The Daily Dirt: Cheat sheet for state’s housing debate 

Negotiations over 421a, office conversions and other policies are about to heat up. 

I am, of course, referring to the one-house budget resolutions, which are expected to be released Monday, according to Politico.

Much is at stake for the industry. The governor’s executive budget included a replacement 421a, an incentive for office conversions, removal of the cap on residential floor-area ratio and an authorization for the city to legalize basement and cellar apartments. Some lawmakers are also pushing for good cause eviction. Others want to allow landlords to increase rents on vacant stabilized apartments under certain circumstances.

Not too much has changed since last year. Lawmakers are still critical of 421a, and the governor does not support good cause eviction. But a look at the housing deal that fell apart last year offers some hints about what to expect from the one-house budget resolutions.

Last June, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins released a joint statement laying out aspects of a housing deal.

The deal, which fell apart, included: 

• A state housing voucher program 
• An “affordable housing rehabilitation program”
• An extension of the 421a construction deadline 
• A “dilapidated apartment repair program” 
• Good cause eviction
• Higher rent hikes for individual apartment improvements
• Commercial building conversions

The details of the dead deal were never made public. Still, the legislature acknowledged it is willing to take some kind of action on rent stabilization. The deal apparently included an increase in the amount that rent can be increased on rent-stabilized apartments to pay for unit renovations. This cap was reduced to less than $90 a month by the 2019 rent law. The Assembly typically doesn’t include policy in its one-house budget bills, but it’ll be interesting to see what the Senate includes from that housing deal.

What we’re thinking about: When will the city replace its third-party transfer program? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

A thing we’ve learned: The Skyscraper Museum has created a building classification system based on square footage and age, rather than height. For example, buildings constructed between 1950 and 2000 are considered “jumbo” if larger than 2 million square feet and “super jumbo” if bigger than 4 million.

Elsewhere in New York…

— State lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill to ban food additives azodicarbonamide, brominated vegetable oil, butylated hydroxyanisole, potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red 3 and titanium dioxide. California already bans them, as does the European Union (with the exception of Red 3).

— During Mayor Eric Adams’ first press conference since the FBI raided the homes of his senior adviser Winnie Greco last week, the mayor’s chief counsel said that they “have no indication that the mayor is a target of any pending investigation,” Politico New York reports. The mayor, as usual, limited his comments about the investigations to: “I follow one belief: follow the law. That’s what I follow.”

— The NYPD will ramp up random searches of subway users’ bags and backpacks, Gothamist reports. “There was always a version [of bag checks] taking place,” Adams said. “They may elevate and escalate it a little more.”

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential sale Tuesday was $9 million for a 4,270-square-foot condominium unit at 52 Wooster Street in Soho.

Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $19.3 million for an 8,400-square-foot vacant lot at 133-04 39th Avenue in Flushing.

New to the Market: The priciest residential property to hit the market Tuesday was $19.25 million for a co-op unit at 993 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. Melissa Ryan Kaiser of Compass has the listing. — Matthew Elo