Government Briefs

City okays Brooklyn Whole Foods

Brooklyn foodies (and suspended members of the Park Slope Food Coop), rejoice: The city has green-lighted a new Whole Foods supermarket for Gowanus. The long-stalled project cleared its last apparent hurdle recently, when it received approval for zoning changes from the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals, the Daily News reported. The board voted unanimously to let the natural-foods market build a 52,000-square-foot store — about five times bigger than what zoning regulations would otherwise allow. Construction will start this spring, and the store will open in early to mid-2013. Whole Foods bought the site at Third Avenue and 3rd Street in 2004, but plans for the store were temporarily derailed when the soil was found to be contaminated. As part of the plan, the company has begun repairing the adjacent 140-year-old New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building.

NYC building permits jump

Construction and demolition permits are on the rise in New York City, in the first significant increase since 2008, Crain’s reported. In the first two months of 2012, the number of permits issued for demolition work in the five boroughs jumped to 328, up 36.7 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the New York City Department of Buildings. And 12,967 construction permits were issued in January and February, up 14 percent from the same period in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of permits for new buildings jumped 42.7 percent year-on-year, to 204. DOB commissioner Robert LiMandri noted that 150 of the new building permits issued this year are for residential projects, while 54 are commercial. But those figures are still well below 2008 levels. “We still have a long way to go,” LiMandri said.

Interest rates on G-fees set to rise

Congress has mandated an increase in the little-known “guarantee fee” hidden in the interest rates on single-family mortgages resold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the New York Times reported. Though this so-called “G-fee” does not show up on mortgage documents, the small increase (just a fraction of a percent per person) could make a significant difference in borrowers’ monthly payments, the Times said. In the first nine months of 2011 alone, Fannie Mae earned $5.6 billion in guarantee fees. New rates are expected to take effect this month.

Obama administration approves aid for investors

Investors who bought multiple homes before the housing market imploded can now qualify for mortgage assistance, Bloomberg News reported. The Obama administration announced last month that beginning in May, it will allow landlords to receive up to four federally subsidized loans, as long as their properties are occupied. These loans are made possible through an expansion of the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. “When we started the program, we focused on owner-occupied houses because the need was so great and we wanted to target the efforts to that group,” said Timothy Massad, the Department of the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial stability. “Given where we are today, more and more people recognize that vacant properties are a problem no matter how they became vacant.” The expansion comes at a time when less than 1 million home owners have received aid through HAMP, compared to the administration’s original goal of 3 to 4 million. About 700,000 landlords will now be eligible for the program.