By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
BATTERY PARK CITY — Jim Cavanaugh will step down as president and CEO of the Battery Park City Authority as soon as next month.
Cavanaugh, 56, announced his resignation in a letter to the Battery Park City community on Monday. He's been at the Battery Park City Authority for six years and held the position for five of them.
He said he had long planned to leave state government once he had put in 30 years, and the state’s current early retirement incentive made the decision easier.
“It’s a good time to move on,” Cavanaugh said in a phone interview Monday.
Cavanaugh plans to leave the authority once next year’s budget is finished in late September or early October.
Cavanaugh said his decision was not related to the appointment of former city Comptroller Bill Thompson as chairman of the authority earlier this year. While Thompson had the power to remove Cavanaugh, the two have a good working relationship, Cavanaugh said.
In June, Thompson brought in Gayle Horwitz, his former colleague at the comptroller’s office, to be the authority’s chief operating officer. Horwitz will likely take over for Cavanaugh on an interim basis until the board appoints a successor, Cavanaugh said.
Thompson did not respond to a request for comment.
Cavanaugh said he was proud to have supervised the final stages of Battery Park City’s growth, including 4.7 million square feet of new construction since 2005.
“We’ve virtually finished the build-out,” Cavanaugh said of the 92-acre neighborhood. “There’s no empty space anymore.”
The authority’s final projects — the redevelopment of Pier A and the construction of a 55,000-square-foot community center — are also well underway, Cavanaugh said.
A Westchester County resident with twins starting college next year, Cavanaugh said he plans to continue working, though not in the public sector.
“I’m looking at a couple options that might still keep me in the political loop,” he said.
