![]() At the time they’d leased out much of those properties to Meta, the owner of Facebook, and they needed the Fire Department to sign off on fire alarm systems in both locations to fully open up. In the months preceding their placement on the DMO list, both Related and Vornado were lobbying the top members of the mayor’s staff on issues that appear to be related to 50 Hudson Yards and the Farley building. Farley is developed by a partnership between The Related Companies and Vornado Realty, another New York City real estate powerhouse. Farley building adjacent to Penn Station. As THE CITY reported, the placement on the DMO list came after SL Green’s CEO Marc Holliday threw a fundraiser for Adams’ 2021 campaign that reaped $23,599.Īnother top-tier developer slated for a sped-up fire alarm system inspection near 50 Hudson Yards was “Facebook/Farley,” a reference to the former U.S. They included JoJi, an exclusive sushi restaurant developer SL Green was planning to open in the basement level of One Vanderbilt, its new office tower next to Grand Central Station, where Omokase dinner costs $375 per person excluding drinks, tax and gratuities. The request came not long after a Brooklyn contractor with ties to Turkey raised $43,000 for Adams’ mayoral campaign.Ī June 2022 snapshot of the DMO list shows The Related Companies’ 50 Hudson Yards at the top of the list for the fast-track treatment - but there were multiple other big-money players in line as well. The FBI and Manhattan federal prosecutors are examining whether any of the developers or business owners placed on the list got there as a result of providing financial support to Adams’ campaign, according to a source familiar with the ongoing probe.Īmong the interactions under FBI scrutiny: a 2021 request then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams forwarded to the FDNY seeking an expedited fire safety system inspection on behalf of the developers of a Midtown East building designed to house the Turkish consulate. ![]() He says he was demoted by Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh after complaining to higher-ups about the list and other protocols she proposed that he objected to. Jardin has talked to the FBI about the list and his concerns about favored entities gaining preferential treatment that could ultimately raise safety issues by deferring more urgent inspection requests. But the chief of the FDNYs Fire Prevention Bureau, Joseph Jardin, has alleged in a lawsuit that it wound up catering to “friends” of City Hall, allowing them to jump the line ahead of ordinary New Yorkers. Originally the DMO list was part of an effort begun by Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, to cut red tape for small businesses. Among other matters, the FBI is looking into whether Adams’ administration gave preferential treatment to favored entities that supported his 2021 mayoral campaign. The subject line of the email to speed up inspection of the site gave the context: “DMO-Priorities list update.”ĭMO stands for Deputy Mayor of Operations, and the list in question is now part of an ongoing federal probe into Mayor Adams’ fundraising. 19, Adams appeared at the grand opening of 50 Hudson Yards, declaring the building’s debut “marks another major milestone in New York City’s continued economic recovery from the pandemic.” Murphy added that if other inspections had to be rebooked to clear the deck for the 50 Hudson Yards job, so be it: “Any feedback or consequences from rescheduled/cancelled inspections on other affected projects can be handled by” top tier chiefs in the department “if necessary.”Ī few months later on Oct.
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