The Waldorf AstoriaWaldorf Astoria to get face-lift
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission last month approved changes to the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel at 301 Park Avenue. The commission okayed an overall face-lift for the building, including a new marquee for the hotel, along with restoration of the automobile court. The plans, designed by architecture firm BBG-BBGM, call for a new glass and silver canopy to stretch across the hotel’s three primary entrances on Park Avenue. The city’s Historic Districts Council also supported the project, but the council’s Nadeszhda Williams noted that “[the canopy] does feel a bit too generic for such a stylish landmark.”
Matthew WambuaNYU debuts affordable-housing database
New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has launched a new database offering the first comprehensive picture of the city’s more than 171,000 affordable housing units, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new database will draw from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corp., the state’s department of Homes and Community Renewal, and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previously, information on city affordable housing units had been somewhat scattered, with each agency keeping its own database. Officials said the new system, which has been dubbed the Subsidized Housing Information Project, will help the city preserve affordable housing units by keeping better track of them. “This allows us to think systemically about the timing of expiration of units,” said HPD Commissioner Mathew Wambua.
CBO questions Obama refinancing plan
A report issued last month by the federal Congressional Budget Office is discouraging an Obama administration initiative to refinance loans held by millions of homeowners, the Financial Times reported. The initiative could result in massive losses for private investors while providing little relief to borrowers, the CBO said. Obama’s proposal would allow homeowners with federally backed mortgages to refinance at the current, historically low interest rates. But a study conducted by the agency “recognizes the enormous losses private investors would suffer in a transfer of wealth to borrowers,” Joshua Rosner, managing director at independent research firm Graham Fisher & Co., told the Financial Times. “While such a transfer would be acceptable to some in Washington … it would result in the unwillingness of investors to buy mortgage-backed securities without charging an exorbitant risk premium to compensate.”
Eric SchneidermanCity Council backs attorney general
The City Council last month passed a symbolic resolution supporting New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into the mortgage practices of major banks. Schneiderman was recently ousted from a national task force negotiating a mass settlement with U.S. mortgage servicers, after he filed a motion to block a prospective $8.5 billion settlement between Bank of America and investors, prompting criticism that he had wasted time. But Schneiderman had concerns that the task force’s settlement would give the banks unnecessary protection from future litigation, the council’s resolution noted. In response to the resolution, Schneiderman said: “Homeowners in every corner of New York have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis, and we must do everything we can to prevent this kind of economic calamity from happening again.”
Compiled by Katherine Clarke