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NEW YORK, NY May 13, 2008 —The city and state may have to cough up $321 million to Goldman Sachs because of delays in rebuilding at the World Trade Center site.

WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

The hefty fines would include free rent - 64 years of it - as well as other subsidies.

Gov. George Pataki and the Bloomberg administration agreed to the penalties in 2005 because they were desperate to prevent Goldman from moving to New Jersey.

Now, it looks like major components of the World Trade Center won't be ready by the end of next year, as originally agreed.

But, sources close to the deal say the city and state are asking Goldman to either push back the deadline, or lower the penalties. Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks the issue will eventually be resolved without any cost to the city.

For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.