Rudolph Giuliani
From the September issue: Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced a plan dubbed “Building Blocks” to turn over thousands of tax-delinquent apartment buildings that the city had repossessed for a nominal cost to new private owners, 17 years ago this month.
At the time, the city owned about 29,500 units in 2,910 multifamily buildings that it had taken title to because the owners were unable to pay their real estate taxes.
The program first targeted buildings in Central Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. At the time, officials said it would cost the city $175 million a year for management and upkeep of the distressed properties in its portfolio.
The program was one in a long string of initiatives by New York City mayors to remove residential multifamily buildings from municipal care and return them to private hands.
From the 1970s through 1993, when Giuliani was elected, the city had taken title to thousands of properties after their landlords defaulted on taxes and the city foreclosed on them. The city halted that foreclosure process in 1993 and now sells the liens representing the outstanding debt on the properties to trusts that pursue payback from the owner. The city also arranges third-party transfers to a new owner.
Aided by a revived economy, Giuliani’s effort appears to have borne fruit. From 1994 to late 2000, the number of apartment units the city owned fell by 59 percent to 12,362. By 2000 there were only 133 apartment buildings still owned by the city. Click here for more.
