News
READY FOR COMEBACK; REITWeek DAY TWO
June 9, 2011
| New York was once the largest economy in the US and home to the most Fortune 500 companies. “Not anymore,” says Empire State Development Corp prez and commissioner Kenneth Adams. |
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| Kenneth addressed 200 execs at the New York Building Congress’ breakfast forum yesterday. He says we’ve been surpassed by Texas and California, adding we’ve lost our edge and have to reform the State’s business process. Kenneth and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are determined to make New York State more business friendly, he says. ESD, under his watch, will strive to eliminate impediments to business growth and investment throughout the state. In addition, the Cuomo administration is seeking to rein in what Kenneth called “staggering property taxes. . . . .as the Governor has said, New York has no economic future as the tax capital of the nation.” |
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| Kenneth, with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and NYBC prez Dick Anderson, also updated the design, construction, and real estate execs in attendance on a series of important local projects in which ESD is playing an important role. These include: Columbia University’s $6.3B expansion of its Manhattanville campus, the ongoing renovation and expansion of the Javits Center (which will include the East Coast’s largest green roof), and the $5B Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. That's where Barclays Arena is slated to open in August next year, while the development’s first residential tower is slated to break ground by the end of this year. |
