The owners of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Properties,have received over $700,000 in government grants since 9/11. The grants handed out by the Empire State Development Corp. were meant for small businesses that were affected by the terror attacks. Brookfield Properties is an $8 Billion company with over 2,500 employees.
The ESTC singled out a small affiliate of Brookfield's, Brookfield Properties LLC, Singling out this small affiliate with only 80 employees or so, enabled Brookfield to qualify for these grants. Normally the ESDC examines the fiancial health of an enitre company in making grant qualification evaluations.
After the attack, Brookfield got three separate state grants - the first in 2002 for $300,000, the second in 2003 for $185,000, and the third in 2005 for $205,000.
Some of the money was used to restore properties near the WTC and some was used to keep Brookfield jobs in New York, ESDC spokesman Austin Shafran said.
The owners of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Properties received over $230 milliion in insurance payments and expected to be reimbursed for all business losses and damages.
The company has said it suffered $300 million in damages, but in securities filings has claimed it collected $230 million in insurance payments and expected to be reimbursed for all business losses and damages.
In a 2002 Securities & Exchange Commission filing first revealed by the Daily News in 2006, Brookfield's parent company contended it was "insulated from the majority of the financial impact arising from this event."