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April 4, 2007
The ESDC leaves the Atlantic Center mall, after Gargano’s slush fund expires
Atlantic Yards Report
Like nearly everything having to do with Bruce Ratner, the Empire State Development Corporation's tenancy in Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Center Mall is pretty slushy.
Norman Oder gets the scoop (with $prinkles) on the end of an era:
Cleaning up in the wreckage a political deal involving former Gov. George Pataki and former Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) Chairman Charles Gargano, the ESDC has closed its underutilized Brooklyn office on the lightly-trafficked third floor of the Atlantic Center mall operated by Forest City Ratner.
Also, a look at the history of the Community Network Office (CNO) program offers evidence—in plain sight but not previously emphasized—that the choice of the mall for the ESDC Brooklyn office was meant as a favor to developer Forest City Ratner. The developer has had trouble filling space at the mall, which even the New York Times described in 2004 as having “dead corridors,” especially on the third floor.
The ESDC has now closed all six of its Community Network Offices around the city, as the $4 million used to fund them since 2002—money Pataki directed from the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey to the ESDC—has expired, and the offices did very little to fulfill their stated purpose.
A 3/25/07 Bergen Record article broke the news that the Port Authority had spent nearly $100 million since 2003 on projects ranging from cultural support to real estate development, straying far from its transportation mission. The money came from a fund controlled by Pataki and administered by Gargano, who had been Pataki’s chief fundraiser and was appointed vice chairman of the Port Authority as well as head of the ESDC.
NoLandGrab: If Bruce Ratner's projects start off as boondoggles and then get bailed out, what risk does the developer assume in that equation?
Posted by lumi at April 4, 2007 9:43 AM