The Daily Dirt: A “conceptual” housing deal

A housing deal, at last. Sort of. 

In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” a character on the verge of death is kept alive through hypnotism, suspended in a grotesque state between life and death, at one point declaring: “Now — now — I am dead.” Obviously he couldn’t be dead in the moment that he is declaring he is dead, despite the insistence and implied immediacy of saying “now, okay NOW I am dead.”

It is an imperfect comparison, but I have been thinking of this story a lot the past few days as negotiations over the state budget continued to drag on and fill observers (or just me?) with increasing dread. There’s a housing deal … now … Now?

Details of a potential pact leaked on Friday, but a three-way agreement between the governor and lawmakers was not announced until late Monday — putting advocates, trade groups and journalists in the weird position of commenting on a phantom proposal.

On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul put an end to my compulsive email checking, the prospect of a late-night announcement plaguing my dreams, and tapping at my chamber door (how far can I take this?), when she announced the “parameters of a conceptual agreement.”

A truly haunted phrase, which can be read as: Some details are still being ironed out. It’s a conceptual framework, but backlash to its details has been very real. Who knows, maybe this whole thing will blow up?

Much of the “parameters” have already been reported, including the California-like good cause proposals and changes to the Individual Apartment Improvement program. The budget, per the current framework, would increase the IAI cost threshold to $30,000, and $50,000 in cases where a unit has been occupied for 25 years. In those cases, the increases would be permanent, unlike the program under the 2019 rent law. The higher threshold would also be temporarily available to apartments that were vacant in recent years.

Here are other key details: 

— The construction deadline for the expired 421a will be extended for six years for projects that vested under the old program. Projects that set aside 30 percent of apartments for those earning 130 percent of the area median income do not qualify for the extension.

— The expired program will be replaced with 485x, which will provide an up to 40-year tax exemption for projects that set aside 20 to 25 percent of the units as affordable. The Real Estate Board of New York and the Building and Construction Trades Council could not reach an agreement about construction wage requirements for the new program, leaving that to the legislature, which adopted the union’s proposal.

— The budget also includes lifting the city’s cap on the residential floor area ratio and an incentive for office-to-residential conversions. It also has a pilot program for legalizing basement and cellar apartments.

More on this and other proposals to come!

What we’re thinking about: What questions do you have about the various housing proposals included in the state budget? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

A thing we’ve learned: Hamilton, New Jersey, a municipality in what I think I’m legally required to now recognize as Central Jersey, is home to 62 parks.

Elsewhere in New York…

— A 38-year-old man on Monday was indicted on attempted murder and other charges related to two shootings in Tompkins Square Park last month, Gothamist reports. Waldemar Alverio is accused of firing a gun five times after two men chased, punched and kicked him. One of the men was struck in the pelvis, and a tourist was struck in the hip/ Prosecutors say Alverio returned to the park five days later and shot at a group. No one was struck in that incident.

— Touro University is considering a partnership that could help keep the College of Saint Rose open in some form, the Times Union reports. The College of Saint Rose was expected to close at the end of this academic year.

— And to think I’ve complained about the PATH train. Hair stylist Kaitlin Jorgensen told NBC New York that she commutes 600 miles from her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to get to work at a salon on the Upper West Side. Midweek, She takes an Uber to the airport, flies to LaGuardia Airport, takes a bus to Manhattan and then the subway to the salon. She stays with a friend during the week. The city estimates that 64,000 “super commuters” travel to work in the city from outside the tristate area. 

Residential: The top residential sale of the day was at 107 E 70th Street, for $34.5 million. The Upper-East Side townhouse is 22,800 square feet across six stories. Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s International has the listing.

Commercial: The top commercial sale of the day was at 129 West 29th Street for $31 million. The 85,900 square-foot, class C office building last traded in 2012 for $54 million when Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities sold it to Samson Management, a Queens real estate holdings company. Universal Communications Network is the new buyer.

New to the Market: A condo unit at ​​1 Morton Square in West Village listed Monday for $10.5 million. The Modlin Group has the listing. — Joseph Jungermann