Empire State Development Corporation - Overview

Overview

The New York State Urban Development Corporation was conceived in 1968 primarily to build state-subsidized housing projects to stem the tide of urban decay. As with all New York State public benefit corporations it is exempt from many of the restrictions that apply to regular government agencies and can issue bonds without voter referendum approval bypassing the NY's State Constitution limits, and it has the power of eminent domain.

Virtually all state subsidized housing built since 1968 was financed through the corporation. After flirting with bankruptcy in 1975 due to various housing project missteps its mission was refocused to finance other ambitious state projects and has been used frequently by governors to implement projects that circumvent formal Legislative or voter scrutiny. Among its projects was a doubling of the New York state prison system, improvements to Love Canal, construction of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, revitalization of 42nd Street (Manhattan), revitalization of Niagara Falls, New York, construction of Battery Park City, construction of Roosevelt Island, planned construction of a new Pennsylvania Station, and planned development of Governors Island.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, a subsidiary (Lower Manhattan Development Corporation) was set up to coordinate rebuilding and distribution of billions of dollars in federal funds following the attack, as well as establishing the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation to build the memorial. It was responsible for distributing Liberty bonds that were used to rebuild Manhattan.

Each subsidiary has its own board of directors.

In its early years the UDC was responsible for "the last significant program of publicly assisted housing in the United States". Its "Empire State" web pages now emphasize its role in providing services and incentives to promote the growth of the private sector in New York State's economy. Its current operations are far too diverse and complex to summarize concisely here. There were at least 107 subsidiaries of the UDC as of March 2006. Also in March 2006, the UDC reported outstanding debts of $6.5 billion, about half being for prison construction bonds.