Pat Foye

After putting in an information request to the state a couple of months back, we just received a copy of the daily schedules from April through October for Pat Foye, downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, the state agency that oversees such mega-projects as Atlantic Yards, the redevelopment of Penn Station, and the (possible) expansion of the Javits Center.

A few things that caught our attention:

Mr. Foye seemed to have more meetings about Moynihan Station than about any other project. That included at least four meetings that devoted time to “Farley’s windows,” presumably referring to the old post office stamp booths in the Farley Post Office that preservationists want to see maintained partially for that use. In a daylong trip to Washington, D.C., Mr. Foye met with a Deputy Postmaster General at the U.S. Postal Service.

More after the jump.  read more »

Spitzer’s downstate chair of the Empire State Development Corporation is taking his time on the likes of Moynihan Station and Atlantic Yards.  read more »

Blood on the Brokerage Floor: Corcoran Heavyweights Jump to Brown Harris Stevens    read more »

Blood on the Brokerage Floor: Corcoran Heavyweights Jump to Brown Harris Stevens    read more »

The Empire State Development Corporation flipped one of the seven floors of the office condo it bought at 125 Maiden Lane for an 8 percent profit in four months, co-chairman Pat Foye said on Thursday. Under the Pataki administration, the ESDC sold its office condo at 633 Third Avenue in midtown in November and purchased the lower Manhattan one, saying that would be cheaper.

The new buyer, the Guttmacher Institute, paid $10.2 million.

Mr. Foye said after the agency's monthly meeting that he had not decided whether or not ESDC would move into the remaining six floors at 125 Maiden or try to buy back its current location from its new owner. He also said the 8 percent profit did not take into account the expense of renting its current location. (The ESDC had been subletting at 633 Third, and had not yet moved into 125 Maiden.)

He did say, however, "We don't want to move twice, once to Maiden Lane and then again to the Freedom Tower. And I think there is something to be said about being in proximity to our colleagues in state government" that are staying on in 633 Third.

- Matthew Schuerman Correction: An earlier post gave an incorrect sales price that Guttmacher paid.

Stonewall Reopening; Will It Be ‘Disruptive’?    read more »

Stonewall Reopening; Will It Be ‘Disruptive’?    read more »

The state economic development agency is paving the way to get a hold of the Farley Post Office as soon as next month, a crucial part of the Spitzer administration's new strategy for building a new Moynihan Station and revamping Pennsylvania Station.

Shortly after coming into office in January, Pat Foye, the new downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, extended the option to buy Farley, but just until the end of March--an optimistic target, it seemed at the time, for wrapping up a huge real-estate deal that would have involved moving Madison Square Garden a block west, to the back end of Farley, opening up Penn Station to the sky, and erecting huge office towers around its edges on the Eighth Avenue superblock where the Garden now sits.

But it is increasingly clear that Mr. Foye will not wait until that superdeal gets worked out before buying the post office. And having control of some of the property involved would put the state in a better position to negotiate with the private developers who own Penn Station's air rights over who will pay how much to redo the station.

At a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the ESDC board agreed to seek a bridge loan or an advance from the developers that would give the agency the few million dollars it would need to close the post-office deal next month. After the meeting, Robin Stout, the president of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, a subsidiary of ESDC, told reporters that the agency could purchase the post office before wrapping up the larger negotiations. Neither he nor Mr. Foye would say, however, when that would happen.

"A closing date has not been scheduled but we are committed to moving forward as quickly as we can," Mr. Foye said.

A public hearing on the loan comes March 12. The state Public Authorities Control Board could then approve the general project plan--the same one, it turns out, as was rejected last October--before the end of the month, when the option expires.

Will Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver veto it this time around?

- Matthew Schuerman

The official word came out of Spitzer headquarters on Friday morning: Lee Sander will be Spitzer's chief executive and executive director for the MTA. (The Governor-elect's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, e-mails, "It is believed he will take over as chairman when Kalikow steps down.") Pat Foye will be downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corportation, leaving open a spot for an upstate chairman and questions about how the two will work together. Tony Shorris will take over as Port Authority executive director.

See after the jump for announcement.  read more »

- Matthew Schuerman