Results tagged “charlesgargano”

After Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blocked Governor Pataki's Moynihan Station plans last October, we wondered how Governor Spitzer would take up the task and spar with Silver. To refresh your memory, Spitzer's problem with Pataki's Moynihan Station plans was that they were incomplete, given that developers had more extensive ideas about a Farley Post Office and Madison Square Garden revitalization (known as "plan B"); Pataki, on the other hand, wanted to get the plan A moving to take advantage of federal funds.

It’s another defining week for the Atlantic Yards. On Wednesday, the 8 million square-foot project faces one of its last hurdles: approval by the Public Authorities Control Board, the state oversight body that monitors Albany’s fiscal commitments to projects like the Yards. PACB votes have derailed large-scale projects before, most notably last year when Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno, the Senate majority leader, killed the West Side Stadium plan. Of course, it’s no secret how Pataki, who also has a vote, will go.

Even though Governor Pataki may have agreed to not to fill all seats at state agencies, there are many things for the Democrats to be upset about. For instance, the Empire State Development Corporation, headed by Pataki flunky Charles Gargano, selling 185,000 square feet at 633 Third Avenue - aka Governor Pataki's NYC offices - for $100 million without letting other state officials know. Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky tells the Daily News that the $100 million sale is "at best, bizarre and, at worst, illegal," saying that the ESDC should have gotten the space appraised.

+ Following the release of the Atlantic Yards' Final Environmental Impact Statement, Empire State Development Corporation head Charles Gargano says Madison Square Garden owners Jim and Charles Dolan may end up killing the Gehry-designed project. More FEIS digesting from Curbed.

Both the Observer and the NY Sun look at the slow development process for the Moynihan Station, a project long discussed but stuck in development hell. We think the Observer's sub-headline says it all: "Silver Stops Projects, And There’s Not Much Putzy Governor Can Do; Gargano in Full Gear; Snarled by Property Shuffle With Vornado and Related." To translate: Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver is delaying the project, and since Governor Pataki is a lame duck, he's pretty much toothless in this fight. Enter Charles Gargano, head of the Empire State Development Corporation, who has been trying to get organizations to lobby Silver to stop his delays.

Some of the folks working on the neverending story that is the Moynihan Station (aka the Penn Station) are starting to publicly complain about the politcal developement hell that it has become. In a letter to State economic czar Charles Gargano developers Steven Roth and Stephen Ross wrote that "the functional heart" of the station "will have its own independent utility... and therefore there is no reason to delay." In otherwords, even if Madison Square Garden does get the go-ahead to move over to Ninth Avenue such a move should have little to do with the actual conversion of the Farley Post Office into a train station.

But a schedule does not mean things will happen the right way. NY State officials and the private developers have agreed to project's schedule, which means construction will start this fall, in anticipation of a 2012 opening. However, not all the i's are dotted, as there still needs to be formal approval from Albany. And then there's that whole thing about whether or not Madison Square Garden will move in the Farley Post Office space as well. amNew York lists "who's paying what" for the project, and the breakdown is thus:

Metro has an interview with ESDC chairman Charles Gargano, who says he wants to get "Brooklyn Bridge Park up to a level where work can begin in early ’07." Interestingly enough, a bunch of civic groups and the Sierra Club have joined together and sued to stop construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park over the inclusion of high-end real estate. Originally, the plan was to put 700 condos in to offset some of the park's operating expenses - but then the number of condos went to 900, and now the plan has 1200. The lawsuit claims that the Empire State Development Corporation has been "rewriting" the rules when it comes to planning the park.

The total insanity of the breakdown in talks between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of NY and NJ gets the workup today. Basically, NY State is saying Silverstein better build or they'll take him out. Not just remarks from Governor Pataki saying that Silverstein "betrayed" New Yorkers, just also this one from Port Authority vice chairman Charles Gargano:

"We fully expect Larry to begin construction on the Freedom Tower in April. This is a commitment he made to the public and to the Port Authority and we expect him to fulfill that commitment. And if he does not, then we want him to move out of the way."

Now Gothamist has images of Silverstein being physically hauled away from Ground Zero - will he chain himself to the fencing? Anyway, Silverstein claims that internal strife at the Port Authority helped doom the talks. And the Post's Steve Cuozzo says that Osama "must be laughing in his cave" over this tomfoolery and wonders why it took so long for people to question whether Silverstein had even dough for the project - good point! (Cuozzo also criticizes the PA and governor for claiming Silverstein was extorting them - Silverstein was just being a businessman - an untelegenic one, but a businessman.) The Daily News says that Silverstein needs to come around, while faulting NY State for how they handled the situation.

easy to imagine the Mayor saying that in his somewhat whiny monotone.