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]

Patrick Foye, head of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

The new head of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said he will streamline the construction oversight process in New York City at the Building Congress yesterday, Crain’s reported.

Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, who was appointed last October, called the environmental review process currently in place “too long and uncertain, and unmoored from the social goals it was intended to advance.” He also said inefficiencies in the system created “huge and growing” costs.  [more]

Construction at the World Trade Center site

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has been advancing money to DCM Erectors, the company that’s erecting the steel skeletons of two towers at the World Trade Center site and the agency’s $3.4 billion transportation hub, the Wall Street Journal reported, in an effort to keep the construction on track.

The agency has even been paying some of DCM’s subcontractors directly, the Journal said, since DCM, which has $700 million worth of steel contracts at the site, began to struggle financially as a result of the project’s complexity and unexpected extra costs. [more]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spent $2.7 million of taxpayer money for a site in Jamaica, Queens where a corporate park was supposed to rise before the recession. Alas, the site is still an abandoned lot, and no money has been returned, the New York Post reported.

The authority gave the money to the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. in 2004 to buy the 6,000-square-foot building as part of a bid to revitalize the area, with hopes that a large tenant such as JetBlue Airlines would move into a corporate complex Greater Jamaica Development Corp. planned. The site was promoted as JFK Corporate Square by the non-profit, but no development was ever built. The airline opted to move its offices to Long Island City last year. [more]

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has taken its most concrete step yet towards replacing the aging Central Terminal Building at LaGuardia International Airport, according to the Wall Street Journal, as it quietly issued a request for proposals last month with an eye on starting construction in 2014. [more]

From left: An AirTrain, the Jamaica AirTrain station and downtown Jamaica

In addition to easing travelers rides to the airport, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s AirTrain to Kennedy International Airport has played a big role in reviving downtown Jamaica (note: correction appended).

According to the New York Times, before the suburban exodus of the 1950s and 1960s, Jamaica was the city’s third largest shopping district, but rapidly deteriorated in the years since. While most AirTrain passengers use Jamaica only as a transfer point, enough of the 3.9 million people that pass through the terminal stay in the area to support at least three new hotels and a growing number of brand-name stores and restaurants. [more]

From left: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a rendering of the Sept. 11 Museum

A $300 million dispute has nearly ceased construction at the Sept. 11 Memorial Museum, DNAinfo.com reported, and might need to be resolved in court. Now, it seems all but certain that the museum won’t open by its September 2012 target.

After initially making claims of being owed $156 million, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey recently updated the figure, saying the National September 11 Memorial & Museum Foundation actually owes it $300 million for cost overruns at the site. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is chair of the foundation, said the foundation believes the Port Authority is the indebted party at the site. [more]

Construction costs will likely delay the planned 2012 opening of the Sept. 11 museum at the World Trade Center, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Two months ago the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site, ceased to renew construction contracts for the $800 million project, slowing progress because it says the National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation owes $156 million.

But the foundation believes it is owed more than $100 million because of delays. [more]

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has approved a new glass covering for the 20-story base of 1 World Trade Center, Crain’s reported. The initial plans to clad the 185-foot-tall concrete base of the forthcoming tower in special prismatic glass fell through because of manufacturing difficulty and a susceptibility to shattering.

The new glass covering will be significantly cheaper for the Port Authority. The agency will pay $37.2 million to Permasteelisa North America Corp to engineer and install stainless steel slat panels around the base and cover it with glass fins, which will reflect light during the day. That compares to the $82 million contracted for the original plans. [more]

From left: Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Steven Roth, Patrick Foye, executive director of Port Authority, and 20 Times SquareVornado Realty Trust has abandoned its plan to build a 40-story tower atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal after its Chinese investment partner chose to invest the $600 million earmarked for the tower in another Midtown property, the New York Times reported.

Vornado had been in talks with Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to build the tower at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue since 1999. The tower would have been designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, and included a garden atop the existing four-story terminal. As part of the agreement, the developer was also on the hook for a $400 million renovation of the bus terminal that would have brought 18 new gates to the bus hub. [more]