It’s déjà vu all over again. A decade ago, the Bronx was poised for the retail redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory by Related.
There were many neighborhood critics, including unions, at the time.
Despite Related being willing to pay its own employees more, it could not force the future stores to pay the demanded $10, and then $11.50, per hour.
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. railed against the plan, stating in effect that no jobs were better than low-paying jobs.
Today, there are still no jobs as a skating rink first proposed in 2013 is not yet open. Eventually, it will generate 267 jobs.
Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of CBRE’s tri-state region, recalled the Bronx drama last week as Amazon was driven out of town.
“Instead of hundreds of jobs, there are none,” she said of the armory. “It was horrible for the Bronx but it wasn’t a failure on a national level. The Amazon deal was a failure on a national level.”
The politicians misunderstood the Amazon deal, she explained. “No one was writing a check,” she said. “They first had to generate the jobs and the taxes.” The majority of the incentives were also as-of-right for any company coming to the area.
“The politicians were more interested in sound bites than substance,” Tighe added, complaining, “We put people in positions of authority who aren’t doing their homework. It’s governing by slogan and not thoughtful.”
Tighe also observed that those complaining that expanding companies like Google and Facebook aren’t getting subsidies don’t understand they are not getting them because they are in desirable parts of Manhattan, “and not pioneering a new neighborhood.”
In addition, Tighe is concerned about the rising number of City Council and state proposals that play to the voter but will make it more costly and difficult to do business in the city and hurt the tax base.
“There is no question it’s a complex city,” she added, “but first start with doing your homework, and don’t govern by slogan.”
