The Grand Central Apple store (credit: Architect’s Newspaper)

The press has been let into the much-discussed Apple store at Grand Central Terminal, set to open Friday, according to USA Today. The tech giant is paying $60 per square foot for the 23,000-square-foot store, one of its largest, and will make shopping as simple as possible for rushed commuters, allowing them to purchase the company’s products without the help of a sales assistant. They can simply slide an iPhone across a product’s bar code and grab the item. The receipt is delivered to them via email. While State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli previously blasted station-owner, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the deal with Apple, the MTA is continuing to defend the transaction and the intrinsic value of having the company in the building. [USA Today] [more]

From left: State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and renderings of the Apple store in Grand CentralThe sweetheart deal that Apple got to open a store in Grand Central Terminal has caught the attention of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, according to the New York Post, and he’s launched an investigation into whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was overly generous with the lease terms.

Apple is paying less rent than most other tenants, including neighbors on the balcony, and is the only of the 100 retailers in the terminal that doesn’t have to share its revenue with the agency. [more]

Assembly member Inez Barron, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Related CEO Stephen Ross and the Gateway II Center rendering

Brooklyn Assemblywoman Inez Barron has asked that state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli investigate the proposed sale of 21 acres of land, owned by the state and eyed by Walmart for its first store, to the Related Companies. In a letter written to DiNapoli, Barron, a longtime opponent of Walmart, expressed concerns over why the company is paying only $14.5 million for the land for Gateway II, when it had originally agreed to pay $32.5 million.
“I urge you to investigate the deal further before allowing the transfer to go through,” she wrote. “It is imperative that we ensure that taxpayers are getting the best possible deal for this land.” [more]

As next week’s expiration of the state’s rent regulation laws approaches, a new state-sponsored report has revealed that nearly two-thirds of New York City’s 2 million rental apartments still enjoy regulated rental rates. According to the Post, the report, by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, found 1.4 million rental apartments to be either rent-stabilized, publicly-owned or taxpayer-subsidized — and that’s after the roughly 10,000 units that have been deregulated over the course of the last decade. The impending June 15 deadline for rent regulation to be renewed is threatening some 1 million New York City apartments as lawmakers, tenant advocates and landlords try to hammer out an agreement on income and monthly rent thresholds for decontrol.
[more]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budget director has ordered a 20 percent reduction in planned spending for the city’s 10-year construction plan, due to the struggling economy, according to the Daily News. It’s unclear which projects will be cut, but budget director Mark Page asked the city to identify work that can be postponed or canceled. “We are actively seeking ways of diminishing city costs of pensions and health benefits, and we are obliged to also address the amount of the budget going [to pay for construction loans],” Page wrote in a letter to city department heads. [more]

After the Empire Fulton Ferry Park closed for renovations at the beginning of the year, residents were left scratching their heads over why no work was being done on the Dumbo waterfront space, according to the New York Daily News. But sources now say that a conflict between state and local officials has caused the project to hit a standstill, with State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli denying construction approval to the project. [more]

Property tax bills will rise this year for many New York City
homeowners, according to the state Financial Control Board. Tax rates
for apartment buildings will increase 1.4 percent and tax rates for
homes are expected to go up 1.8 percent. But commercial property tax
rates will drop 1.8 percent. Even though the market value of city real
estate has fallen this year, assessed home values are still rising
because of the real estate boom, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli said. [more]