NYC real estate in brief

City Council passes two construction safety bills
The City Council
passed two new construction bills yesterday to help the Department of
Buildings monitor construction site safety. The first authorizes the DOB to assign a safety compliance officer to
construction sites with poor safety records. The second bill
requires contractors carrying out major construction, demolition or
concrete work to get a safety registration number from the DOB.

RIPCO named exclusive leasing agent for retail space at 34 Leonard

RIPCO Real Estate has
been announced as the exclusive leasing agent for the retail space at
the new condo at 34 Leonard Street, at West Broadway. The ground-floor
retail space has 4,100 square feet, including 120 feet of Frontage On West Broadway. R Squared Real
Estate Partners’ 34 Leonard Street has 16 units, and the Marketing
Directors as the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the residential portion.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Philippines to pay back taxes to city
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that the city and the
Philippines have settled a lawsuit that sought unpaid taxes on portions
of a Philippines-owned building in the city, at 556 Fifth Avenue, between 45th and 46th streets. The Philippines agreed to
pay $9 million in back property taxes and interest in exchange for the
city’s dismissal of the case. The taxes in question were imposed
between 1974 and 1996. The building included a branch of the Philippine
National Bank, an office of the Philippine Airlines and a restaurant. TRD