While much of former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s economic development agenda seems to be on hold or in flux (e.g. Moynihan Station, for one), his once controversial plan for the Javits Convention Center has outlived his tenure.

The Paterson administration is trekking down the path of a renovation and modest expansion for Javits, with plans for an additional 50,000 square feet of exposition space and a truck storage area. The budget, at least as of a few weeks ago, was $1.3 billion for the whole ordeal, $300 million or so less than the amount approved for a much larger expansion and renovation under the Pataki administration (which the Spitzer folks later found to have a true cost of more than $3 billion).  read more »

Here’s a copy, in full, of Empire State Development Corporation downstate chairman Pat Foye’s resignation letter to Governor Paterson, dated yesterday:  read more »

Patrick Foye, the state’s downstate development chief, has resigned from his post, following Governor Spitzer out the door. Mr. Foye oversaw a wide array of development initiatives, most notably managing the mega-projects underway that dot the city, from the Javits Center renovation to the proposed multi-billion-dollar redevelopment and expansion of Pennsylvania Station as part of the Moynihan Station project.  read more »

No shakeups at the state’s development agency for now.

Warner Johnston, a spokesman for the Empire State Development Corporation, confirmed this afternoon that Patrick Foye, downstate chairman of the state agency, isn’t following Governor Spitzer out the door.

Mr. Foye works at the pleasure of the Governor and has no plans to leave his job, Mr. Johnston confirmed.  read more »

At the center of recent concern—voiced by advocates, officials and others involved with the process—surrounding the viability of the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station is where all the money will come from to fund it. [More on the broader issue here.]

State officials have said the redevelopment of Penn Station, part of a grander project known as Moynihan Station, will cost at least $2.2 billion (with emphasis on “at least”), and there’s a whole lot more funding that needs to be secured.

And while the state and other officials deny the plan is falling apart, expressing optimism, we thought a recap of the various funding commitments and potential sources was in order:  read more »

Bogged down with resistance to a plan to renovate the Javits Center and sell adjacent land, Spitzer administration economic development chief Patrick Foye tried to look ahead a few years in an op-ed in today’s Daily News, saying the state should start searching for other sites outside of Manhattan for a convention center.

With a newly renovated Javits, we also can start developing a longer-term vision for the future convention industry within New York City. That's why we have asked our partners in government, industry and labor to join us on a task force to think through what our city's long-term travel and tourism needs are, where a larger, more modern convention center could be built outside of Manhattan and how it can be funded down the road when market conditions make it viable.

Of course, the state has not done a thorough financial review, at least not to the public's knowledge, of the sites that are often mentioned as possible alternative locations, and 20 or so acres of available land, even outside of Manhattan, is not so easy to come by.  read more »

Since the Spitzer administration revealed its plans for a Javits Center expansion/renovation last month, the state has been clear that funding for the governor’s new $300 million downstate affordable-housing initiative, along with funding for two parks, will have to come from the sale of two unused land parcels to the north and the south of the convention center.

Joining the two separate projects, the state seemed to be saying that only with the $900 million or so raised from the Javits land sale could it afford the housing plan. “Want a housing plan? Support the Javits proposal,” the Spitzer administration implied.

The land-sale proposal became an instant lightning rod, drawing fire from most anyone and everyone involved with Javits, particularly over the sale of the northern parcel. Selling it would foreclose the possibility of expansion forever, critics charged. (Mr. Spitzer has said the price will forever be far too great to expand there, so selling the parcels makes sense.)

But it now appears there’s been something of a shift, housing advocates say.  read more »

The board of Off-Track Betting voted today, at the request of Michael Bloomberg, to shut itself down.

Michael Bloomberg said that the city will not use taxpayer money to keep Off-Track Betting afloat. Critics, including Bloomberg, charge that the city pays for O.T.B., but the state receives more money. In effect, closing O.T.B. puts pressure on Eliot Spitzer to step foward with the money.

In a letter today from Pat Foye--the downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation--to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Rob Lieber and OT.B. head David Cornstein, Foye says that in 2007 the city received more money than the state from O.T.B. than the state, and also claims O.T.B. will be turning a profit "soon." He emphasized the need for new "racing and wagering" legislation and said it would take "only $1.1 million to ensure NYCOTB endures until legislation can be passed."

More after the jump.  read more »

Governor Spitzer’s plan for the Javits Center is drawing fire from a whole bunch of angry advocacy groups and officials, and that could spell a whole bunch of trouble for Hudson River Park, Governors Island, and a downstate affordable housing plan. (I wrote about other troubles in Hudson River Park in this week’s print edition.)

The dissent about the Javits plan, and its relationship to the parks and housing program comes not so much from the expensive renovation and modest expansion at the convention center, but rather the plan to sell two parcels on either end of the facility is raising hackles—so much so that a users group plans to meet today in Albany to lobby against it.

Facing a $4.4 billion budget gap and a desire to increase government programs, Mr. Spitzer wants to sell the two parcels for about $900 million, tying the sale to the capital funding of initiatives such as readying Governors Island for development.

Selling the land would preclude a later horizontal expansion on the site, and also move a truck marshalling yard inside the convention center. With the two acts taken together, now criticism seems to be coming from all sides.  read more »

More than a year into his term, Governor Spitzer seems to have settled on a plan to modestly expand the Jacob K. Javits Center, bringing toward a close a months-long imbroglio that began with a quixotic desire to better a Pataki-era expansion plan.

The downstate chairman of New York’s Empire State Development Corporation, Patrick Foye, told The Times on Friday that the state would go ahead with a $1.6 billion plan to renovate the existing facility and add a modest 100,000 feet of exhibition and meeting space. The renovations could cost about $800 million, though the plan will fit within the existing $1.8 billion budget approved in 2006.

The Observer broke the news in December of the likelihood of renovations instead of significant expansion.  read more »