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National Broadcasting Co.'s deal to stay in New York, cut last week with city officials over homemade carrot cake, gives the network the option to buy two of the three buildings it now occupies in Rockefeller Center.
The deal, which will prove a boon to NBC's landlord, Rockefeller Group Inc., also provides the broadcast giant with what amounts to below-market rents once various tax breaks and incentives are added.
The whole package came together early last week, when city officials became confident that they had finally lured NBC with tax incentives and other financing arrangements to prevent its possible flight to New Jersey. Crain's New York Business learned that the deal began to take shape Tuesday when Robert Wright, president and chief executive of NBC, met with officials at Gracie Mansion.
At that point, Mr. Wright took a greater involvement in the delicate negotiations. Mayor Koch served coffee and homemade carrot cake, promising a full breakfast to his guests at a later date.
Mr. Wright and NBC executives met for one hour with with Mayor Koch, deputy mayors Stanley Brezenoff and Alair Townsend, Finance Commissioner Abraham Biderman and Financial Services Commissioner Stanley Grayson.
"This is the best I can do," sources say the mayor told the NBC crew.
City officials then moved quickly to consummate the deal. On Friday, Mr. Wright and John Welch Jr., chief executive of NBC's parent company, General Electric Corp., phoned Mayor Koch to say they would accept the city's deal.
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