The developer chosen to run the $340 million Yankee Stadium parking system is two years behind on city rent and has yet to pay any property taxes on a 9,000-space garage, the Daily News reported. The new garages, which were expanded with the help of a $70 million cash injection from the state and tax-exempt financing from the city when the new stadium was built, are supposed to generate $3 million in rent revenues annual for the city. But a loophole through which the developer can defer payments in years with insufficient cash flow has allowed Bronx Parking Development LLC to ratchet up around $8.7 million in back rent and interest. That sum is about to grow to $10 million, because city officials have said the firm can defer this year’s rent, too. Although the garages are producing even more revenue than initially projected, operating costs are more than twice what was originally expected. [NYDN]

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The developer chosen to run the $340 million Yankee Stadium parking system is two years behind on city rent and has yet to pay any property taxes on a 9,000-space garage, the Daily News reported. The new garages, which were expanded with the help of a $70 million cash injection from the state and tax-exempt financing from the city when the new stadium was built, are supposed to generate $3 million in rent revenues annual for the city. But a loophole through which the developer can defer payments in years with insufficient cash flow has allowed Bronx Parking Development LLC to ratchet up around $8.7 million in back rent and interest. That sum is about to grow to $10 million, because city officials have said the firm can defer this year’s rent, too. Although the garages are producing even more revenue than initially projected, operating costs are more than twice what was originally expected. [NYDN]

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Reddy Kancharla, the president of Testwell Laboratories, was sentenced today to seven to 21 years in prison, after being convicted
of faking results on building materials for close to 120 construction projects in and around the city. The new Yankee Stadium, Ground Zero’s Freedom Tower and at least two dozen other buildings had to be retested because of the crimes. Twice during the case, Kancharla allegedly tried to commit suicide, most recently on the eve of his initial sentencing last month. Wearing a neck brace, he told a Manhattan jury that he was “not a criminal mastermind” and that the case had been a nightmare for him. [AP via Crain's]

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Images from the Gate 2 demolition (source: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

After ongoing efforts by historians and preservationists to save the famed “Gate 2″ at the former Yankee Stadium, the structure was demolished, according to NYC Park Advocates, a non-profit park advocacy group. Although the city design commission had vetoed saving the gate when it filed its official plans for the demolition, Yankee enthusiasts had lobbied almost up until the day of demolition. The former Yankee Stadium is being transformed into playing fields for the community, a concession made in exchange for taking 25 acres of parkland to build the new stadium. NYC Park Advocates and other community groups had opposed saving the gate, according to a statement from the advocacy organization. TRD [more]

Peter Fine

From the February issue: No one could blame Peter Fine if he expected the past year to be easy
– even amid the market turmoil. Widely regarded as one of the city’s
top affordable housing developers, Fine started last year as the
darling of the entertainment world, as the unlikely coproducer of a
Tony Award-winning musical.
With close ties to President Obama’s new urban development guru, he was also more politically connected than ever. However, while his Broadway show, “In the Heights,” has enjoyed
continued success, Fine’s political connections and real estate career
have taken a beating over the past year.  [more]

Despite Testwell Laboratories’ claims that alleged fraudulent cement testing documents were the result of clerical mistakes, an investigator from Thatcher Associates said that he saw the safety tests purposefully eschewed at the new Yankee Stadium construction site. Investigator Jim Murphy said that he confronted a Testwell supervisor over the safety tests, and that the supervisor refused to do the tests on the grounds that he was experienced enough to avoid them. “He said he could tell [if the cement was safe] by looking,” Murphy said, according to the New York Post. “He told me he would just make [the test] up.” Testwell is currently standing trial, facing several allegations of fraudulent activity at construction sites throughout the city including at Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower.

The new Yankee Stadium, where Testwell allegedly falsified concrete testing documents

Opening arguments in the case against Testwell Laboratories, a concrete testing firm accused of falsifying project results, began today. The company, along with four of its top executives, stand accused of filing fake concrete safety reports on over 100 projects in the city, including the new Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower at ground zero. Company representatives, however, contend that inconsistencies in testing results are the result of inadvertent mistakes. [more]

Jeff Blau

Save for a few short-term dips, the real estate market in New York has run full steam ahead since the recession of the early 1990s, when Jeff Blau joined the Related Companies out of college.

And what a run it’s been for the 41-year-old president of the privately held real estate juggernaut, which developed One Union Square South, the mixed-use tower that helped revitalize its downtown neighborhood, and Time Warner Center, which played a similar role at Columbus Circle. On the purely commercial side, Related has also developed the Gateway Center, a three-month-old mall by Yankee Stadium that’s brought big-box retailing to a low-income area.

Blau talked to The Real Deal about the economy, how distressed assets may provide opportunities and the importance of affordable housing.
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While several business owners near the new Yankee stadium had expected to see more customers during the season, a new report from WNYC’s Ailsa Chang suggests that they may actually be suffering because of the behemoth structure on 161st Street. The shopping center inside the stadium, which the New York City Independent Budget Office said received $360 million in tax exemptions and subsidies, is so lavish that store owners in the surrounding neighborhood feel like they can’t compete — game-goers would rather shop inside the stadium than patronize the businesses nearby. “Businesses just a couple blocks down 161st Street didn’t think they’d be competing against a new mega-mall,” Chang said.

Phillip Morrow is the president and CEO of SoBro, the non-profit South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, whose goals include improving affordable housing in the area, restoring use to vacant properties, and helping small businesses. Morrow has been with the organization since 1996. Prior to joining SoBro, Morrow was responsible for housing and economic development projects for the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, personally supervising the construction or rehabilitation of over 5,000 residential units in Harlem. The Real Deal spoke with Morrow about rezoning and redevelopment efforts that are underway in the South Bronx. [more]