City Launches Probe Into Ex-Taconic VP Nate Bliss Over Development Deal

The New York City Council has launched an investigation into former Taconic Partners Vice President Nate Bliss, who now works in Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.

Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Amanda Farias sent a letter to Adams’s office Monday requesting records related to Bliss and his involvement in letting Taconic redevelop New York City’s Public Health Laboratory into a life sciences hub just months after Bliss joined the administration, according to the New York Daily News, which first reported the news.

Bliss was appointed chief of staff to First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer in January 2022, according to his LinkedIn page. At the same time, Bliss was also appointed chair of New York City’s Land Development Corporation (LDC), which signs off on lab redevelopments, the News reported.

Then in April 2022, Adams’s administration chose Taconic to redevelop the public health lab at 455 First Avenue into a 500,000-square-foot life sciences hub called Innovation East, the News reported. That deal was awarded by the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which Bliss oversees in his role as chief of staff.

The deal came at a time when Bliss was still receiving paychecks from Taconic, according to NBC New York.

“The overlap between Mr. Bliss’s financial ties to Taconic, his roles at City Hall overseeing EDC and at LDC, and his involvement in projects like Innovation East raise significant concerns about potential conflicts of interest,” Brewer and Farias wrote in their letter, as reported by the News. “This seemingly complicates the distinction between his roles as a private-sector executive and a public official, which must be clarified.”

Spokespeople for Taconic, the City Council and EDC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brewer and Farias have requested the records be sent to them by Monday, according to the News. Meanwhile, Adams’s office has said Bliss was not involved in selecting Taconic for the public health lab project, NBC reported.

The news comes as Adams himself faces an investigation into allegations of corruption, including one focused on potential bribery and money laundering in the city’s leasing of commercial properties.

However, Adams may be getting a break in one of his cases as the New York Times reported that the Justice Department, under President Donald Trump, has been weighing dropping its corruption case against the mayor.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.