One way you can advantage your family as governor is to let them know in advance that there will be a major renovation of a commuter rail station that will vastly increase the value of the surrounding property. Then, your brother can form an alliance with some preexisting building outfit that is also a major donor to the Republican Party, and they can snap up a bunch of property, renovating it modestly or building a new dwelling, and then sell it at an enormous profit. Never mind that these builders do not specialize in doing modest upgrades of low-grade residential properties.
Nelson Ferreira, the third partner, is owner of Ferreira Construction, which was paid nearly $10 million in public contracts by state transportation agencies in 2012, records show. The firm serves as a construction manager at the World Trade Center site and has done heavy highway construction throughout New Jersey and Florida. Nelson Ferreira has also donated thousands to the Republican Governors Association led by [Gov. Chris] Christie and was appointed by the governor to a state board that oversees borrowing to pay for the state’s network of roadways, railways and other transportation assets.
In comparison to the million-dollar contract work undertaken by Ferreira Construction, the Harrison projects seem small. They are mostly newly built homes crammed into narrow lots and sold for less than a half-million dollars.
Yes, the Ferreiras teamed up with Todd Christie, the governor’s brother, to flip a bunch of residential housing, just like any schlub could do throughout the Aughts if they could cobble together a couple hundred grand for seed money. But they had the advantage of knowing exactly where to buy.
Why would the Ferreiras take time out from renovating the World Trade Center complex to flip a few houses in Harrison, New Jersey with the governor’s brother?
This is such low-level stuff that it hardly qualifies as news, but it’s still corrupt.
