Broker licensing hours to increase
New brokers will soon need to put in more hours to get their licenses. The Department of State plans to increase the number of hours required for licensing starting in January 2007. Continuing education will also be expanded.
City proposes LES zoning change
A new city plan would limit the height of new buildings on the Lower East Side and in the East Village to eight stories, the New York Post reported. The move comes in response to recent construction in the neighborhoods that City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden called “out of scale.”
MetLife penalties light
After reneging on a half-decade-old deal that exchanged tax breaks for a promise to relocate 1,700 of its employees to Long Island City, Metropolitan Life appears to have gotten off with only a “slap on the wrist.” The insurance giant could have faced $24 million in penalties for backing out of the LIC deal, but the Bloomberg administration cut MetLife’s fine to $5 million after negotiating a new employment promise.
No tax breaks for Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch has indicated it may move its headquarters from the World Financial Center when its lease expires in 2013. Some industry observers wonder if Merrill’s moving talk has more to do with securing property tax breaks than with any actual desire to relocate. If so, the city’s not playing ball. Mayor Bloomberg has said he will not offer Merrill tax breaks to stay in Lower Manhattan.
City takes action against illegal construction
Two bills approved by the City Council will firm-up penalties for illegal construction, the New York Times reported. One bill makes demolishing a one- or two-family home without the required permits a criminal offense, while the other increases the fines for contractors who defy Buildings Department stop-work orders.
Developer to get tax breaks for Diamond Tower
The New York City Industrial Development Agency last month approved conditional tax breaks for the construction of a 30-story tower in Manhattan’s Diamond District. Developer Gary Barnett could receive just under $50 million in combined state and city tax breaks for the proposed Extell Diamond Tower on 47th Street if he can meet requirements set out by the agency.
Ground Zero performing arts center delayed
Security concerns could delay plans to build a performing arts center at Ground Zero, the New York Daily News reported. Gov. Pataki’s anti-terrorism chief James Kallstrom says the World Trade Center site needs an emergency access road to underground parking areas — but the road would go directly through the footprint of the proposed performing arts center. Originally planned to open in 2009 or 2010, the center will be designed by architect Frank Gehry and occupied by the Signature Theatre Co. and the Joyce International Center for Dance.
Bloomberg to scale back on construction
Mayor Bloomberg has asked city agency heads to draw up plans to scale back on spending on already announced construction projects, the Post reported. The scale-backs could amount to as much as 25 percent of the four-year, $36.5 billion capital budget adopted by the city in June.
Council OKs Stapleton development plan
The City Council approved the $66 million redevelopment plan for 36 acres of the Stapleton waterfront in Staten Island, the Staten Island Advance reported. The city will solicit proposals from private developers to build on three residential and three commercial sites.
City revamps Uptown New York plans
The city reissued a request for proposals to buy and develop a site between 125th and 127th streets and Third and Second avenues that has been dubbed Uptown New York. The new proposals have to cap the number of apartments in any development at 1,000 in a maximum of two towers, the New York Sun reported.