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July 2, 2010
State Comptroller's audit slams MTA's real estate stewardship, omits Vanderbilt Yard; MTA claims success in AY deal, Barclays station naming rights
Atlantic Yards Report
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, in an audit report [PDF] issued yesterday, slammed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) stewardship of its real state portfolio, including the failure to claim what the New York Post termed "a whopping $9 million in back rent" from commercial tenants and the failure to sell $12 million worth of air rights.
Curiously enough, the audit (embedded below) omits any mention of the controversial 2005 deal to sell the Vanderbilt Yard to Forest City Ratner, which had such an inside track all but one other bidder was deterred (though that bidder offered more in cash).
Nor is there mention of renegotiation of the Vanderbilt Yard deal in 2009, with the MTA leaving $80 million of the originally pledged $100 million to instead be paid over 22 years, and accepting a replacement railyard smaller than promised and worth $100 million less.
(Could there be any connection to a campaign contribution from Bruce Ratner to DiNapoli?)
NoLandGrab: If you've ever wondered why New York State is virtually broke and no one in Albany seems the least bit interested in actually fixing the problem — this is why.
Posted by eric at July 2, 2010 9:56 AM