The reconstruction of LaGuardia Airport entered a new phase and gained a high-profile partner Tuesday.
Gov. Cuomo announced the start of construction of Delta Airlines' new, $4 billion terminal on the eastern half of the Queens airport.
The governor also announced that JLC Infrastructure, a joint venture comprising Magic Johnson Enterprises and Loop Capital Markets LLC, will become an investor in the project — marking the first time in state history that a minority or women-owned business will be a partner in a public-private construction project.
"When we build, when we progress, we want to bring everybody with us," Cuomo said at the airport.
Administration officials said JLC Infrastructure is investing $10 million and will have a 5% ownership stake in LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the consortium that's building — and will ultimately own and operate — the terminals on LaGuardia's western half.
National Urban League President Marc Morial hailed the new partnership as a milestone for minority owned businesses, saying "in the 21st century this is how we define equity."
Despite the JLC investment, an influential group of black and Latino pastors raised concerns about a lack of minority owned contractors on the airport project.
Johnnie Green, president of Mobilizing Preachers & Communities, said the JLC investment was a "positive step" but complained that no Asian, black or Hispanic firm had received a significant contract in the project.
Green called on Johnson, Morial and "the others who were on the stage with the governor" to remember "there is a thin line between taking advantage of an opportunity and sanctioning behavior that is detrimental to our people."
A rep for Cuomo, Abbey Fashouer, said, "This claim has simply no basis in fact, as proven by the more than $300 million in contracts for minority- and women-owned businesses that have been awarded on the redevelopment of LaGuardia and clear records on who have applied for prime contracts."
Reconstruction of the airport is projected to cost $8 billion, with 75% of the money coming from private investors.
The first new gates are scheduled to open next year and the new airport is expected to be fully completed by 2021.
Delta is investing $3.4 billion to construct its new terminal on the eastern side of the airport. The Port Authority is contributing an additional $600 million.
"It is going to be a beautiful front door to New York," Cuomo said at the airport Tuesday.
Cuomo also revealed Tuesday that a groundbreaking will be held in two weeks for the new, $1.6 billion train hall near Penn Station that's to be named for the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died in 2003.
ARTICLE BY NOAH GOLDBERG and GLENN BLAIN
