On hold: Luxury apt. plan for judges

ALBANY -- New York's financial woes have forced the state's Court of Appeals to halt the $23-million renovation of a former Catholic school into luxury apartments for judges.

"The project looked reasonable in more comfortable times, but less so now," court spokesman Gary Spencer said on Tuesday. He said the indefinite suspension was never announced publicly, even though the decision was made in February.

The New York Post had assailed the 1898 gold-brick and white-stone building, known as Centennial Hall, for renovations it said featured seven judicial suites with stained-glass skylights, cherrywood furniture and marble tiles.

The State Legislature approved the spending in 2007. But in the face of a $10-billion state budget gap, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo accused the courts of not sharing in the sacrifice of other agencies, school districts and the general public.

The seven judges currently stay in hotel rooms during the 66 days they spend in Albany each year at a total cost to the state of about $37,500 a year.

The state's fiscal year 2012 budget slashes the court system's budget by $170 million. Hundreds of layoffs are expected by June, and court officials have shortened court hours, called for smaller jury pools and cut back a range of programs, including mediation and the hiring of retired judges to preside over specialized cases.

Spencer said the renovation price tag was high because of the poor condition of the building, vacant more than 20 years. The county gave the property to the state in 2007 because no private developers wanted to take on the renovations. "The building was decaying," Spencer said.

The Law Reporting Bureau, a 34-employee agency that publishes and archives Court of Appeals and lower appellate court decisions, will move into new offices at the building on Monday.

The court has been spending $240,000 a year leasing office space for the agency, which is the largest of its kind in the United States. Spencer said the "vast bulk" of the project's expense was dedicated to the bureau's new space.

Blair Horner, the legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group and a veteran good-government advocate in Albany, said that suspending the work on the apartments was a "smart move" given the economy and Cuomo's criticism of the court system's spending.