>How are the towers subsidized?
Bigtime tax breaks. I haven't looked in a while, but last time I did, NYC had extended something like $1.5 billion in tax breaks to real estate developers. The whole Times Sq redevelopment scheme was driven by favorable zoning, eminent domain, and tax breaks. Overbuilding during the 1980s in the Wall Street neighborhood led to tax-subsidized conversion of offices to residential buildings. For decades, the city's development strategy has been to subsidize the strong (the FIRE sector) and punish the weak (manufacturing).
Doug