A number of City Council bills have captured the attention of the real estate industry in recent months. Here is where they stand.
After the dust settled from the contentious hearing over a bill that would force landlords to pay brokers, two other bills sprouted up, targeting two other sectors of the industry.
One measure would require landlords to maintain a maximum temperature in rental apartments, meaning that they would need to install air conditioning. The bill, sponsored by Council member Lincoln Restler, would set a maximum indoor temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit when the outdoor temperature is 82 degrees or higher.
This measure has not yet had a hearing. Landlord groups have argued that the measure flies in the face of the city’s climate goals, while also piling more costs onto struggling owners.
This month, hotel trade groups fought back a bill that would require hotel operators to become licensed, which seemed to be on the fast track and heading for a hearing last week. The bill’s sponsor, Council Member Julie Menin, postponed the hearing and introduced an amended bill, aimed at addressing some of the industry’s concerns.
But opponents were not impressed by the changes, my colleague Elizabeth Cryan reports. The measure is viewed as a way to boost union hotels by eliminating the cost advantages provided by nonunion ones. This battle is further complicated by the fact that former union officials are serving as consultants to a group waging a $20 million campaign against the bill.
Not much has happened on the broker fee bill since June’s hearing and rally. It seemed that Massachusetts was on the cusp of passing a similar measure, but the state legislature there ultimately cut it from a massive housing bond bill.
What we’re thinking about: The Metro-North rezoning in the Bronx comes with parking mandates. Will the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment manage to eliminate parking mandates going forward? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: David Copperfield, who is being sued for allegedly leaving his penthouse on East 57th Street in a “state of utter disrepair,” was born in Metuchen, N.J.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Officials plan to build a floating pool in the East River near Pier 35, and are using a barge there to test out a filtration system, Gothamist reports. If the filters work, a smaller version of the pool, roughly 2,000 square feet, could be set up by next summer. The full-sized pool, expected to be 9,000 square feet, is likely a few years off.
— The Azerbaijani government paid for two aides to Mayor Eric Adams to visit the country last year, Politico New York reports. The government covered up to $5,000 in expenses for the trip, which involved the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs Commissioner Edward Mermelstein and Rana Abbasova, then the director of protocol in the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, according to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. “The primary purpose of the visit was to foster economic development and share best practices between communities, and the commissioner took place [sic] in a series of meetings to achieve those goals,” a City Hall spokesperson told Politico. Abbasova was placed on leave after the FBI raided her home in November, in relation to its probe into the Turkish government’s connection to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Tuesday was $6.5 million for a co-op unit at 1175 Park Avenue in Carnegie Hill. Cathy Franklin and Alexis Bodenheimer of The Corcoran Group had the listing.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $35 million for a 112,120-square-foot, 12-story office commercial building at 8 West 38th Street in the Garment District.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $9.8 million for a 3,890-square-foot townhouse at 19 Downing Street, in the West Village. Tamer Howard of The Corcoran Group has the listing. — Matthew Elo