The laws that cap rent increases on 1 million city apartments expire in June, and landlord groups, tenant advocates and politicians all agree that they should be extended, according to the Daily News. Last time the laws were up for a renewal, in 2003, Senate Republicans threatened to let them expire and ended up forcing the Democrats to accept a simple renewal. Now the Democrats think they have a better chance of getting a good deal for tenants. The real estate industry is desperate to renew a tax break known as 421-a, which spurs new apartment building development, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says developers won’t get that renewed unless they agree to change the rent laws. [more]

The city may extend the deadline for developers of multi-family buildings aiming to qualify for the coveted 421-a property tax break in an attempt to jumpstart stalled construction projects across the five boroughs, according to the New York Times. The city upped its qualification requirements for the tax break several years ago on the heels of criticism that it had been giving away too much potential revenue through the incentive, but many developers had rushed to file their building permits before those more stringent requirements took effect in June 2008. Those who qualified for the 421-a under the old rules had to complete
their projects within three years. For many builders, that three-year
mark is now fast approaching. [more]

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is taking an aggressive stance on rent regulation, according to the Wall Street Journal, saying that he won’t extend a tax break for residential developers until greater protections are ensured for rent-stabilized tenants. The tax break, known as 421-A, provides a tax abatement for new residential properties, something that pro-developer advocates say has encouraged new construction, even in a rocky economy. But Silver now says he won’t support 421-A unless it is amended to include pro-tenant provisions. [more]

Peter Fine

From the February issue: No one could blame Peter Fine if he expected the past year to be easy
– even amid the market turmoil. Widely regarded as one of the city’s
top affordable housing developers, Fine started last year as the
darling of the entertainment world, as the unlikely coproducer of a
Tony Award-winning musical.
With close ties to President Obama’s new urban development guru, he was also more politically connected than ever. However, while his Broadway show, “In the Heights,” has enjoyed
continued success, Fine’s political connections and real estate career
have taken a beating over the past year.  [more]

(Clockwise from left) Brokers Richard Steinberg, Steve Kliegerman, Stacey Max, and Victoria Shtainer talk about real estate priorities post-election.

New construction helped define the legacy of Michael Bloomberg’s first two terms as mayor, whether it was parks, schools, apartments, or more controversial mega-projects. That came in lockstep with a wholesale reordering of what should go where in New York, as Bloomberg rezoned 20 percent of the city, which was the most in four decades. But in Bloomberg’s third term, which he won yesterday in a close election against city Comptroller William Thompson, the city’s real estate community seems focused on different issues — some more far-reaching than others.
Some brokers hope lessons have been learned, like with the Second Avenue Subway, whose famously disruptive construction has hurt sales at the Upper East Side’s Georgica condo, said Richard Steinberg, an executive managing director with Warburg Realty Partnership. [more]

I still remember a day that seems so long ago (it was only 18 months
ago) when every piece of developable land for a residential condominium
or rental, hotel or office building was selling for prices as high as
$500 per square foot. Parking lots, industrial warehouses, former gas
stations and odds and ends throughout the five boroughs were priceless
possessions, only available to the most successful or financeable
developers. Then was then and this is now: there is limited
availability, and little or no financing available for land or
developments. In addition, there is uncertainty about how much money is actually out there. [more]

A policy change last week affecting applications for 421-a tax
exemption could help save the tax rebates for a lot of projects that
got into the ground last year. The Department of Housing Preservation
and Development has revised the rules such that developers can maintain
their eligibility for 421-a benefits even if work stops at a project,
or if it takes longer than three years to complete, as long as the
developer can prove that the delay was caused by an inability to obtain
financing. The rules for obtaining the tax abatement have
always required that a project be completed within 36 months from when
the developer broke ground, and that throughout construction, there was
continuously work performed at the site. [more]

Extell’s Gary Barnett (left) and broker Robert Shapiro are in favor of REBNY’s 421-a proposal.

The city is mulling over a proposal from the Real Estate Board of New
York that would increase the value of 421-a negotiable certificates
that are part of an affordable housing incentive program that gives
10-year tax abatements to owners and developers of residential
apartments. The industry group wants to base the tax deduction on the full assessed value of
the property — as the state law was originally written in the 1980s –
not on a narrower limit that was imposed two years ago. In 2007, the state law capped the amount that could be deducted at an
assessed valuation of $65,000. Once the limit was in place, the
certificates with it sold for prices about half those of the
certificates that were not capped. By Adam Pincus [more]