Public Authorities Control Board

The state Public Authorities Control Board has voted to buy the Farley Post Office for $230 million and change--with some of that being provided by a loan.

This was exactly what Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wanted to do last fall, but which Gov. Pataki resisted, since it meant that the state would own a building without having approved a plan to go along with it (and also because he saw Mr. Silver's position as posturing for Madison Square Garden's sake). That plan, to turn the post office into Moynihan Station, still has not been approved by the PACB.

If Moynihan never gets approved and the larger attempt to move Madison Square Garden collapses, the taxpayers of New York State will have an awfully large, hard-to-heat building on their hands. But, hey, who could pass up a chance to own a set of 20 53-foot Corinthian columns?

- Matthew Schuerman

I don't see anything up on the wires yet, but WNYC is reporting that the Public Authorities Control Board (that is, Shelly Silver) approved the Atlantic Yards project. As expected. --Andrew Rice

The KPMG report that may explain how much money Atlantic Yards will make the state--and whatever happened to the missing half-billion dollars--is now in state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's hands.

Jessica Copen, a spokeswoman for the Empire State Development Corporation, said the report, which has not been distributed publicly (nor even to Assemblyman Richard Brodsky), was one of the documents the ESDC gave Silver's office as a result of Tuesday morning's meeting.

"The ESDC is providing all of the information that the PACB is asking for," she said.

The Public Authorities Control Board will either vote on the Brooklyn project on Wednesday--or it won't.

- Matthew Schuerman

NY1 is reporting that state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will not give final approval to the Atlantic Yards project before the next Governor comes into office on Jan. 1. Silver controls one of the three votes on the state Public Authorities Control Board, which is set to meet on Wednesday for the last time this year.

But these sorts of things are often negotiated up to the last minute, and the agenda is not finalized until the beginning of the meeting. A spokesman for Pataki, John Sweeney, told The Real Estate, "We are expecting that Atlantic Yards will be on the agenda."

A spokeswoman for the Empire State Development Corporation, Jessica Copen, said that representatives from that agency are meeting with the PACB on Tuesday morning to field more information requests.

All of which means that it is still up in the air, but that Silver is paving the way for postponement.  read more »

- Matthew Schuerman

Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project are tossing down a loud gauntlet on Monday afternoon. They will gather at City Hall at 1 p.m. to urge the state Public Authorities Control Board to refrain from voting on the project at its next meeting this Wednesday.

The board could end up having the final say on what's become one of the most controversial real estate projects in recent New York City history.

The opponents rallying at City Hall want the authorities control board "to vigorously scrutinize the financial details of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project before voting on it." And they also want Eliot Spitzer in the governor's mansion before the board votes.

UPDATE: Crain's reports in its print edition this week that, "Spitzer's top development officials will decide early this week whether to seek a delay in a crucial vote on the Atlantic Yards project. The development is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday before the Public Authorities Control Board, but could be put off at the request of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, an ally of Mr. Spitzer." - Tom Acitelli

• It's not news that Soho is over the hip hill. But who knew that "by a ratio of 5:1, shoppers said they would come to Prince Street more often if they had more space to walk"? Attention shoppers, if any more of you come to Prince, the neighborhood will turn into one big expensive spice-rack. [Streetsblog]
• Christie's is holding its biggest-ever sale of "20th century decorative art and design." If you have $20 million, get yourself a merry little chandelier, paperweight, light fixture, or rare Favrile glass mosaic panel. [Interior Design]
• Even though the $900 million plan for Moynihan Station didn't make it past the Public Authorities Control Board in October, the excitingly-titled PACB will be reexamining the deal on Dec. 20. (They'll also likely be passing judgement on Atlantic Yards then, too.) Christmastime is always so exciting! [City Limits]
• The median rent for New York City apartments rocketed 21 percent from 2002 to 2005, which means "low-income renters have little cash remaining at the end of the month after struggling to pay rent, and must forgo other basic necessities." [Multi-Housing News]
- Max Abelson
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Mixed into crowd of protesters asking lawmakers to delay a vote on the the Atlantic Yards project was former Congressional candidate (and possible borough presidential candidate) Chris Owens.

While a number of speakers at the demonstration focused on the narrow issue of whether approval from the Public Authorities Control Board could take place before the new gubernatorial administration takes office, others, like Owens, also questioned the project's finances.

"Show us the money," Owens he chanted.

It'll be interesting to see if the anti-Atlantic Yards base that made Owens a player in the congressional race can also make him a credible candidate in a borough-wide race.

-- Azi Paybarah

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has collected 3,600 form letters, online and on the street, urging the Public Authorities Control Board to postpone its vote on Atlantic Yards until after "the courts" rule on its eminent domain lawsuit -- which, frankly, could take a few years, especially if the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

Most of them, spokesman Daniel Goldstein said, were collected in Brooklyn, but there are 400 signers from state Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver's Lower Manhattan district among them. Silver, Gov. Pataki, and state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno control the votes on the authorities control board.

The letters will be delivered Tuesday.  read more »

- Matthew Schuerman

Mark it on your calendars: 10 a.m., Dec. 8. The Empire State Development Corporation just scheduled its next meeting for then, at which time the board is expected to approve the Atlantic Yards project.

It then goes to the state Public Authorities Control Board.

- Matthew Schuerman

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver this morning offered what he called a compromise on Moynihan Station: spend the $100 million or so to buy the Farley Post Office from the Feds before the option expires, and figure out the whole scheme later. Will Gov. Pataki bite? The Public Authorities Control Board is supposed to meet this afternoon. -Matthew Schuerman

The Governor, lacking political leverage during his final months in office, has come up with another way to nudge Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to see things his way and approve the Moynihan Station plan at the Public Authorities Control Board meeting tomorrow.

The state economic development agency, Pataki wrote in a letter to Silver today, "would have no realistic choice but to invalidate the existing award and immediately begin a new [bidding] process for a 'bigger development' that might include a new Madison Square Garden."

Pataki also warns that the U.S. Postal Service's agreement to sell the Farley Post Office, where the train station will go, expires at the end of the year.

Negotiating with federal agencies is always a pleasant experience; renegotiating even more so.

-Matthew Schuerman

The representative for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on the Public Authorities Control Board never showed at today's emergency meeting. Without him (or her--we're searching for a name here, and Senate spokesman Mark Hansen told us, "We're not sure who he was planning on not sending to the meeting" ), there was no quorum and no vote could be taken. Pataki budget office spokesman Scott Reif writes in: "This is a vitally important transportation project for hundreds of thousands of commuters who come into and out of New York City every day, and it will spur meaningful economic development throughout the City. We're perplexed as to why the Assembly representative failed to show up. However, the Moynihan Station project will be on the agenda at next week's regularly scheduled meeting of the Public Authorities Control Board." -Matthew Schuerman

Just how much leverage does an exiting Governor have over a recalcitrant Assembly Speaker who refuses to approve the Moynihan Station plan that Pataki has worked on for just about all of his 12 years in office? Well, there is always the press conference, which he held today in the foyer of the Farley Post Office, where the station (technically an extension of the existing Pennsylvania Station) would go. And then there is the footage of the press conference, which the Governor's press office, in an unusual move, is providing via satellite feed in time for the evening news. The Public Authorities Control Board--the panel that, because of Sheldon Silver's reluctance, has resisted approving the project--is scheduled to meet tomorrow for the last time before the November election.

The Mayor, by the way, got quoted in the press release, but did not make it to the event itself, which is emblematic of the way he has stood on the sidelines while watching Silver and Pataki fight.

-Matthew Schuerman

He did it! Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver has put off a decision on Moynihan Station for another month.

We tackled this issue last week, and expect it could go on in this cat-and-mouse way until 1) Madison Square Garden makes a deal, 2) Silver and Charles Gargano, the Governor's economic development chief, get tired of the game, or 3) Spitzer gets inaugurated.

The Public Authorities Control Board was supposed to vote on the renovation of the Farley Post Office in west Midtown this afternoon, but alas! State Comptroller Alan Hevesi raised more questions in a last-minute letter. Gargano contends his staff has already answered them, and to prove it, made public the response by the subsidiary overseeing the project.  read more »

Full ESDC response after the jump.

-Matthew Schuerman

Comptroller Hevesi waited until this morning to publicly state he still wasn't satisfied with the Moynihan Station project, giving cover to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver in case he wants to put off the scheduled vote today by the Public Authorities Control Board, the final approval needed to release state funds for the project. He has already expressed reservations about the project, which would renovate Farley Post Office as a train station.

The item is, as of right now, still on the agenda, according to P.A.C.B. spokesman John Sweeney, but that could change by the meeting's start at 2 p.m.

-Matthew Schuerman

Today's anticipated Public Authorities Control Board meeting to approve the Moynihan Station project (the one without Madison Square Garden moving) was postponed until Friday, to give more time for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to review the project. "It's a complex kind of deal, big," said Silver spokesman Skip Carrier, adding that the Speaker has not yet committed his vote. "We are checking it out." -Matthew Schuerman

In the afternoon, you have the Public Authorities Control Board likely shooing in the Javits Center. The more up-in-the-air vote is in the morning, when Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff would like to see the M.T.A. approve the city's offer of $500 million for development rights associated with the West Side rail yards. Officially, according to a spokeswoman, the M.T.A. will be discussing the 2007 budget. The rail yards bid is not on the agenda as of now.

Why is this so important? Because Doctoroff is trying to get the bonds out the door to bring the subway down 11th Avenue, but the city can't issue the bonds until it tells buyers how it will pay them back. This is such a marvelously complex transaction that the M.T.A.'s dithering will likely cost the project another month--or even two, since the transit agency's board does not usually meet in August.  read more »

The twice-stalled proposal to award $41 million in bonds to a pair of unusually expensive affordable apartment towers on Manhattan's East Side got final state approval last month when we weren't paying attention. So let's play catch-up.

The three-vote Public Authorities Control Board approved the application by the Atlantic Development Group at its last meeting June 21. Critics had succeeded in postponing the vote twice, saying that the $800,000 a unit cost was too high. "I think our issues were valid," said state Senator Liz Krueger, who had objected to the application. "Only Shelly Silver, Joe Bruno and the Governor had a vote on the PACB, and with the exception of the West Side Stadium, there are not too many times where you win once it has gotten that far."

-Matthew Schuerman

• The real estate industry can be so fickle: ex-Sunshine Groupie (and ex-Trumper) Jacquelyn Sonenberg joined Stribling Marketing Associates a year ago, and within weeks she had climbed to its pinnacle. But yesterday, after nary a full year there, Ms. Sonenberg has left the building. That's what happens when you help market condos in the Plaza Hotel. (The Real Deal)
• What happened at the Public Authorities Control Board's big vote on the $1.7 billion Javits Center expansion plan? Nothing. Those lovable PACB populists insisted that notice for yesterday's meeting "wasn't widely enough circulated"--it was announced no less than a month ago, of course--so the vote will be pushed back to July 26. Does anyone smell a foul conspiracy? (Crain's)
• McMansions are not pleasant, new McMansions in Brooklyn are even worse, and two new McMansions on either side of your Madison home is a particularly unfortunate situation. Especially if you're an 85-year old stroke victim--or, as your lawyer might put it, "the ham in a ham sandwich." (NY Daily News)
• The only thing worse: springing $79,000 for the same exact ultra-hip furniture that hundreds of your neighbors are springing for as well. But if you're too uninspired to buy your own ottomans and such, 52nd Street's new 215-unit "Link" apartments may just be perfect. (NY Post)
• (Mostly) True Letter of the Day: Dear CEOs of The World's Biggest Insurance Companies. My name is William, and I'm the New York City Comptroller. I urge you in the strongest terms possible to please give the $4.6 billion you owe our pal Larry (for the World Trade Center, of course.) I consider your previous actions to have been in bad faith. There, I've said it--although I'm sorry for using such strong terms. (Crain's)
- Max Abelson
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Much as expected, the Empire State Development Corporation gave its final approval for the state’s $74.7 million contribution to Yankee Stadium this morning, on top of the $130 million the city is chipping in. But the team is not, um, home free yet. The City Council, which will hold a committee meeting on the issue March 28, still has to approve the land-use changes required by the plan, and the state’s Public Authorities Control Board needs to second the E.S.D.C. financing. (The Mets also got $74.7 million today but their plan is a lot less controversial.) -Matthew Schuerman

So recently, boosters for the proposal to build a stadium for the New York Jets and to host the 2012  read more »