Mayor John Lindsay

From the February issue: Reflecting the booming local economy (and population), City Hall proposed New York’s first $1 billion construction budget, 46 years ago this month. Mayor John Lindsay presented the historic budget — which spanned the fiscal year beginning in July 1967 — to the Board of Estimate and city council. The dollar figure was an astounding 61 percent above the prior year’s budget of $667 million. Most of the increase was to be offset from a large rise in federal funding, according to reports in the New York Times. Lindsay directed the biggest slice of the pie to the Board of Education, which was allocated $175 million for new school construction. [more]

From the May issue: With Mayor Michael Bloomberg nearing the end of his third (and final) term, it’s no surprise that many of his top aides have now caught a case of government fatigue and fled to the private sector. And a high percentage of those who’ve worked for the pro-development mayor have been tapped for jobs in the real estate industry.

While hiring a former administration official (or former City Council member) doesn’t get a real estate firm the keys to City Hall, it can provide valuable insight when it comes to navigating the ins and outs of government. [more]

City Hall

For the second time in a year, the estimated cost of City Hall’s rehabilitation has increased by millions. According to the New York Post, Mayor Michael Bloomberg allocated an additional $25 million to the repair after workers said the cost would rise to nearly $150 million because of unforeseen structural damage. The previous $123.8 million estimate was already double what the city had once expected the renovations would cost. [more]

Deputy Comptroller Alan van Capelle said he plans to vote against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s representatives to the city’s Banking Commission today to protest the slow rate at which banks are modifying mortgages for struggling homeowners, City Hall News reported. Van Capelle asked in March that the commission require banks to detail the measures they have taken to to modify such loans, but the other two members of the commission, Andrew Salkin of the Finance Department and Eugene Lee, senior policy adviser for economic development, voted against that proposal…. [more]

Larry Bogdanow, the founder of Bogdanow Partners Architects whose projects included some of Manhattan’s best-known restaurants, died at age 64 on Wednesday, according to the New York Times. A part-time farmer and a member of the “slow food” movement, Bogdanow was awarded many jobs from restaurateurs with similar passions. He got his first big restaurant design job from Danny Meyer, who commissioned Bogdanow and Warren Ashworth to design Union Square Cafe in the mid-1980s. Some restaurants also designed by Bogdanow include the Cub Room in Soho,
Tribeca’s City Hall restaurant, Telepan on the Upper West Side and
Flatiron restaurants Union Pacific and Beppe. He also designed a restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center that was destroyed during the Sept. 11 attacks…. [more]

The cost of City Hall’s renovation has soared to $119 million, or nearly twice the original budget for the project. According to DNAinfo, workers installing sprinklers in the building have uncovered new and “alarming” water damage to the ceilings, among other needed fixes, sending costs through the building’s decaying roof. That roof was, in fact, the original, 2009 impetus for a $65 million renovation plan, after a ten-foot section of the ceiling in a second-floor committee room collapsed. Workers have since been reinforcing, painting and re-plastering the roof of the Council Chamber and replacing the stars and rosettes that had sustained damage. The rehab is slated for completion in March 2012. … [more]

The city is kicking off a search today for companies that would install 50,000 square feet worth of solar panels atop the Brooklyn Army Terminal’s main industrial building, according to the Post. The $10 million project would result in the largest solar-energy system in the city, partially powering the 97-acre office and industrial complex in Sunset Park and two smaller city-owned sites that haven’t been picked out yet. If it succeeds, the Bloomberg administration is looking to replicate the technology elsewhere, including at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal…. [more]

The Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank and Christine Quinn

The homeless New York City Council, forced out of its chambers at City Hall while the building undergoes a much-needed $106 million renovation, will meet instead at the historic Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank building, a Beaux-Arts property with a limestone façade, marble walls and stained-glass skylights at nearby 51 Chambers Street. The New York Times checked in with City Council members about their feelings on the new digs during their votes to approve two major development projects yesterday: Flushing Commons in Queens and the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg. “It’s a little loud,” noted speaker Christine Quinn. “I’m going back and putting a folding chair next to [Mayor] Mike Bloomberg,” she said, “whether it’s done or not in 12 months.” Meanwhile, the Times noted with a hint of jealousy, the City Hall press corps has been relocated to a trailer. [NYT]

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City Hall has fallen into such bad physical shape that the City Council and its staff will be vacating the building in July for up to a year, sources told NBC New York. The building hasn’t been renovated since the late 1950s, with the exception of two of the Mayor’s rooms, which were renovated last year after workers found that the ceilings were so rotted that Bloomberg himself was actually in danger. Now, it’s the Council Chamber’s turn, but the main room is apparently too big to support with scaffolding during the construction and must be closed. Public hearings will be held at either 250 Broadway or 52 Chambers Street in the interim. Renovations are expected to cost $106 million, which includes the cost of bringing the rest of the building up-to-date with city building, electric and fire codes.

Carole Post, commissioner of DoITT, and 3 Metrotech Center (building photo source: PropertyShark)

The city Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications is seeking to lease 85,000 square feet in a Class A office building in Downtown Brooklyn, a recent city filing shows.

A separate city agency filed a land use application last month on behalf of DoITT, to win approval for the tech division to lease space in 2 Metrotech Center (note: correction appended), records published by the Department of City Planning this month show.

The application, received Jan. 27, is seeking to “consolidate and relocate two DoITT offices,” in the 457,966-square-foot building, the filing says.

The agency has been under scrutiny for its problem-plagued overhaul of the city’s emergency 911 system, and its commissioner retired at the end of the year. The application, made by the agency that manages city properties known as the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, does not provide specific information such as which floors would be occupied…. [more]