Christie administration admits developer claims
Gov. Chris Christie is facing increased scrutiny after his administration admitted to mistakenly claiming a prominent developer had a track record in affordable housing.
The Fund for Affordable Housing, maintained by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, gave Boraie Development LLC $4.8 million in post-Sandy aid for a Somerset Street apartment complex, according to an NBC report.
New Brunswick was ranked 188th in the state for most damage from the hurricane, and many criticized the agency for supporting Boriae, one of largest political contributors in the state, according to a previous article published in The Daily Targum.
The administration responded by defending the agency’s decision, claiming Boriae had a track record for producing affordable housing at their project on Spring Street, according to an article in New Brunswick Today. The NJHMFA gave Boriae $15 million to complete the project.
Lisa Ryan, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Affairs, said the defense was mistaken, according to the article.
“However, what you will see is that ... Affordable housing units were not created in the Spring Street Plaza, the company did provide them in other neighborhoods of the city,” she said in the article.
The affordable condominium units on Spring Street were originally supposed to be sold for between $149,555 and $196,440, according to the article. After Boriae finished the complex, they realized parking and amenities would not be affordable enough for the price of the condos to be reasonable.
Boriae sold the first 103 units at Spring Street for an average price of $524,448, according to a 2012 article in New Brunswick Today.
The company promised to make up for the shortage by renovating other apartment buildings and selling them at affordable rates. That project was completed seven years after the original agreement, according to the article. Ryan said the release also inaccurately stated that the Somerset Street development cost as $82.8 million, when it really should have said $88.2 million.
Along with the New Brunswick controversy, the governor continues to face criticism for his handling of the “Bridgegate” scandal.
According to an article from Politico, the governor’s office sent an email blasting David Wildstein, the Port Authority official initially accused of closing the George Washington Bridge for a day in August.
Christie did not read the memo, which points to Wildstein’s high school days to denounce his claims that Christie knew about the bridge closing. According to the article, the memo also calls Wildstein’s tenure as mayor of Livingston, N.J., as tumultuous.
“Bottom line — David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein,” the memo said in the article.
