NEW YORK CITY-Once the downstate chief of the Empire State Development Corp., Patrick Foye is poised to move into a bistate agency. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has appointment Foye to succeed Chris Ward as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, headquartered here. Additionally, Cuomo wants to fold the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Moynihan Station Development Corp. into the Port Authority, subject to approval by the authority’s board, as is the governor’s choice of Foye. It’s not certain when the board will vote on these matters.

Foye, who served as ESDC downstate chief under then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, is currently Cuomo’s deputy secretary of economic development. In that capacity, he manages the state’s initiatives for economic recovery, investment and job creation, and oversees ESDC. Foye also served previously as vice chairman of the Long Island Power Authority as as deputy county executive in Nassau County.

As the Port Authority’s executive director, Foye will face some formidable challenges, even aside from the task of seeing the World Trade Center redevelopment through to completion. The agency has much else on its plate, ranging from modernizing the region’s three major airports to keeping the heavily-trafficked Hudson River crossings up and running, and faces economic headwinds in getting all of it done.  At the board’s August 19 meeting, chairman David Samson said, “The Port Authority’s annual net revenues in the last several years have not kept pace with the agency’s projected level of capital spending and the mix of projects required to meet regional economic and transportation needs.”

Ward will step down as executive director at the end of the month, and then serve as an advisor to the Port Authority for a transitional period through the end of the year, according to a release from the governor’s office. During his three-and-a-half year tenure, Ward was credited with putting the much-hampered WTC redevelopment back on track and bringing the authority’s expenses into line by cutting spending. The 9/11 Memorial at the WTC site opened in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that rocked Lower Manhattan, as Ward promised.

However, the authority recently drew flack for across-the-board toll hikes on its bridges and tunnels as well as fare increase on the PATH trains connecting Manhattan with Newark and Jersey City, and both Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have demanded a comprehensive review of the authority. Last week, the authority announced it had begun a search for an external auditor as part of the review process.

Samson and other key political and industry figures issued statements Wednesday afternoon in support of Foye’s appointment as well as Cuomo’s nominations of Rossanna Rosado and James Rubin to serve on the Port Authority board.  Calling Foye “an exemplary choice” to lead the bistate agency, Samson says Foye has “a long record of strong leadership, and we are excited to have him.”

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, says in a statement that Cuomo “has made it clear that creating jobs is his top priority. The Port Authority plays an essential role in New York’s economic development and infrastructure, and Gov. Cuomo is making sure that it will be able to produce the best results for the people of this state.” Spinola adds that Foye’s “extensive management experience” and “keen knowledge” of the state’s fiscal affairs “make him especially suited for transforming the Port Authority into an economic engine.”

At the Partnership for New York City, president and CEO Kathryn Wylde, says the management skills of Foye, Rosado and Rubin “are exactly what we need to put New York on the path to economic recovery,” while Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, says his group looks forward to continuing to working with Foye “to keep critical projects on track and assure that public resources are invested to maximize economic growth and job creation.”