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March 29, 2008
Meet Avi Schick, New York's New Steamroller
The New York Observer
Eliot Brown
A longtime attorney, today he sits as president and acting CEO of New York State’s powerful development agency, with control over numerous multibillion-dollar projects such as the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station, the Javits Center expansion and the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. With a new administration in Albany and the top position vacant following the recent resignation of the Empire State Development Corporation’s co-chairman, Patrick Foye, a well-connected Mr. Schick is pushing to make his temporary role at the agency’s top a permanent one, according to people with knowledge of his plans.
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A physically imposing Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, Mr. Schick is cordial and warm in casual conversation, noticeably fidgeting his legs as he sits and talks with a confidence about his work. The posts of LMDC chairman and ESDC president, which also includes overseeing the $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn and the possible use of eminent domain for Columbia University’s West Harlem expansion, keep him tied to his work, so much so that he has said he’s added a visible set of gray hairs to his previously jet-black beard.
Schick has already earned the love of both Sheldon Silver and Bruce Ratner:
The developers of Atlantic Yards, Forest City Ratner, also give high marks to Mr. Schick, with CEO Bruce Ratner praising him for his intelligence and competence.“He’s got a combination of legal ability, leadership and also being able to pull together both lawyers, agencies and the private sector,” Mr. Ratner said. “Compared to other people I’ve worked with in government, he’s on the very, very top.”
Posted by amy at March 29, 2008 11:05 AM