From left: 90-36 149th Street and George Subraj of Zara Realty

Tenants at 90-36 149th Street in Jamaica, Queens, are suing landlord Zara Realty after they were charged lump sums for capital improvements made to their building, the New York Daily News reported.

Long-time tenants at the rent-stabilized building say they were charged the increase in one installment because the landlord wants to force out lower-income residents. Charges included $145 to replace windows that were broken during construction, according to tenants.

The suit says tenants were charged more upfront than the landlord was entitled to collect, and that repairs tenants should not have to pay for were billed to residents.
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Sunnyside, Queens (source: Dept. of City Planning)

The City Council today approved the rezoning of Sunnyside and Woodside, which aims to protect the lower-density character of those neighborhoods while allowing for a moderate increase in residential and commercial density along main corridors, according to the Department of City Planning. Encompassing about 130 city blocks, the zoning area had been unchanged since 1961. With the neighborhood growing and becoming more diverse, the current zoning can result in unpredictable building types leading to out-of-character construction, according to the Department of City Planning. –  Miranda Neubauer [more]

The Bloomberg administration granted permission yesterday for the construction of two highway off-ramps for the Van Wyck Expressway that city officials had slated as essential for the redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, according to Crain’s.

Several Willets Point property owners had been attempting to stall the redevelopment project, claiming that the city had pledged not to condemn state land until the ramps had been okayed. A New York City Economic Development Corp. spokesperson said that the procedural hurdle had now been overcome, and they could move on to the required public review process. [more]

The Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected the Queens West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills as a candidate for preservation yesterday, according to Crain’s. The reason, the commission stated in a letter, was that “the condition of [the stadium’s] architectural features has rendered it ineligible.” LPC cited spalling, or flaking, to the arches, crumbling concrete throughout the structure and water damage.

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After an erratic several months in Brooklyn and Queens, due largely to pent up demand and the first-time homebuyer tax credit, the residential market in the two boroughs may be stabilizing, according to a Prudential Douglas Elliman report covering both boroughs released today.

The median residential sales prices climbed in the fourth quarter compared to the same three months in 2009, while the number of sales dropped in both boroughs.

In Brooklyn, the figure rose 6.2 percent to $475,000, while sales dropped 29.9 percent to 1,468 from 2,093. In Queens, meanwhile, the price increased 5.4 percent to $369,000, as home sales plummeted 41.7 percent. Last quarter saw 2,483 sales in Queens, compared to 4,260 during fourth-quarter 2009. [more]

126-32 144th Street

From the January issue: Queens has been called the “Ground Zero” of the New York foreclosure crisis, with the most filings citywide for the past three years.
But while areas like Jamaica and Queens Village have garnered the most attention because of the devastation they’ve endured due to the sheer number of foreclosures there, the community districts that have seen the greatest increase in foreclosure filings are some of the borough’s more well-off areas.
The two solidly middle-class community districts that include Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Sunnyside and Woodside saw the greatest spike in the average number of foreclosure filings per quarter, at 64 percent during the first three quarters of last year. In contrast, Jamaica and Queens Village saw increases of 17 percent and 32 percent, respectively. 

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Click chart for larger version. (Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman)

The residential sales markets in Queens and Brooklyn saw an increase in activity toward the end of 2009, with Queens seeing a dramatic 50 percent uptick over the third quarter and year-over-year, according to fourth-quarter market reports from Prudential Douglas Elliman released today.

Meanwhile, prices in both boroughs continued a steady decline.

Several market factors conspired to turn the traditionally slow season into a more active one, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller, head of Miller Samuel and preparer of the report: the loosening of credit, the extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit and the steady decline in prices.

“The takeaway [from the reports] is that we saw a continued uptick in sales activity… in the fourth quarter — more brisk than the third quarter,” Miller said.

In Queens, the fourth quarter of 2009 saw 4,260 home sales, up 52.7 percent from a quarter earlier and 55.6 percent from the same three months in 2008. The number of sales in Brooklyn during the fourth-quarter 2009 reached 2,093, up a more modest 13.3 percent from the previous quarter and 13.4 percent over the same quarter a year earlier, the Elliman report shows. [more]

The Home Shopping Network is moving into 545 Madison Avenue

Construction has begun on a controversial new police academy in the Queens neighborhood of College Point. The new academy, which has been designed to garner a silver LEED
certification and will include an energy-efficient central utility
plant and green roofs, will help address the growing “complexities of
[the NYPD’s] mission,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Meanwhile, the Home Shopping Network has signed a seven-year full-floor lease at LEED gold-certified 545 Madison Avenue at the corner of 55th Street, according to a press release from building owner LCOR. The 7,114-square-foot space will be used for the network’s executive offices, boardrooms and marketing center. Click here for more.

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There is no place like New York City for national and international retailers and a few such food and coffee chains are seizing opportunities to set up shop in the New York metropolitan area.

Texas Buffalo chicken wing franchise Wingstop, which has sold nearly two billion wings, plans to open its first New York restaurant in the spring of 2010, in Astoria or Forest Hills, Queens. The company seeks to open a minimum of 25 locations in the five boroughs as well as restaurants in Fort Lee, Newark, New Brunswick and Trenton, NJ. The 15-year-old company, which has more than 600 restaurants existing or under development in 32 states, has more than 70 restaurants planned for the Northeast. [more]

When ailing banks were lining up for infusions of federal money last year, as part of the government’s $700 billion bailout package, the New York Community Bancorp politely said “no thanks.” The company, whose holdings include savings banks and larger commercial operations, was cleared to receive $596 million in preferred equity stock from the Treasury Department. But its earnings capacity was so solid, according to Joseph Ficalora, its chairman, president and chief executive, the funds weren’t needed. And this may be even more striking considering that a steep 80 percent of its business is real estate loans; among them, 71 percent are apartment building mortgages with another 21 percent to similar residences with stores in their ground floors. And all told, about a quarter of its loans underwrite Manhattan properties. But Ficalora,
who began working for the company in 1965, as a teller at a bank branch
in Corona, Queens, just a few blocks from his house, doesn’t invest in
splashy, high-risk mega-projects. On the contrary. Most of his buildings are comparatively small, old and rent regulated.
Though they may not generate huge multiples, they are dependable bets
over time, which is particularly beneficial when the market tanks, like
recently. And with an average size of $4 million, 60 percent loan-to-value ratio
and four-year payback rate, those loans offer minimal exposure,
Ficalora explained. As a result, the company, which is based in
Westbury, NY, posted a third-quarter profit, in its fifth consecutive
quarter of growth. It may also explain why New York Community Bancorp, with assets of $33
billion, is the country’s 24th largest bank-holding company and the
city’s largest thrift. Click here to see The Real Deal’s Q & A with Ficalora. [more]