Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, told a Community Board 1 meeting Monday night that the authority hopes to end a 19-month stalemate with the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed on 9/11, by returning to the negotiating table as soon as next week, according to an article at DNAinfo.com today by Julie Shapiro.

"Father Mark Arey, spokesman for the church, said Tuesday that the Port had not contacted him about a meeting, but he would be happy to participate in any 'genuine dialogue with results,'" the article said, adding that "the disagreement started because the Port Authority needs the church's land at 155 Cedar St. to build a vehicle security center for the World Trade Center, encompassing a belowground parking garage and loading dock."

"In 2008," the article continued, "the PA offered the church a site farther east, which is 50 percent larger, along with $20 million to rebuild there....As the talks dragged on last year, Ward said he worried that the vehicle security center would fall behind schedule, so he broke off the negotiations and moved forward with the security center construction."

"The church's plight attracted widespread attention over the summer," the article continued, "as politicians and pundits pointed out that the mosque at the nearby Park51 Islamic community center might be built before St. Nicholas had a new home. Now, Ward hopes to finally settle the issue. He envisions the church rising out of the new Liberty Park, a sloping swath of green space that will sit on top of the Vehicle Security Center."

The illustration at the right of a rendering of Liberty Park accompanied Ms. Shapiro's article.

The article said that Mr. Ward said Monday that "Our hope is that we can successfully negotiate appropriate compensation," adding "If the church fails to negotiate in good faith...we would have to invoke some form of eminent domain."

On September 30, 2010, the authority put out a press release that said that its board of commissioners had awarded a contract for the World Trade Center Vehicle Security Center (VSC) - the central artery for the site's truck delivery and parking system - to be built to street level.

It said it had awarded a $45.9 million contract to W&W Steel Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to furnish and install the structural steel required to build the Vehicle Security Center. The cost was 23 percent below the Port Authority's estimates for the job, and follows the award of contracts during the past year for the VSC's south bathtub walls and excavation to bedrock, steel detailing and foundations.

Liberty Park will be built above the southern portion of the VSC, essentially on top of the VSC's roof.

Currently, work is under way to excavate the western portion of the VSC site. Work on the eastern half of the VSC will begin as soon as the deconstruction of 130 Liberty Street is completed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation at the end of this year.

In 2007, a design for a new office tower for Merrill Lynch was shown that had a cantilevered trading floor over a rebuilt church on the site.