Not only was the change in tax law not announced, so developers were unable to plan for the change in the tax law - it was retroactive (I believe) several years back.  Now that I know as much about corruption as I do - I suspect the law was passed to destroy some of the larger developers. Larry Silverstein, the owner of the buildings (not the land) of the World Trade Center - also had a very hard time of coming through the change in the tax law.