City would tie 421-a to affordable housing
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced last month it wanted to expand the areas where developers could not use the popular 421-a tax abatement program for new residential development, unless they build affordable housing.
New areas that would be off-limits to the 421-a include Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights and all of Lower Manhattan, as well as Morningside Heights and Manhattan Valley above the Upper West Side.
The proposal would also require developers in 421-a exclusion zones to pay full taxes unless they build affordable housing on site. The abatement was created in 1971 to spur new residential development by lessening property taxes. But critics have said it now benefits developers of luxury condos. The City Council is expected to vote on the plans this fall.
Vote derails Moynihan Station plan
The state’s $900 million Moynihan Station transit hub plan was nixed last month by state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver’s representative on the state Public Authorities Control Board, which held final sway over the plan, voted against it. The plan needed the board’s unanimous support, the Daily News reported.
City buys large Long Island City site for housing
More than 5,000 units of middle-income housing will be built on a Queens site recently purchased by the city from the Port Authority. The city has agreed to buy 24 acres of undeveloped land on the Queens West waterfront site for $146 million. The location was previously going to house an Olympic Village if the 2012 games had come to New York, the New York Sun reported.
Rail yards may make city $25 billion
The rail yards straddling 11th Avenue on Manhattan’s West Side will generate more than $25 billion in revenue for the city, according to Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff. Doctoroff told a City Council hearing last month that the transformation of the yards into mixed-use developments would pay off for the city over the next 25 to 30 years, the Daily News reported.
Long Island Rail Road to be extended to East Side
The Long Island Rail Road is likely to be extended to the East Side by 2013 thanks to new federal funding. The Bush administration last month approved $2.65 billion for the extension of the railroad to Grand Central Terminal, the Daily News reported.
Developers to get city-owned plots
Ten city-owned sites in the Bronx will be turned over to developers soon to create more affordable housing, the Daily News reported. The 10 sites are in Morrisania, East Tremont and Melrose.
No. 7 line extension to start this year
Demolition work on the extension of the No. 7 subway line farther into the West Side of Manhattan is scheduled to start in the next couple of months, the Daily News reported. Under a deal hammered out between the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the extension will run from Times Square to the Javits Convention Center. In other subway news, digging for the Second Avenue subway line will start in 2008, according to the MTA.
Pier 40 plans moving forward
Plans are moving ahead to redevelop Pier 40 at West Houston Street in Lower Manhattan, the Downtown Express reported. The Hudson River Park Trust has issued a new request for proposals to develop the sprawling 14-acre pier. The request deadline is Nov. 17.
Bills allow homeowner exemptions
Under two bills passed by the City Council recently, hundreds of city homeowners will get property tax exemptions starting next July, the Daily News reported. The exemptions apply to disabled and elderly homeowners.
Javits Center expansion gets under way
Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg were among those who led the official groundbreaking last month for the expansion of the Javits Convention Center. The $1.7 billion project will expand exhibition space there by 45 percent, the Daily News reported.