The Daily Dirt: State ups NYC’s indoor dining capacity

An analysis of New York's top real estate news

Indoor dining capacity will soon be increased to 50 percent in NYC.

The governor announced Wednesday that the change will take effect March 19, Sasha Jones reports.

“In New York State, our decisions are based on science and data and we are encouraged by the continued decline in infection and hospitalization rates,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.

Last month, Cuomo increased capacity to 35 percent in the city. Earlier this week, he increased capacity to 75 percent for the rest of the state. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey is moving in tandem with the city, increasing its capacity from 35 percent to 50 percent on the same day as NYC.

So far, the city has administered more than 2.4 million doses of the vaccine. The mayor said on Wednesday that he believes all New Yorkers will be eligible for the vaccine by May or June.

The head of City Planning outlined a lengthy to-do list during a City Council budget hearing, but notably, one proposal was missing.

Chair Marisa Lago testified on DCP’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2022 and gave an overview of her agency’s priorities for the year.

She mentioned the proposed rezonings of Soho and Gowanus, the two final neighborhood rezonings planned before the end of the de Blasio administration. She noted that the city is pursuing five major citywide initiatives this year, including changes to address coastal resiliency, increases in subway accessibility and incentives to build grocery stores in the city’s food deserts.

While she listed four other proposed text amendments in her prepared remarks, Lago left out a big one: the plan to require special permits for all new hotel construction in the city. A representative for City Planning says it remains a priority, and the agency expects it to enter public review soon.

Correction: Tuesday’s newsletter mixed up the proposed height of 250 Water Street. The latest design for the tower would rise 345 feet. Sorry for any confusion this caused!

What we’re thinking about: Who will Related’s Stephen Ross support in the mayoral race? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

CLOSING TIME

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Residential: The priciest residential closing recorded Wednesday was for a condo unit at Extell’s 217 West 57th Street in Midtown at $8.5 million.

Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was for a retail building at 980 East 233 Street in Wakefield at $4.9 million.

BREAKING GROUND

No new building filings. Check back tomorrow. 🙁

NEW TO THE MARKET

The priciest residence to hit the market was for a condo unit at 151 East 58th Street in Midtown East at $18.5 million. Sotheby’s has the listing.
—Research by Orion Jones

A thing we’ve learned…

Suffolk Construction announced this week that it plans to increase the number of women who work for the company by 10 percentage points over the next decade. According to the company, meeting this goal would mean that nearly 40 percent of the firm’s workforce would be female.

Elsewhere in New York

— District Council 37, the largest union representing municipal workers, is poised to back Eric Adams’ run for mayor, Gothamist reports. The unions delegates must meet and vote to make the endorsement official.

— A majority of the Covid-19 cases in NYC are a result of more contagious variants, Politico New York reports. In the most recent week of tests, the NYC variant accounted for 39 percent of cases and the U.K. variant for 12 percent of cases.

— After an investigation found that the deaths of at least three men who contracted Covid-19 in city jails were not counted in the Department of Corrections’ official death tally, the mayor has pledged to conduct a “full accounting” of such fatalities, The City reports. The three men had been released from DOC custody and immediately transferred to Bellevue Hospital, where they died.