Rogers's Involvement in Javits Project Likely To Be Decided Tomorrow

British architect Richard Rogers's involvement in the $1.7 billion Jacob K. Javits Center expansion project will likely be decided after a meeting tomorrow with Jewish leaders and elected officials, including the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver.

With the assistance of publicist Howard Rubenstein, Lord Rogers has been meeting with several Jewish leaders in an attempt to calm the outrage sparked by reports last week that the architect is affiliated with an anti-Israel group. Several Jewish leaders, including Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, now say their concerns have been satisfied.

The state's lead development agency is holding off on its decision on whether to continue to employ Lord Rogers for the project in order to get feedback from Mr. Silver and Jewish leaders. As a member of the Public Authorities Control Board, Mr. Silver will have a final approval of the Javits project.

The state's chief development official, Charles Gargano, met with Lord Rogers yesterday and is scheduled to do so again this week.

Lord Rogers has released preliminary designs for the convention center, which is named for the late Jacob Javits, a Republican senator who was a strong supporter of Israel.

Last week, some American pro-Israel groups and elected leaders began calling for the architect to be dumped after learning of his ties to an organization called Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, which has discussed a boycott of Israeli architects and construction firms. The group has used the architect's London offices.

Since the uproar began, Lord Rogers has renounced the group and touted his pro-Israel credentials, including supporting for the security fence and calling on Hamas to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist.

The executive vice chairman of the influential Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said his group is hosting tomorrow's meeting at its Midtown offices.

"We will all come together and talk about this and see if we can finalize it, come to a common conclusion," Mr. Hoenlein said.

Mr. Hoenlein met with Lord Rogers on Monday for some "very intense discussions to clarify some of the issues," but he would not say if he would now approve of the architect's involvement.

"Any individual is not important; it's everyone together," he said.

Mr. Hoenlein said Lord Rogers satisfied several important concerns, including why he did not respond to allegations in the British press that he was affiliated with the anti-Israel group. Mr. Hoenlein said he learned Monday that Lord Rogers was in the hospital for three weeks and could not respond to the charges.

Mr. Rubenstein said a lot is riding on tomorrow's meeting.

"If that meeting goes well on Thursday, then I think all is well with him. He's ended the problem - a very public problem," Mr. Rubenstein said.

A spokesman for Mr. Silver, Charles Carrier, said the speaker has made no decision in advance of the meeting.

"We have to look at his intentions, as initially stated, and what they have been more recently described," Mr. Carrier said.

Mr. Foxman told The New York Sun his concerns have been satisfied.

"How do you know he meant it?" Mr. Foxman said. "Here is one the great architects of our time who now publicly says he is opposed to boycotts of Israel. Good enough for me."

In a statement released Monday, Lord Rogers further clarified his relationship to the group.

"The group was permitted to use my office in London once - not three times, as has been reported - for a meeting on February 2nd. The meeting was held on the office premises as a favor to the group's founder, Abe Hayeem, an old friend of mine who is Jewish and who is married to an Israeli," the statement said. "I left after 10 minutes. They never passed a resolution on a boycott and, if they ever propose one, I will oppose it. As I have stated previously, I abhor boycotts of any kind - of Israel or any other place. It is not the way to achieve peace and I will not be party to any group or movement that advocates a boycott."

Correction from March 9, 2006: Three days is how long architect Richard Rogers was in the hospital. The number of days was misstated in an article on page 3 of yesterday's New York Sun.