts earlier this year, but this new jury’s decision means the developer could ultimately collect $4.6 billion for the Sept. 11 attacks.

While that decision may still be overturned on appeal, the promise of more money may attract private investors to the site, or help Silverstein attract tenants for the two World Trade Center buildings he is already building, including 7 World Trade Center, where workers completed the steel frame in October, and at the landmark 1776-foot tall Freedom Tower. Neither of the buildings has a tenant.

Kevin Lerner