President Obama’s new urban czar renovated his Bronx home with help from the architect on a major development that needed his approval, a Daily News investigation has found.

Adolfo Carrión, who last week left his job as Bronx borough president to be director of the White House Office on Urban Policy, hired the architect to design a renovation of his Victorian two-family on City Island.

Weeks after the architect’s work on Carrión’s house was complete, Carrión approved the architect’s project.

Carrión would not say how much he paid the architect, if anything. He also refused to provide copies of checks for the work.

“I hired an architect on an arm’s-length commercial basis to draw up plans for a renovation, as required by city law,” he said. “That was completely unrelated to my professional activities and entirely proper.”

The White House declined to comment.

The possible conflict of interest surfaced Nov. 13, 2006, when, records show, Hugo Subotovsky was listed as architect of record overseeing the addition of a porch and installation of a second-floor balcony. Total job cost was estimated at $32,000.

At the time, records show, Carrión had at least $15,000 in credit card debt, was paying off two mortgages worth more than $500,000 and had $5,000 in revolving credit from Chase bank.

In the next few months, architect Subotovsky signed off on several documents necessary to complete the Carrión renovation. All were filed with the city Buildings Department, records show.

At the time, Subotovsky was part of a team seeking Carrión’s approval of one of the biggest taxpayer-subsidized developments in the Bronx, Boricua Village.

As project architect, Subotovsky was involved in the design of a 14-story college building and 679 units of housing in Melrose.

The project involved zoning changes, so it needed approval from Carrión and the City Planning Commission.

Subotovsky, several top Boricua College officials and executives with the project’s developer, Atlantic Development Group, gave a combined $74,000 to Carrión’s campaign.

The two worlds came together Jan. 22, 2007. Subotovsky filed a work permit application and cost affidavit with the city for Carrión’s house renovation.

The Boricua Village project was referred to Carrión’s office the same day.

On March 26, 2007, Carrión recommended approval of the Boricua Village project.

Two days later, Subotovsky outlined the project to the Planning Commission, which approved it a month later.

Subotovsky did not return calls for comment. His partner, Ariel Aufgang, said the firm deals with Carrión and his staff on every project in the Bronx involving land-use issues.

Crucial questions include whether Carrión paid for Subotovsky’s work on his home, how much he paid and when.

City employees can’t take gifts from anyone seeking their approval as a city employee.

Such an unreported gift could be seen as Carrión using his position to benefit himself financially, a violation of the law. It could also be unreported income. Carrión did not report any such gift on his financial disclosure forms.

Carrión defended his legacy as a public official: “As the Bronx borough president, I built a reputation for integrity and dedication to my constituents.”

The News reported last week that several developers seeking Carrión’s approval for projects across the Bronx raised tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for him.

Source: NY Daily News