421-a reform bill passes Legislature
As expected, a bill revamping the 421-a tax-abatement program passed the State Legislature last month, Crain’s reported. Under the bill, the 421-a exclusion zone will be extended to include large swaths of upper Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. At present, the exclusion zone only applies to Manhattan between 14th and 96th streets. In the areas covered by the law, 20 percent of units in new developments will need to be affordable to a family of four earning $42,000. The bill, which Gov. Spitzer is now expected to sign into law, is more far-reaching than the 421-a plan the Bloomberg administration and the City Council agreed on last December. The state’s version of the bill has a larger exemption zone and more affordably priced housing.
City, Extell buy land for new Hudson Boulevard
The city appears to be buying up buildings next to the far West Side’s Hudson Yards in order to build the Hudson Boulevard, which planners envision as an eight-block thoroughfare running from 42nd to 34th streets between 10th and 11th avenues. In a deal that recently closed, the city spent $66.1 million to buy 528 West 34th Street and a smaller adjacent building, 524 West 34th Street. Mega-developer Extell Development Company kicked in another $13.9 million to buy part of the properties, according to public records.
Sunnyside Gardens named a historic district
At a public meeting last month, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate Sunnyside Gardens a historic district. The 17-block neighborhood will be Queens’ largest historic district. Sunnyside Gardens was constructed in the 1920s as a “garden community” for low- and middle-income residents. The one-, two- and three-family attached brick houses that dominate the neighborhood were constructed around open center courts, leafy pathways, and private and communal flower gardens. Many residents were opposed to the restrictions that will be placed on home design as a result of the designation.
Columbia University rezone review can begin
The Department of City Planning certified last month that Columbia University’s application for the proposed rezoning of West Harlem is now complete. The certification means that public review of the proposed rezoning can now begin. If the rezoning goes through, it will allow the university to construct buildings that are up to 25 stories high as part of its expansion plans.
UWS downzoning gains momentum
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer submitted a recommendation last month calling for a section of the Upper West Side to be rezoned. Stringer’s recommendation came a day after Community Board 7 unanimously voted in favor of the same rezoning. The measure calls for new buildings to be capped at a maximum height of 14 stories in the area bounded by 97th and 110th streets to the south and north, and Riverside Drive and Central Park West to the east and west, the New York Sun reported.
HDC says ’07 financing is tapped
The New York City Housing Development Corp. says it has run out of tax-exempt bonds that go to financing the creation and preservation of affordable housing, Crain’s reported. The agency’s funding shortage this year comes as HDC announced it was allocating $320 million in financing to build or preserve 2,285 apartments in the city. HDC’s lack of funds means that right now it has no more money to allocate in 2007 for low-income, mixed-income or 80/20 housing unless state or federal officials raise its private activity bond volume cap. HDC’s cash shortage not only impacts developers seeking to build affordable housing as part of 421-a regulations; it comes at a time when the city is losing massive amounts of affordable housing. According to a recent report from the Community Service Society of New York, 21,500 subsidized apartments in the city are currently in danger of being lost.