From left: REBNY President Steve Spinola, Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer, Partnership for New York City President Kathryn Wylde and CBRE's Mary Ann Tighe

An advocacy group largely supported by the city’s real estate industry raised more than $12 million for Governor Andrew Cuomo, and $17 million overall, in 2011, its first full year of operations. A review of the Committee to Save New York’s finances conducted by the New York Times found more than two-thirds of the $17 million to have come from donors giving $250,000 or more, and three donors combined to give $6.25 million. By donating to the advocacy group, which has funded television and radio ads in support of Cuomo, these wealthy contributors can bypass the $60,800 state limit on direct donations to candidates. [more]

Governor Andrew Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo has successfully pushed large public projects such as the Tappan Zee Bridge construction and the Fulton Street Transit Center conversion using a no nonsense approach to real estate, according to the New York Observer.

Cuomo has rejected much of Albany’s backroom deals with developers for a decidedly pro-business approach. For instance, soon after assuming office, the governor formed 10 regional economic development councils that allowed counties to vie for public funding within a transparent forum. [more]

From left: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Deputy Commissioner Richard White

Richard White has been appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lead the new tenant protection unit at New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the state’s housing agency, the governor announced today.

White, a real estate attorney at the Manhattan law firm of Cyruli Shanks Hart & Zizmor, was previously the deputy commissioner for Investigation, Trials & Litigation at the New York City Department of Correction. [more]

From left: the Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard, Andrew Chung, principal at Carlyle Realty Partners and Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development

Lawyers for Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners yesterday appealed a state Supreme Court order to refund $16 million in escrow funds to buyers at the Rushmore condominium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Justice Anil Singh ruled against the Rushmore developers, who filed a so-called Article 78 appeal against former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who in April 2010 ordered return of the condo deposits to 41 buyers at the 80 Riverside Boulevard tower. [more]

A rendering of the World Trade Center towers

An interim report released by the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the entire agency needs an “overhaul,” Bloomberg News and the New York Post reported.

The auditors called the agency “a challenged and dysfunctional organization suffering from a lack of consistent leadership, a siloed underlying bureaucracy, poorly coordinated capital planning process, insufficient cost controls and a lack of transparent and effective oversight,” according to their report, which was released yesterday. The Port Authority was not able to produce any documents showing reasons for the cost overruns of approximately $4 billion, the Post said. [more]

Andrew Cuomo and 633 Third Avenue

Time Equities has put Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office space on the market for twice what it paid five years ago, the New York World reported, which lends further speculation to the Empire State Development Corp’s decision to sell the space back in November 2006. [more]

From left: former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, 80 Riverside Boulevard and Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development

After nearly three years of litigation in multiple venues, a state Supreme Court judge ruled last week that former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was correct in his 2010 order for the return of $16 million in disputed escrow deposits at the Rushmore condominium.

Justice Anil Singh, in a 15-page decision, ordered co-developers Carlyle Realty Partners and Extell Development, to return the deposits to 40 buyers at the 80 Riverside Boulevard tower. [more]

Pratt Area Community Council Executive Director Deb Howard and construction at Atlantic Yards

Sick of the constant litigation surrounding Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn activists are appealing to a higher power: Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Patch reported the Pratt Area Community Council wants Cuomo to step in “and get this project to deliver on its promises” of bringing affordable housing and jobs to the neighborhood, quoting Deb Howard, the council’s executive director. [more]

One day before delivering a State of the State address that focused on building a new convention center in Queens, Governor Andrew Cuomo quietly entered a nonbonding agreement with the Genting Group to build a Queens center that includes an expansion of the gambling already present at Aqueduct, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, Hell’s Kitchen residents are already pushing a housing and parkland plan to replace the Javits Center, DNAinfo said. [more]

For all the attention Governor Andrew Cuomo directed towards a new convention center in his State of the State address yesterday, there was little mention of the $500 million renovation New York City’s current convention center, the Jacob Javits Center, is undergoing. Now, the Wall Street Journal reported, the future is unclear for the building Cuomo said is harming the state’s economy. [more]