The Daily Dirt: 421a had big share of affordable housing production

Nearly half of the affordable housing units built in fiscal 2024 received the tax break 421a.

The Adams administration on Monday announced the creation of 14,706 affordable housing units and the preservation of 10,560 during the year ended June 30.

The totals refer to units “financed” by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, but also include projects that received the property tax break 421a rather than a direct subsidy.

Of the new units, 40 percent were in buildings receiving 421a. The stats do not reflect the extension of 421a’s construction deadline nor the replacement program, 485x, which were baked into the state budget this spring.

HPD expects that the new program will create at least as much housing as its predecessor, but developers are skeptical given the new construction wage requirements (which kick in for larger projects in certain parts of the city).

The city has also been experimenting with new subsidy programs, including the Mixed-Income Market Initiative (MIMI), which is offered to developers projects in which 70 percent of the units are affordable and at least 15 percent are reserved for formerly homeless New Yorkers. HPD has yet to announce any recipients of that program, nor estimates for how many apartments it might create.

The number of new affordable units was the highest for any fiscal year, according to HPD, but it still does not put the city on track to build 500,000 homes in the next decade. During a press conference Monday, officials emphasized the need to pass the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment to get closer to that goal.

Meanwhile, Assembly member Jenifer Rajkumar spoke at the conference about the need to be “visionary.” The Queens lawmaker wants the state to study 3D-printed houses, and predicted “drones equipped with 3D printers are going to fly like a swarm of bees constructing skyscrapers.”

“Imagine that, drones made in New York City, and they’re going to make the skyscrapers of our city,” she said. I have lots of questions about that statement, including: Are drones any match for the city’s construction unions? Or even its birds?

What we’re thinking about: Were you at the Trump fundraiser in Deal, New Jersey, this weekend? Tell me about it at kathryn@therealdeal.com.

A thing we’ve learned: The state Attorney General’s Office is close to finishing its review of the proposed merger of the Community Housing Improvement Program and the Rent Stabilization Association. And it was not intentional, but I think we gave former Assembly member Kenny Burgos, who is expected to lead the group, the brat treatment in this art. I don’t know if resigning when you had a clear path to re-election is brat, but the fact that I’m mentioning it in a real estate newsletter probably means that brat summer is over. Sorry.

Elsewhere in New York…

— Council member Julie Menin decided to postpone a hearing on her bill that would require hotels to be licensed to operate in the city, Crain’s reports. Menin’s decision followed backlash from the Hotel Association for New York City, which argued that the measure would “devastate” the hotel industry. The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, which represents workers, backed the measure.

— The state Health Department has confirmed at least a dozen cases of listeria from a national outbreak linked to deli meat, CBS New York reports. Four cases were reported in NYC. No deaths have been reported, but the 12 patients were hospitalized.

CLOSING TIME

Residential: The priciest residential sale Monday was $23 million for Jennifer Lopez’s 6,540-square-foot condominium unit at 21 East 26th Street in Nomad. Brown Harris Stevens had the listing.

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $116 million for a 463,664-square-foot, 29-story office building at 100 Wall Street in the Financial District. TRD in April reported the contract between Barings and David Werner, who then passed the purchase to Lloyd Goldman.

New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $5.5 million for a 2,221-square-foot condominium at 180 Sixth Avenue in Soho. Serafima Tikhonova of Serhant has the listing. — Matthew Elo