David Frankel, Department of Finance Commissioner

ACRIS is getting a makeover. The New York City Department of Finance is updating the Automated City Register Information System, which tracks public real estate records filed throughout the city — including deeds, mortgages and liens — with new functions and additional data.

The maintenance work for the update, which has shut down ACRIS, began yesterday afternoon and will continue until Monday morning. [more]

East River Plaza, which received $8.1 million in tax breaks under ICIP

Even tax breaks have an afterlife. The owners of some 7,000 buildings are still receiving a tax abatement under a city program that expired five years ago, the New York World reported. Known as the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, the tax break will cost the city $650 million this year alone. [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]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

State lawmakers refused yesterday to extend some $445 million in property-tax abatements for 365,000 apartment owners, the New York Post reported. That means apartment owners could experience sticker shock when they get their tax bills.

The extension of the bill came up in the legislature but Governor Andrew Cuomo would not allow a last minute vote, the Post said, because the “extender bill,” included unrelated provisions, including changes to the loft law. [more]

Comptroller John Liu

An audit on the city’s property assessments found more than 10 percent of Queens co-ops were overvalued by as much as 25 percent, according to the New York Post. Comptroller John Liu said the sudden spike was do to an unpublicized shift to a flawed new computer system that improperly compared properties. For example, in one case a co-op in the East Village was examined against a property in Washington Heights, according to the Wall Street Journal, and in another a parking garage was contrasted with a residential building, the Times said. [more]

City Finance Commissioner David Frankel agreed yesterday to cap property tax hikes on co-ops at 10 percent, caving to pressure from City Council members. According to the Daily News, the change of heart came in response to an outcry by some 300 co-op owners, who were told their taxes were likely to increase by more than 50 percent this year. The Finance Department, which used a new computer system to assess the properties, said the astronomical assessments were in some cases due to a glitch in the new system; other properties had simply been undervalued for years. … [more]

Frustrated with increasing property taxes on rental apartment buildings, New York City developers and contractors are warning the Bloomberg administration that if it doesn’t change its tax policy, development of new rental buildings will stop, the Wall Street Journal reported. The increase has become a particular concern for owners of rentals built within the past two decades with 20 percent of their units set aside for low-income families. If taxes continue to outpace revenue, the Real Estate Board of New York says new development of these projects will not be possible…. [more]

The city is planning to relinquish around 37,000 square feet of ground- and second-floor space in the Brooklyn Municipal Building to retail or development companies who would help transform the corner of Joralemon and Court streets into a shopping destination. The borough has been lobbying for such a plan for months, and today the Wall Street Journal reported that the city is accepting sale and leasing proposals for the space, with an official announcement expected today.

A study commissioned by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership recently found that the first two floors and the basement of 210 Joralemon Street could be worth $20 million in a sale for retail use…. [more]

Co-op and condominium transactions in Manhattan lagged in November, according to data from the New York City Department of Finance. The figures, compiled from deeds and co-op sales documents, show that sales in the first two months of the fourth quarter were more than 25 percent below the first two months of the prior quarter. So far this quarter, the average apartment price was nearly flat while the median price fell 3.9 percent. The median co-op prices fell while the median condo price rose. But according to the Journal, brokers say the local housing market is still faring better than the market across the country, where prices have been sliding and mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates remain high…. [more]

Simon Elias (left), Flatotel at 135 West 52nd Street and Izak Senbahar

Alexico Group is facing a $196.7 million lawsuit at the Flatotel, after Atlas Capital accus… [more]