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Articles
"The Hotel Man Who's
Expanding the Javits Center", New York Times © Robin Finn, 2/10/06
NATURALLY, the Hotel Association of New York City resides at a ritzy address,
320 Park Avenue, just opposite the turrets of St. Bartholomew's and
cater-cornered from the gilt-embossed Waldorf-Astoria. Great curb appeal.
Announce one's ultimate destination -- the wood-paneled sanctum of Joseph E.
Spinnato -- to the security guard in the imposing lobby, and he gives a knowing
nod: ''Hmm, you're going to see the big dog.''
And he's getting bigger.
Mr. Spinnato, president of the Hotel Association since Preston Robert Tisch
recommended him for the job in 1989, was hand-picked last month by Gov. George
E. Pataki to assume the chairmanship of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
His instant mandate is to hustle its much-stalled, much-maligned and
increasingly pricey $1.7 billion expansion from conflict mode into construction
mode.
He's hot on the case and, no surprise, unlike the Javits Center's previous
chairman, the ousted Robert Boyle, he's right on the same page as the governor,
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Charles A. Gargano, the state's top economic
development official. They want shovels in the ground by September, period, so
that Phase 1 of the glassy expansion designed by Richard Rogers will be in
business by 2010, period.
They'll get no argument from Mr. Spinnato. He and his hotelier constituents
have been howling about the economic windfall to be had from a bigger, better
Javits Center for a dozen years, and suddenly he's in the driver's seat to make
windfalls a reality. How happy is the Hotel Association that its president is
wearing this particular second hat? Over the moon. No conflict of interest
around here.
So the big dog of 320 Park, robust, ruddy-faced and just returned from a We
Love New York Day luncheon sponsored by the New York Society of Association
Executives, is in a convivial mood, and not only because lunch tasted good. He
reports that when the mayor stood up and announced that the Javits expansion
needed to happen and happen now, the 1,200 execs on hand gave him a standing
ovation. A good omen. Later on, one of Mr. Spinnato's highest profile Hotel
Association members, Donald Trump, actually gave the mayor a little farewell
hug. Sweet.
After a Javits Center plug like that, Mr. Spinnato, whose appointment as the
hotel industry's representative on the Javits board was made in 1991 during the
Cuomo administration -- even though he's not a Democrat -- didn't mind skipping
dessert to get back to the office and discuss his recent upgrade to chairman.
IT'S one of those jobs where you get all of the headaches and none of the
money,'' he jokes, flashing a vintage pair of scales-of-justice cufflinks, an
engagement gift from his wife of 39 years, Madeline. Alas, the Javits
chairmanship is unpaid. So he has kept his day job.
''It's a no-brainer,'' Mr. Spinnato, 66, says of the merits of expansion.
''It's the right thing to do, and now's the time to do it. It's doable,
achievable, and we can afford it. As soon as that center is expanded, the number
of shows and conventions able to come to the city will increase substantially.
There should be no more impediments to doing this project. Certainly the hotel
industry is vehemently opposed to any further delays.''
He is irked that some politicians, and Mr. Boyle, have questioned the
project's integrity. Mr. Boyle was dismissed after disagreeing with officials
about the project's direction.
As for Senator Charles E. Schumer's criticism that the expansion is ''too
small,'' Mr. Boyle's disgust with the plan to move a parking area for trade-show
trucks from the south side to the north, and Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky's
charge that a ''second-rate convention center'' is being rushed into
construction -- well, Mr. Spinnato isn't buying any of it.
''They have a right to their opinion,'' he says before deeming those opinions
unrealistic. ''I don't want to sound like a broken record, but considering the
woeful state of the current building, in an ideal world this expansion plan may
not be perfect, but for our purposes, it is. And that doesn't mean we're taking
on a second-rate, shoddy project.'' They better not. At $1.7 billion -- paid for
by the state and city, plus a citywide $1.50 per night hotel room tax -- the
public expects the antithesis of shoddy.
It also doesn't mean he intends to remove Mr. Boyle's management team, so
long as they cooperate with Mr. Gargano's development team. ''The period of
contentiousness is over; we've all got to get behind this plan,'' he says. ''I
think they understand that. They may not like it, but I think they understand.
To clean house would not be helpful.'' Besides, from the looks of his desk, Mr.
Spinnato is no housekeeper. ''I'm disorganized.''
Born in Queens, Mr. Spinnato, who lives on Long Island in Muttontown, grew up
in Florida and New York, where he attended LaSalle Military Academy. His father
was in the meat business, and both parents made their ambitions for him clear:
doctor or lawyer. After graduating from St. John's, he earned a degree at the
University of Miami Law School, then spent 10 years with the Nassau County
district attorney's office.
In 1982, Mayor Edward I. Koch appointed him fire commissioner, which explains
the profusion of fire helmets in his office. He's a collector. Adding a hard hat
from the Javits construction site is his next objective. ''I don't think anybody
wouldn't opt to expand as much as possible if it were possible,'' he says,
wrapping up his side of the story. ''Well, it's not possible.''
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