The Real Deal New York

A planned 63 percent spike in ground rents in Battery Park City has been averted, according to Crain’s, after New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver helped broker a deal to reduce that increase. Ground rents, which are paid by residents to the Battery Park City Authority, vary among the 2,400 condominium unit owners in Battery Park City’s 11 buildings. The tentative agreement, reached Wednesday, will raise ground rents by 33 percent next year and could save residents of the Lower Manhattan neighborhood $279 million over the next three decades. “This agreement would protect Battery Park City residents from staggering increases that would have caused crushing financial burdens during a time of economic difficulty,” Silver said. [Crain's]