The Daily Dirt: Adams kickstarts housing plan

The fight begins to get to yes for the City of Yes.

Public review of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity kicked off Monday, meaning the text amendment heads to community boards and borough presidents throughout the city for their opinions.

The plan is projected to create between 58,000 and 109,000 new housing units by 2039, or an average of 3,900 to 7,300 homes per year. Of those, 9,200 to 22,000 units are expected to be affordable, and 27,000 to 40,000 units would be accessory dwelling units.

The theme of the text amendment, as the Adams administration puts it, is to “build a little more housing in every neighborhood.”

The mayor and head of City Planning Dan Garodnick held a rally outside City Hall on Monday to mark the beginning of public review. (The process for text amendments is basically the same as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, but does not have the same time limits.) They were joined by members of 32BJ and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, so the proposal already has the backing of two of the city’s most powerful unions.

That will help a bit when the proposal comes before the City Council.

The most important proposals in the plan would:

— Eliminate parking minimums for new construction

— Change Mandatory Inclusionary Housing so the City Council could require deeper affordability

— Allow residential space above ground-floor commercial space on low-density, commercial streets.

— Create two residential districts that allow floor area ratios of 15 and 18.

— Permit accessory dwelling units on lots with one- or two-family housing. A separate provision in the state budget authorized the city to create a pilot program to legalize basement apartments.

— Provide a density bump through the Universal Affordability Preference. The program would replace the city’s voluntary inclusionary housing program, allowing developers to add 20 percent more housing to a project if all of that housing is permanently affordable. In this case, that means affordable to tenants whose earnings average out to 60 percent of AMI.

— Make it easier to add housing to large lots with existing buildings, such as churches or schools.

— Allow office buildings constructed prior to 1990 to be converted into housing.

What we’re thinking about: The city’s Rent Guidelines Board is casting a preliminary vote Tuesday on rent increases for stabilized apartments, hotels and lofts. Will the board go along with the recommendations made in its own report? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

A thing we’ve learned: The state budget creates an audit program that will check existing 421a projects for affordability and rent stabilization compliance. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development will review a maximum of 25 percent of properties each year and publish the results on its website. Thank you to attorney YuhTyng Patka for this information!

Elsewhere in New York…

— A new City Council report found that the New York City government pays non-white employees, on average, 84 cents for every dollar it pays white employees, Gothamist reports. White male city workers earn $1 for every 82 cents paid to all other city employees, according to the report. It attributes the disparity to higher-paid jobs, including senior and managerial roles, being predominantly held by white men.

— The next big battle in Albany will be over how children and teenagers use social media sites. Some lawmakers are pushing to regulate social media firms’ use of algorithmic-based feeds for users younger than 18, Politico New York reports.

—Wells College in the Finger Lakes is shuttering at the end of this semester, the Times Union reports. Founded as a women’s college in 1868, Wells was unable to raise enough revenue to ensure its long-term financial stability, according to college officials. The announcement follows similar ones by two other upstate schools: The College of Saint Rose is shutting down in June and Cazenovia closed in spring 2023.

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential sale on Monday was $11.4 million for a 6,100-square-foot townhouse at 20 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights. Lucia Cousins, Brandon Bogard and Mallory Bogard of SERHANT had the listing. 

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $43 million for a 77,000-square-foot, 61-unit mixed-use building in the East Village. Garden Commercial Properties sold to Benchmark Real Estate. 

New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $18 million for a 4,100-square-foot condominium unit at 247 West 12th Street in the West Village. Jeremy V. Stein of The Sotheby’s Group has the listing. Breaking Ground: The largest new building application was filed for a 20,000-square-foot, five-story mixed-use property at 166 North 12th Street in Williamsburg. Robert Kahn Architect filed the permit.