What to Know
- NY Gov. Cuomo announced an agreement last Thursday that will pave the way for the construction of an arts center at the World Trade Center
- The agreement calls for the Port Authority to enter into a 99-year lease with World Trade Center Performing Arts Center, Inc. at $1 per year
- Work on the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
A new performing arts center is coming to lower Manhattan.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement last Thursday that will pave the way for the construction of an arts center at the World Trade Center.
“This new facility will secure New York City's status as a premier cultural destination while supporting tourism, jobs and economic growth for the entire Empire State," Cuomo said in a statement.
The agreement calls for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to enter into a 99-year lease with World Trade Center Performing Arts Center, Inc. at $1 per year for the facility. This lease agreement also includes the option for extending the lease another 99 years at the same terms. There is also an option that would allow the Port Authority to transfer the site to the performing arts center at some point in the future for $1, according to the state of New York.
The creation of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, which is part of the original World Trade Center Master Plan, will include up to 200,000-square-feet of space, three halls and rehearsal space, a restaurant and a gift shop.
"We are pleased to see the culmination of more than a decade of planning to bring this cultural facility to life at the World Trade Center," Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a statement.
Local
Former New York City mayor and current chairman of the 9-11 Memorial and Museum Michael Bloomberg said in a statement the performing arts center is the “final major piece of the puzzle in redeveloping the World Trade Center.”
The Port Authority is completing the below-grade structure on the future PAC site, which is bounded by Vesey, Greenwich and Fulton streets and by a newly created Washington Place Plaza to the west.
That work is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
