Arbitration panel sends WTC parties back to table to hammer out new rebuilding schedule

Arbitrators: WTC rebuilding schedule back on table

NEW YORK — An arbitration panel is sending the owners and developer of ground zero back to the negotiating table to hammer out a new schedule for rebuilding the World Trade Center site.

But the arbitrators have denied developer Larry Silverstein’s request to stop paying millions of dollars in rent at the site for the next decade.

Both Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Wednesday that arbitrators gave them 45 days to renegotiate a timetable.

Silverstein had claimed the agency was behind schedule and pushed it to guarantee more than $3 billion in financing for his towers.

The arbitrators ruled that any delays weren’t sufficient to warrant canceling a 3-year-old agreement that divides responsibilities for rebuilding the site.