The Daily Dirt: Who’s afraid of good cause eviction? 

Good cause? Whatever!

Indifference to good cause eviction was perhaps not on your bingo card at The Real Deal’s New York City Real Estate Forum.

During a panel, Two Trees Development’s Jed Walentas, who chairs the Real Estate Board of New York, said he felt the policy ultimately included in the state budget “was not totally unreasonable.”

Later on, Hudson Companies’ David Kramer was even more enthusiastic. 

“I think they got that one right,” he said. He hopes this means lawmakers will be more willing to pass legislation that helps owners going forward. We shall see. 

During the discussion, Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, acknowledged that his organization did not have the “political capital” to fight good cause and spent its energy this session fighting for measures that would help rent stabilized owners, including the vacancy reset bill. (His rent stabilized owner members already face restrictions on rent and must automatically renew leases.) He did, however, express concern that the legislature will further build on good cause now that its law.  

Vicki Been, faculty director of New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, who previously headed the city’s housing agency, said the portfolio exemption is going to be difficult to enforce. She later lamented that lawmakers sometimes pass policies in an effort to pass something — anything — at the cost of passing something that works. 

In any case, I was not super surprised by the not-totally-negative responses from developers. The version of good cause that was included in the budget excludes new development for 30 years (and any project that was granted a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009 for the same period of time). So developers, who were never the loudest opponents of this policy to begin with, do not have to worry about their newer projects. The measure also exempts owners whose portfolios consist of no more than 10 units. Luxury rentals are also exempt, and the rent restrictions are nowhere near as stringent as the original version of the bill proposed. 

What we’re thinking about: Are you a developer who is trying to figure out the new 485x program or the 421a construction deadline extension? We want to hear from you! Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com. 

A thing we’ve learned: Howard Lutnick, chair of Newmark, once mulled running for mayor. Lutnick told a crowd of more than 3,000 at TRD’s Forum that he is not eyeing the job. 

Elsewhere in New York…

— Sen. Zellnor Myrie is running for mayor of NYC, the New York Times reports. Others who are considering challenging Mayor Eric Adams include Sen. Jessica Ramos, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer, and former Gov. Andre Cuomo. 

— A new report by the city’s teachers’ union finds that hundreds of city schools have enough classroom space to reduce class sizes, Chalkbeat reports. The report found that 856 schools have enough space to meet new state class size caps, but would need to hire an additional 3,000 teachers. 

— Residents of Jacob Riis Houses told Politico New York that they have experienced symptoms associated with arsenic poisoning. The day the report came out, Mayor Eric Adams made a surprise visit to the public housing complex to drink a cup of water from the tap (for the benefit of a lone television reporter). In 2022, a water test showed unsafe levels of arsenic at Riis Houses, but city officials said the results were the product of a lab error. The Department of Investigation is still looking into the incident.  

Closing Time 

Residential: The priciest residential sale on Wednesday was for $22.5 million at the Plaza Condominium, 768 Fifth Avenue. The Midtown condo unit is 3,200 square feet.

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was at 1667 Sheepshead Bay Road in Brooklyn for $8 million. The empty commercial lot totals 10,000 square feet.

New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $39.5 million at the Cortland, 555 West 22nd Street. The Chelsea condo spans about 5,800 square-feet. CORE Group’s Shaun Osher has the listing.

Breaking Ground: The largest new building application was filed for a 31,400 square-feet, new eight-story non-profit institution at 88-49 163 Street in Flushing, Queens. Amie Gross Architects was the applicant on file. — Joseph Jungermann