The City Council is gearing up to pass costly new wage reporting requirements next week for all contactors and subcontractors building subsidized housing. Mayor Bloomberg has threatened to veto the bill but, in a harbinger of post-Bloomberg administrations, an override is expected. The bill requires publication of wages and pay rates for every employee, including personal deduction information.
National and local building permit statistics issued this week contain good news and bad news. The National Association of Home Builders reported that new housing permits in June were running at 760,000 a year, the best level since 2008 and the builder confidence index jumped from 29 to 35. Locally, in the first quarter, developers filed for permits for 629 units, up from a measly 158 in 2011. Back in 2005, however, the national number was around 2 million a year and the local number was about 7,000 per quarter. And the builder confidence index of 35 is 35 on a scale of 100. More than half are still pessimistic.
NAHB reported good news for ABO member Jeffrey Levine. His Edge development in Williamsburg was named a finalist for Best High Rise Condominium Community and Best Mixed-Use Community Site Plan in the annual Pillars of the Industry Awards. Winners will be announced in October.
The National Realty Club has invited ABO members to join them for a free hour of rum tasting and a cash bar for the rest of the evening at a reception beginning Tuesday, July 24th, at 5 p.m. at the Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th Street. Click here to register.
We are sorry to report that Roberta Bernstein, founding president of Small Property Owners of New York and a mainstay in the local battle for property rights for thirty years, passed away last week. She will be missed.