Can we sell the state house?

From the Jersey Journal:

Corzine considers construction above Secaucus Junction

They may not be as lucrative – or controversial – as leasing the New Jersey Turnpike for a century, but the Corzine administration is studying the sale of other state assets, including the rights to build malls along the Turnpike or office and residential towers over train stations.

Gov. Jon Corzine and his top finance officials are putting together a menu of assets that could be auctioned off to the highest bidder as alternatives to help pay for everything from property tax cuts to mass-transit improvements.

Details of the administration’s asset review were described by two senior officials last week – after Corzine gave “asset monetization” a high-profile spot in his first State of the State address last week. The officials asked not to be identified because specifics are still confidential.

“At some price, there are buyers for everything, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out like mad,” one of the officials said. “There’s a small army of people working on this around the clock.”

Possibilities include ownership of the PNC Bank Arts Center and the Atlantic City International Airport, operation of the state Lottery, and approval to construct Class-A office and apartment towers atop Penn Station in Newark, the Secaucus Junction rail hub and the NJ Transit station in downtown New Brunswick.

Officials are also looking at selling the rights to build shopping malls on land owned along the Turnpike as an alternative, perhaps more palatable to legislators and residents, to selling or leasing the toll road itself.

For nearly two years, many state officials have treated the idea of leasing or selling the Turnpike to private companies as the pot of gold they need. But opposition from the public and politicians in Trenton has been building.
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“It doesn’t have to just be the Turnpike, it could be any number of assets. We’re in the midst of a serious study on this,” Corzine said. “I can’t tell people what it is we’re going to do until we actually know the numbers. . . . We’re trying to figure out what are the best choices to do the things we need to do to make New Jersey the best place to live without creating undo hardship.”