The Bronx and Queens borough boards voted against Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing rezoning plans this week, over fears of gentrification in the Bronx and higher density in Queens. The Boards’ votes are advisory, but the Boards include all the City Council members from each borough who will eventually have to approve any plan. The other boroughs have yet to vote, but opposition by local community boards – also represented on the Borough Boards – is widespread.
In other anti-development developments, the Landmarks Commission is taking up creation of a Bedford Historic District next month. Bedford Stuyvesant was the most active neighborhood in the city for new residential construction permits in the first quarter and many in the neighborhood oppose change. And the City Councilman representing the Cobble Hill, Brooklyn neighborhood where the former Long Island College Hospital is located, announced opposition to a rezoning for mixed use development of the site supported by the Mayor.
An engineer who signed off on a façade inspection allegedly without visiting the building has been charged with a felony this week and is facing up to four years in prison — after a 2-year-old girl was killed by a falling brick.
Two court decisions reported this week show the lower courts dancing around the Appellate Division’s decision in Altman, which found that, even before the legislative changes last June, apartments could not be deregulated for high rents unless the vacating tenant paid the higher figure before vacancy allowances or individual apartment improvements. In Dixon vs. 105 West 75th St., the Supreme Court simply quoted the Rent Stabilization Code correctly (unlike Altman). In Aimco 322 E 61st St. vs. Brosius, the Appellate term somewhat coyly cited Altman, mentioning that it only referred to one way of deregulating a unit.
The Mayor is forging ahead alone to develop 15,000 units of supportive housing for the homeless over the next 15 years, at a cost of $2.6 billion. Past supportive housing programs have involved state support with construction and operating costs (estimated at $30,000 per unit per year), but negotiations with the state for cost sharing going forward apparently haven’t gone well.
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Join us at 8:30 a.m. December 15th for CHIP’s Annual panel “Build Buy Sell Hold”: Strategies and Expectations for the NYC Real Estate Market —What are the expectations for 2016 and beyond? Who is selling and who is buying, and why? Are we witnessing the creation of the next bubble? What are the alternative investments to NYC residential real estate? The event will be moderated by Greg David, of Crains New York Business, at the New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th St. Free for CHIP members. $50 for non-members. RSVP: Call (212) 838-7442 and ask for John or email rsvp@chipnyc.org