The owners of ground zero are breaking a long-term contract with the builder of a multibillion-dollar transit hub.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Phoenix Constructors say in a joint statement released Thursday that the agency will competitively bid out all future work on the hub to help meet a $3.2 billion budget.
That budget was set last October, raised from an original $2.5 billion. The agency says it hopes to save costs in today's struggling economy.
Phoenix has done about $1 billion in previous contract work on the hub, which is expected to open in 2014.
The latest news comes about two weeks after reports indicated major snags in the World Trade Center redevelopment. The owners of Ground Zero proposed indefinitely postponing the construction of two of three skyscrapers planned by developer Larry Silverstein.
And the 1,776-foot Freedom tower – the heart of the reconstruction – won’t have occupants until 2019.
