The Daily Dirt: City kickstarts 485x  

And we’re off! Sort of. 

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development on Friday opened up registration for developers seeking to receive the property tax break 485x.

Registration is just a preliminary step to actually applying for the break — developers must do that within one year of completing their project. The administration expects applications to be available by the end of the year and to start approving tax breaks in 2025. 

The registration requires details on the project: where it’s located, when construction will begin, the anticipated completion date and what affordability levels the developer will choose for the project’s affordable housing units.

Those who could not wait to start their project and began on April 20 — the day 485x was enacted and my Saturday was ruined — or after must register within six months. The same goes for those who got started before April 20 (but after June 15, 2022, when 421a expired), but they have a separate form.  

The city also released a form for developers to submit a letter of intent if they want to receive an extension to the construction deadline under the expired 421a program. The state budget extended that deadline from June 2026 to 2031. Developers have 90 days to file that letter.  

This is all to say: Things are moving forward. The last 421a program did not have a registration requirement. After the passage of that program, industry professionals voiced concern that developers would not know with certainty that their project would receive the tax break until construction was complete. That is still the case, but perhaps pre-registration will provide a bit more clarity?    

What we’re thinking about: Will developer Weihong Hu receive the necessary certification from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in order to continue construction? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com. 

A thing we’ve learned: Larry Gluck grew up in a rent controlled apartment in the Bronx, in a building across the street from the hospital where he was born. Gluck told Michael Stoler this in a 2011 video for CUNY TV’s “Building New York.” Gluck died Thursday night, after a long battle with ALS. 

Elsewhere in New York…

— Jolie Milstein is stepping down as the CEO and president of the New York State Association of Affordable Housing. “I look forward to the next chapter in which I will continue the work of addressing the affordable housing crisis both here in New York and across the nation,” she said in a statement. NYSAFAH has hired Harris Rand Lusk to find her replacement.   

— Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to ban masks on subways may be a “legal minefield,” Gothamist reports. “What she’s talking about implicates the principle of anonymous speech, and there’s protection for anonymous speech,” attorney Norman Siegel told the website. “She would have to develop legislation that is narrowly tailored to support the legitimate government interest that they claim that they’re approaching. And I think that it’s a burden that they’re going to have to meet, otherwise it will be challenged as being unconstitutional.”

— Police on Wednesday arrested a man after pulling him over in Queens and finding a stockpile of weapons in his van, along with an NYPD vest and handcuffs, the New York Times reports. Judd Sanson, 27, faces charges of firearm possession, 10 counts of criminal possession of weapons and unlawful use of a police uniform. 

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential sale Friday was $8.4 million for a 2,276-square-foot condominium unit at 111 Wooster St in Soho. Brian Lewis of Compass had the listing.

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $65 million for a 16-story, 146,000-square-foot office building at 89 Madison Avenue in Nomad. Sunlight Development filed permits to convert the building from commercial to mixed-use. New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $13.5 million for a 5,380-square-foot condominium at 65 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. Tamir Shemesh and Patty Lehan of Nest Seekers have the listing. — Matthew Elo