July is the month to Get It Done at Buildings Department borough meetings to approve or resolve objections on new building and type one alteration permits. The department is deploying teams to work personally with applicants while connected to the electronic permit Hub and get instant results. One thing that has not been done, however, is appointment of a new Buildings Commissioner…seven months into the new administration and counting.
Mayoral appointments, or the lack thereof, could also put a crimp in building plans that require Board of Standards and Appeals approval. Crains reports that resignations and personnel changes could make it difficult for the Board to have a quorum over the summer.
If you do build something it will probably be smaller. The census reports that new apartments have shrunk over the past decade and are at the smallest average square footage nationally and in major cities since 2002. Rents per square foot, however, are the highest since 1996. Single family homes, meanwhile, are still growing in size and not selling as well.
And, if you want to finance what you build, look to Asian insurance companies according to a CBRE report. Recent reforms of insurance company investment regulations in China, Taiwan, and Japan will unleash about $75 billion over the next five years for U.S. real estate…mostly focused on trophy markets such as New York.