Fear of “privatization” led a tenant at NYCHA’s Stanley Isaacs Houses to rally fellow residents to vote down a shift to privately financed renovations and management.
As The City reported, Saundrea Coleman knocked on doors and persuaded 279 other tenants to stick with Section 9 funding and NYCHA management, which has left the Yorkville campus with $248 million in capital needs over the next 20 years.
Coleman’s forces prevailed over the 200 tenants who voted to put the complex into the New York City Public Housing Trust, plus another 12 who voted for a third model called PACT.
Switching Isaacs Houses from Section 9 to a more reliable funding stream would have given lenders confidence to finance renovations to the 633-unit development. It would also have benefited the union construction workers who were poised to upgrade the complex’s three buildings and grounds.
It’s quite a feat for a public housing tenant to defeat Gary LaBarbera and his Building and Construction Trades Council, who pushed for the Housing Trust option.
Perhaps the Real Estate Board of New York should hire Coleman the next time REBNY goes to war with LaBarbera.
In light of the vote in Yorkville, it’s fair to ask how NYCHA will come up with $248 million to meet the buildings’ capital needs over the next two decades. While the cost — which breaks down to $392,000 per unit — sounds like a lot, it includes major capital improvements and is about 20 percent less than NYCHA normally spends to fully rehabilitate a single apartment.
Over 20 years — and for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume zero inflation — it’s $20,000 annually per unit.
The problem is that Isaacs Houses is competing with dozens of other public housing projects for funds. To get that $248 million, Coleman and other tenant leaders will have to continuously pressure the government for grants.
That’s not something public housing residents have ever done. They shouldn’t have to, of course, but that’s reality.
What we’re thinking about: The City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a hearing Wednesday on whether Le Dive, a restaurant at 37 Canal Street, should be allowed to have a sidewalk cafe. Shouldn’t that be determined by the Department of Transportation, which has the expertise to gauge the impact on pedestrian traffic? Surely City Council members can make better use of their time. Send thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: TRD’s research department looked at 485x project registrations as of Nov. 25 (the latest available at the time) to see which ones had construction loans. The researchers found a bunch, which proved that at least some 485x projects are financeable. But none exceeded 99 units. Now Rybak Development and Cammeby’s International Group have proposed two Coney Island buildings totaling 701 units. Will those break the ice on 485x, or will they be condominiums? The developers say it is too soon to say.
Elsewhere…
Curbs in New York City are supposed to be seven inches high. But they rarely are, which is one reason subway stations flood during extremely heavy rains.
The Metropolitan Transportation, a state agency, called out the Mamdani administration in the MTA’s construction newsletter for this literal shortcoming, although not by name (instead citing the city’s Department of Transportation). The MTA also blamed itself for not elevating its station entrances enough, although it has now started on that work.
Janno Lieber, the former Silverstein Properties executive who now runs the MTA, is also asking the Mamdani administration to do a better job of getting illegally parked cars and trucks out of buses’ way.
Closing time
Residential: The largest residential sale on Thursday was $16.7 million for a 7,591-square-foot, single-family townhouse at 134 East 71st Street in Lenox Hill. Mara Flash Blum of Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale was $129 million for a 33-story apartment building at 515 West 38th Street in Hudson Yards. The building, known as Henry Hall, was sold by a joint venture of Shorenstein Investment Advisers and Dreamscape Cos, according to Bloomberg.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $13 million for a 5,317-square-foot condominium unit at 100 Barclay Street in Tribeca. The Hudson Advisory Team at Compass has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a 66,867-square-foot, 36-unit residential project at 990 Lincoln Avenue in the New Lots neighborhood of Brooklyn. Eli Meltzer filed the permit on behalf of Ben Shavolian of Shelter Rock Builders.
— Matthew Elo