Key legislators and real estate execs are demonstrating a new openness to a State Assembly bill that would mandate higher wages for construction workers building some new residential projects, according to the Wall Street Journal. The bill, introduced earlier this year, was previously blocked by the real estate industry and Bloomberg administration, who said it would drive up costs and limit construction on low-income housing. But legislators may now concede in order to gain ground on other political and financial issues, as the bulk of construction — union contracts expire by the end of June in New York and Albany.
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Citi Habitats this week offered to refund a broker’s fee to clients who were rented an illegal apartment. But Citi Habitats President Gary Malin told The Real Deal he
believes his company is being unfairly blamed for the incident, which
is being investigated by the New York State Department of State. “Citi Habitats didn’t do anything wrong,” Malin said, noting that the
listing for the illegally converted apartment was not a Citi Habitats
exclusive, but was marketed by the landlord, Philip Jacobson, the owner
of Manhattan-based Kain Realty. As originally reported by NY1, James Wesley, his partner, Seth
Rudetsky, and their young daughter were forced to move out of their
apartment at 343 West 87th Street in November when Jacobson told them
the duplex had been found to violate building codes. Wesley and Rudetsky filed a complaint this fall with the Department of
State against Jacobson and Citi Habitats, and are planning to take the
matter to small claims court in hopes of recovering some of the money
they paid for brokers’ fees and relocating to their new apartment in
Harlem. Wesley and Rudetsky had paid a $2,100 fee to the Citi Habitats agent
who found them the apartment, along with a security deposit and $2,520
fee to Jacobson, who acted as the broker for the building. Jacobson has refused to refund their money, Wesley said. This week,
Citi Habitats offered the couple $3,600 and asked them to sign an
agreement releasing the company from claims and damages associated with
the transaction, Wesley said. While Malin acknowledged that the company had offered a refund, he
wouldn’t comment on the terms of the agreement or how Citi Habitats
arrived at that sum. [more]

Red Hook waterfront (left) and Hudson River Park waterfront

The City Council approved a far-reaching waterfront text amendment last
week that included a number of changes requested by the real estate
industry during the public review period. The City Council voted on April 22 to approve the update to the
regulations governing landscaping and development on the more than 500
miles of waterfront in the city’s five boroughs (see waterfront presentation after the jump). The changes went into
effect immediately. The changes from the original proposal included not requiring all
public access areas to submit to a survey to determine if it complied
with lighting standards; and extra greenspace would not be required for
upland connections — the land connecting the shoreline with a public
road — on lots less than 255 feet in depth and 260 feet in width. [more]