St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Senator Charles Schumer today expressed overall support for the city’s Midtown East rezoning proposal, but called on City Hall to issue bonds to pay for transit and infrastructure improvements and urged the city to give landmark institutions in the district more flexibility to sell their air rights.
The New York Democrat, in a letter to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Steel, acknowledged the obsolescence of Midtown office stock. [more]
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Charles Schumer appealed to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Wednesday to ensure that Sandy-damaged co-ops and condos receive a piece of the $60 billion federal storm relief package, the New York Daily News reported.
As it stands, co-ops and condos cannot receive FEMA grants, but are instead eligible for low-interest loans to make repairs. In a statement Wednesday, Schumer said that “condos and co-ops should be eligible for the same assistance as single-family homes, and to say one can receive aid while the other can’t makes no sense.” [more]
From left: Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank, Senator Chuck Schumer and a rendering of the Cornell NYC Tech campus
Cornell NYC Tech, the 2 million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus slated to grow on Roosevelt Island in the coming years, will include additional tenants: The U.S Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Department of Commerce, officials announced at a press conference today at Cornell NYC Tech’s temporary campus. [more]
Sen. Chuck Schumer and 1 WTC
About five years after the General Services Administration first began talks for a space at 1 World Trade Center, the agency yesterday signed a lease for 270,000 square feet at the landmark tower the New York Post reported. The deal pushes the 3 million square-foot tower past 50 percent leased.
Last August, the CSA signed a term sheet at a rent in the low $40s per square-foot. But by this spring no further progress had been made, and Senator Charles Schumer began pressing the GSA to get the deal done by Independence Day. [more]
From left: Rep. John Mica, Sen. Chuck Schumer and 1 WTC
The General Services Administration’s 300,000-square-foot lease deal for 1 World Trade Center, whose completion has already been dragged out for nearly a year, won’t be finalized by Independence Day as the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the Durst Organization had hoped. And the New York Post reported it’s all because of a Florida representative. [more]
From left: Sen. Chuck Schumer, GSA's Daniel Tangherlini and 1 WTC
Sen. Chuck Schumer has turned up the pressure on the United States General Services Administration to complete its lease at 1 World Trade Center, according to the New York Post. The agency has been in talks for space in the building for five years and signed a term sheet for 300,000 square feet on floors 50-56 last August, in the low $40 per square foot, that would bring the building past 50 percent leased. [more]
From left: Prudential Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber and a Helicopter landing in East Hampton
Residents of Floral Park on Long Island have scored a victory over wealthy New Yorkers who fly helicopters over their homes towards the Hamptons on summer weekends. According to the New York Times, the Federal Aviation Administration has acquiesced to Senator Charles Schumer’s long standing push on behalf of those constituents and intends to ban helicopters from flying directly over Long Island — except in emergencies. [more]
With financing conditions extremely tight, New York City developers have increasingly turned to the EB-5 program, which gives foreign investors visas in exchange for investment in job-creating projects, to land funding for their projects. But according to the New York Times, developers are bending the rules to make their projects more attractive for those foreign funds, and taking money away from other projects that need the funding.
The minimum investment to qualify for a visa under the program has always been $1 million — but the threshold is reduced to $500,000 if the project is in a rural area or a community where unemployment is 50 percent greater than the national average. … [more]
Sen. Charles Schumer has rescued two Manhattan infrastructure projects from massive budget cuts proposed by the House of Representatives, DNAinfo reported.
If the cuts proposed by the 2012 transportation/housing and urban development appropriations bill had gone ahead, they would have eliminated nearly 50 percent of funding for the East Side Access project, an initiative to dramatically expand the underground rail tunnels at Grand Central Terminal, Schumer’s office said, and cut $197 million in funding for the Second Avenue Subway.
“While the cuts passed in the House put the project on life support, I am pleased we were able to beat back these cuts and keep the [East Side Access] project moving forward,” Schumer said…. [more]
Sen. Chuck Schumer is one of two senators introducing a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the housing market by offering an incentive to foreign buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported. He and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah want to offer residence visas to any foreigner that spends at least $500,000 on residential real estate in the United States. The measure compliments existing rules that offer visas to foreign investors that create jobs in America.
“This is a way to create more demand without costing the federal government a nickel,” Schumer said…. [more]
For NYC real estate updates provide email below
