Maybe the Port Authority would rather hike tolls than collect the $2.7 million it is rightfully owed from a politically connected nonprofit in Queens.
The PA forked over the taxpayer cash to the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. in 2004 as part of a phantom revitalization effort in downtown Jamaica.
Greater Jamaica, which has ties to Rep. Gregory Meeks, spent the $2.7 million to buy a run-down 6,000-square-foot building that housed a grocery store.
The nonprofit’s grand plan was to have a developer tear down the building and another next to it and replace them with a gleaming office tower that would house JetBlue airlines or other corporate tenants. The site — dubbed JFK Corporate Square — is next to the AirTrain connection to Kennedy Airport.
But eight years later, there is no corporate tower and very little to show for the investment. JetBlue decided to build a headquarters in Long Island City.
Under the terms of the 2004 deal with the nonprofit, the PA was supposed to get its money back or take ownership of the building if no development took place by the end of 2008.
Instead, Greater Jamaica sank at least $20,000 into renovating the property and uses it as an occasional meeting room.
“They got a free building — at whose expense?” fumed one local observer.
On Friday, Greater Jamaica honchos gathered at the space for a breakfast powwow over pastries.
A security guard stood outside the door and said his job was to keep anyone from interrupting the gathering.
Carlisle Towery, the president of Greater Jamaica, said the nonprofit offered the building back to the Port Authority and it refused.
He insisted that the agency’s investment was not a waste of money and that plans were still afoot to attract new development, including a hotel, to the site.
“We’ve all been working together. We’ve fully adhered to our agreement with them, and they have invested wisely,” Towery said.
The PA, which raised tolls $4 this summer at six crossings, refused repeated requests for comment.
Greater Jamaica has long talked about creating an “airport village” with housing, retail and a hotel surrounding the AirTrain and Long Island Rail Road station.
Meeks has steered millions in federal money and tax credits to the group. His political mentor, the Rev. and ex-Rep. Floyd Flake, sits on its board.
For the 2004 PA deal, Greater Jamaica received a windfall of $5.4 million, with $2.7 million going toward the renovations of a fetid underpass beneath the LIRR station. That work started in 2009 and is still ongoing.
The PA point person on the agreement was Cruz Russell, the director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives. Russell is a longtime board member of Greater Jamaica.
After Greater Jamaica bought the grocery store, executives, with Russell in attendance, celebrated with drinks and dinner at a Manhattan restaurant.
The nonprofit, despite its stated intentions that a developer knock down the property, immediately sank at least $15,000 into renovations.
More recently, it paid at least $6,000 to renovate a portion of the property as the office for a car service.
Queens architect Robert Gaskin, who designed Meeks’ home, got the work.