Developers of three new projects paid lobbyists $3M in 2014

City Point developer Albee Development ranked highest with $1.2 million

From left: Renderings of One Vanderbilt, Hallets Point and City Point
From left: Renderings of One Vanderbilt, Hallets Point and City Point

Three developers who are building massive new projects in Downtown Brooklyn, Queens and Midtown East, together spent almost $3 million on lobbyists in 2014 to expedite their new projects.

The real estate and construction industries spent $166.3 million on lobbying on the state and city levels from 2007 through the first half of 2014, according to a review by The Real Deal of the most recent disclosures available.

Albee Development — the lead developer on City Point in Brooklyn — outspent its colleagues, paying lobbyists $1.2 million, according to Crain’s. Most of the money went to Washington Square Partners, one of three partners on the Brooklyn project.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

The consortium of developers that is building a 2,500-unit project along the Astoria waterfront in Queens, Halletts A Development — which is now lead by the Durst Organization — paid $680,500 to hire Cozen O’Connor, a law and government relations firm.

SL Green Realty, the developer looking to build a 1,500-foot-tall office tower at One Vanderbilt in Midtown East, spent $500,000 on lobbyists last year. Of that sum, Crain’s reported, roughly half went to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, a law firm that specializes in public review applications. [Crain’s] — Claire Moses