From left: Bill de Blasio and Christine Quinn

New York City Public Advocate and mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio slammed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s affordable housing platform, saying it pandered to the interests of the real estate industry, the New York Observer reported.

In Quinn’s State of the City address earlier this week, she proposed a cap for property taxes for whole buildings that pledged to set aside a certain percentage of their units as affordable. The plan mirrored a 2011 proposal by the Real Estate Board of New York, which an aide from the Bloomberg Administration had described as “a large tax break dressed up as a housing policy.” [more]

Christine Quinn

Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn’s affordable housing plan was bound to face criticism. But her plan is especially susceptible since it prominently features a tax subsidy twice proposed and rejected by the Bloomberg administration as unacceptably generous to the real estate industry, according to the New York Times. Aides to Quinn acknowledged the similarities to the previous affordable housing plans and that the idea had come from the city’s real estate industry — who have been some of Quinn’s biggest campaign donors. However they also said that Quinn had altered the plan in significant ways…. [more]

Christine Quinn

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn today in her State of the City address vowed to construct 40,000 affordable housing units for the middle class over the next 10 years, DNAinfo reported. “We face an affordability crisis in our city,” Quinn said. “We need to make sure that the people who want to stay in our great city can afford to stay.” Quinn’s definition of “middle class,” at least when it comes to housing development, is unclear. According to her Middle Class Squeeze report, issued today, it lies “between 100 percent and 300 percent of area median income.” [more]

Joseph Moinian and Speaker Christine Quinn

A group of elected officials and union workers has given the Moinian Group a failing grade when it comes to the company’s landlord and development operations, the New York Observer reported. The so-called report card faults Moinian with failed relationships with tenants, vendors and workers, and the group is holding a rally today near City Hall to bring awareness to the issue. [more]

Chelsea Market’s food concourse

With the expansion of the Chelsea Market approved, some worry that the historic building’s food concourse will shrink or be removed, DNAinfo reported. Despite claims by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that  it would be protected, Jamestown Properties — the building’s landlord — has no legal obligation to keep the concourse following the expansion.  [more]

Speaker Christine Quinn

The City Council unanimously approved a new bill Wednesday aimed at cracking down on landlords who maintain unsafe and unsanitary conditions, the New York Daily News reported. The bill would have landlords pay steep fines–$1,000 per unit or $5,000 per building—or sign an affidavit swearing they’ve repaired dangerous or dirty conditions. Landlords who lie in the affidavit could face criminal charges. Though the city currently requires landlords to maintain buildings in good condition, critics say that landlords have been getting away with stopgap fixes…. [more]

Speaker Christine Quinn

A bill that takes aim at city landlords who make surface cosmetic repairs to their properties but do not address underlying structural issues is expected to get approval from the City Council today, the Wall Street Journal reported. This bill, according to experts and city elected officials, addresses an increasing problem of investors who acquire older properties to flip them for profit without making needed repairs, such as finding the source of a leak rather than just plastering over a water-logged wall. [more]

From left: the groundbreaking ceremony today and a rendering of the Hudson Yards

The Related Companies and Oxford Property Group today broke ground at their Far West Side development known as the Hudson Yards. The public-private project is set to rise on 26 acres, the largest swath of as-of-yet undeveloped property in Manhattan.

Six years since planning began, the first dirt was moved to make way for the Hudson Yards’ South Tower, the 47-story future home of the luxury retailer Coach. That building, at the northeast corner of Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, will include 740,000 square feet that Coach will own as a commercial condominium, as previously reported. [more]

From left: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hurricane Sandy

The city will extend property tax deadlines interest free — and may even provide a refund on property taxes already assessed – for structures badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, a statement today from the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. The measures require further approval from the City Council and New York State Legislature, however.

The city’s Department of Finance issued an interest-free extension on the next property tax bill for “residential properties damaged beyond repair or in need of extensive structural repairs before they can be re-inhabited.” The Department of Finance’s move will still need to be formally authorized by the City Council, the statement said. [more]

From left: a rendering of Chelsea Market and Council Speaker Christine Quinn

The City Council voted unanimously today to approve the rezoning of Chelsea Market, paving the way for developer Jamestown Properties to build a nine-story office tower atop the converted cookie factory.

Over the course of the approval process, Jamestown had made several concessions to city planning officials and opponents of the project, nixing a plan to build a hotel and earmarking money for affordable housing. [more]