Company New York Times (second package click here for first deal)
Date Approved 10/23/2001 (deal closed 12/21/01, amended 4/16/02 to include additional project locations)
Project Site(s) Site 8 South (42nd St. DP), 229 W. 43rd, 122 E. 42nd, 122 5th Ave., 311 W. 43rd, 1133 6th Ave., 841 Broadway, 500-512 Seventh Avenue, 4725 34th St., 609 Greenwich (6-8th floors)
Competing Sites N.J.
Type of transaction/ Company type Commercial retention / media
Maximum  City Subsidy $18,746,858

City Amount Tied to Job Retention

 $7,590,000 in sales tax retention benefits

City Amount Tied to Job Growth

 $3,858 per employee up to a cap of $6,753,000 in sales tax growth credits
Type(s) of City benefits Energy benefits - $4,400,000 (BIR program) and $375,000 (New York City Public Utility Service) as of FY 2001

Sales tax benefits - up to 14,343,000

Benefits from New York  State Eminent domain take-over of property.
Benefits Distributed to Date (according to LL69 Report FY 2002) $44,000
 
Promised Job Retention 3,300
Job recruitment 0
Projected job growth 1,148
Total Jobs 4,448
Jobs Reported in LL69 Report FY 2002 3,425
Layoffs In January 2001, one month before the deal was announced, the Times eliminated 17.1% of its online unit, New York Times Digital.

In April 2001, two months after the deal was announced, the Times announced that an unspecified number of additional layoffs were expected for the online unit and other business units of the Times. The job cuts were announced on an internal web broadcast. The Newspaper Guild of New York quickly responded by urging the Times to stop using temporary employees, consultants and freelance writers before cutting the jobs of full-time employees.
Length of Contract 30 years
 
Project Purpose To expand and modernize existing NYT facilities in Times Square through take-over of several adjacent properties and construction of a new building.
Clawbacks? ?
Background/Since then... According to news reports, The New York Times may be seeking to finance its new building with commercial Liberty Bonds, which would provide additional savings to the company in the form of savings on interest payments.
Corporate Notes The New York Times is the parent company of the Boston Globe.
Comments This subsidy agreement contains surprisingly generous terms, including below-market sale prices for the land and tax breaks for prized real estate. As for the tax breaks, New York Times vice chairman and senior vice-president Michael Golden said : "It's our responsibility to all the stakeholders in this company to be as competitive as we can be.  We’re going to take advantage of the opportunities out there." Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, the state agency negotiating with the Times venture, disputed the contention that the project was a sweetheart deal.  "We don’t have to be as generous as we have been in the past," he said. The Times company joint venture partner in the deal is developer Forest City Ratner Companies. (Charles Bagli, The New York Times 2/28/01)

Stratford Wallace, a building owner on the development site, said the state was using its power of condemnation to benefit a private corporation.  Real estate executives and urban planners criticized the project as overly generous at a time when Times Square is booming.  Woody Heller, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate company said, "The Times deal has curiously attractive terms, particularly given the fact that The New York Times would have little leverage in threatening to leave Manhattan."
A note on sources -- Information in this deal comes from GJNY's examination of project agreements obtained through Freedom of Information Law requests, as well as news reports, minutes and notes taken at board meetings, and communication with our allies. The entries are a work in progress. For more information about the documentation behind GJNY's database, or to let us know about any developments that are not yet reflected here, please contact us at gjny@ctj.org or (212) 414-9394.
Date last updated: 07/25/03