March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co., a Chinese developer, agreed to lease at least four floors at New York’s Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, a person familiar with the negotiations said.

The company plans to occupy 190,000 square feet of space in the 102-story skyscraper now under construction, said the person. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, is scheduled to approve the deal at its monthly board meeting on March 26, the person said.

The company would pay about $80 a square foot on a 23-year lease that provides for rent increases every five years, the person said. The deal will make the company the first tenant for the 1,776-foot tower now under construction at the trade center site. The building is supposed to be completed in 2011.

Beijing Vantone “would be a magnet for international investment by companies from China and other places that would look to New York City as their western headquarters,” said Kathryn Wylde, chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City, a trade organization for city-based corporations. The agreement may “kick-start” leasing of the 2.6 million square-foot skyscraper, Wylde said.

The deal is almost identical to the terms outlined in a proposed contract reached between the authority and Vantone last June, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the agreement won’t be made public until March 26. Under the earlier proposal, a Vantone subsidiary, China Center New York LLC, would have leased 190,000 square feet of offices between the 64th and 69th floors of the 102-story tower.

“We are continuing to work to turn the term sheet we agreed to in June into the first signed lease for a private tenant in One World Trade,” the Port Authority said in a statement.

Cheng Xiaoxi, Beijing Vantone’s board secretary, said it is the company’s parent that is leasing the space, when contacted at his office in the city today. Calls made to the parent, Beijing Vantone Industrial Co., weren’t answered.

The deal was reported earlier today on the Web site of the New York Observer.

Government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s customs and border protection unit, have agreed to take at least 1 million square feet at the Freedom Tower. Though those leases remain unsigned, the person said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David M. Levitt in New York at dlevitt@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 24, 2009 21:33 EDT