Yesterday the Post reported that the Battery Park City Authority?the state-controlled agency that lords over the development and management of Manhattan's favorite landfill?is under investigation by the New York State Inspector General for cronyism and a number of other allegations, including the use of an apartment rented by the BPCA for visiting VIPs and dignitaries as a "love nest." Today the Battery Park City Broadsheet follows up on the apartment angle, and though the paper couldn't find evidence of any wild politician orgies going on (drat!), it did come up with some other details. The apartment is in the Solaire, the first of BPC's luxury green-themed rental towers. And it sounds like a pretty nice place:
The Solaire apartment, unit 5L, is a two-bedroom unit with a water view that was outfitted with amenities like a plasma television. Described in Authority records as a "Green Education Center," it was used to host VIP guests, such as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, visiting the neighborhood to tour its environmentally advanced buildings. Several BPCA staffers confirm that the apartment was also occasionally used as overnight housing for guests of the Authority (such as performers appearing in concerts in the neighborhood), and two sources allege that it was sometimes used by Authority senior staff members (most of whom live outside of New York City) when they wanted to spend the night in Manhattan. One of these sources estimates that the BPCA was paying approximately $4,500 per month for the apartment, and says this figure is "well below what a private citizen would have been charged for that unit" by the Solaire's developer, the Albanese Organization. A separate source within the BPCA says that the Authority declined to renew its lease for this apartment in January, shortly before the IG's probe began.
Is $4,500/month really that much of a sweetheart deal? Battery Park City, we had no idea! Here's the floorplan for the unit, just because it's fun to picture Mr. Freeze lumbering about and getting stuck in the walk-in closet. Hasta la vista, Battery:
· Battery Pork [NYPost]
· BPCA under investigation by New York State [BPC Broadsheet]
· The Solaire [Official Site]
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