Policy Pro: Brian Kavanagh feels good about REST Act’s chances
Plus other news at the intersection of policy and real estate
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Hello, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of policy and real estate:
- Outgoing state Sen. Brian Kavanagh discusses the REST Act’s chances next legislative session.
- The City Council approved the Monitor Point project after a contentious ULURP fight.
- A land use package of six other projects also made it through the Council.
In this edition we mention: State Senator Brian Kavanagh, Council member Lincoln Restler, Open New York Executive Director Annemarie Gray and others.
We Heard
- REST rising: Outgoing state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who chairs the Senate housing committee, is feeling good about the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST, Act’s odds in the next legislative session. The bill, sponsored by Kavanagh and Assembly member Sarahana Shrestha, would expand the data local governments outside New York City can use to declare a housing emergency and opt into rent stabilization. “I think of it as allowing local government to make rational choices,” Kavanagh told The Real Deal. “I think a bunch of localities would adopt it and many wouldn’t, and that’s fine.” Tenant advocates mounted a full-court press to advance the measure this session, while landlord groups lobbied heavily against it. The bill never reached the floor in either chamber, though Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie signaled leadership was open to bringing it up for a vote. The legislation could get a boost next year as a new class of progressive lawmakers — including members in the boroughs and upstate districts who have pledged support for the REST Act — head to Albany. Kavanagh doesn’t believe incoming lawmakers will be the deciding factor in the bill’s fate, but their support adds to its traction. “I do think the momentum is on its side,” he said. “I welcome the excitement a lot of the new members have about this, but also true for the returning members.” Kavanagh, who is leaving the Senate at the end of the year, said another lawmaker will take over sponsorship of the bill, potentially whoever succeeds him as chair of the Senate housing committee. While he’s optimistic about the REST Act’s chances, he’s more certain the bill could withstand a lawsuit challenging it if it becomes law. “I don’t think there’s any meaningful chance that this gets struck down,” Kavanagh said. “We think this bill is very sound.”
- Greenlight in Greenpoint: City Council approved the Monitor Point project Thursday, after a politically charged ULURP process that put the Gotham Organization and Council member Lincoln Restler at loggerheads. Restler ultimately got what he wanted: a deal to make half of the 1,324 apartments across three Greenpoint waterfront towers permanently income-restricted, up from 40 percent in a version of the project from earlier this year (and from 25 percent when the development entered public review in January). The project, rising on land leased from the Greenpoint Monitor Museum and the MTA, is the first major development to make it through the ULURP gauntlet this year, and brought the Council, Mamdani administration and Gotham together on a result that’s effectively a win for everyone. Gotham had the headache of figuring out how to make the math behind adding more affordable housing to the project work, but got there with subsidy for senior housing. The development also avoided being a potential test case for the city’s new affordable housing appeals board if the Council shot down the proposal. Still, multiple community groups opposed the project and wanted the site for parkland. Restler was unswayed. “Our goal on these projects isn’t to make everybody happy, that’s impossible to do,” he said ahead of the vote, “but it’s to strike a deal that we think will benefit our community for generations to come, and we absolutely achieved that here at Monitor Point.” Housing advocates backing the project took a victory lap. “Monitor Point matters as much for what it proves as for what it delivers,” said Open New York Executive Director Annemarie Gray, “showing that we can say yes to density to build more and bring down costs.”
- Housing package: Monitor Point was just one project of a package of Council land use approvals made Thursday set to generate roughly 3,200 new apartments across all five boroughs. Among the six other projects is Dewitt Clinton Park North on Manhattan’s West Side by The Chapman Group and Friedland Properties that will create 1,094 units at two towers boosted with air rights from the Hudson River Park Trust. Council member Gale Brewer said she and Manhattan Community Board 4 aren’t thrilled with where things landed in terms of the affordable housing and the towers’ height, but appreciate that the project includes 287 units of income-restricted apartments through the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. “I wish we could have gotten more, but that’s what we got,” said Brewer. Other Council approvals include Proto Property Service’s plans for an 18-story building with 408 apartments in Coney Island and Kalel Companies’ 12-story project with 144 affordable apartments for seniors in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com.
The Catch-Up
Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to beef up landlord penalties. That’s one big takeaway from a report released by City Hall Thursday based on its “Rental Ripoff” hearings held earlier this year, reports The Real Deal’s Lilah Burke.
New York City’s hotel market remains one of the nation’s strongest, but occupancy and revenue are still below pre-pandemic levels, reports the Commercial Observer.
The tracks beneath Penn Station have more capacity than previously thought, according to a new federal study that says the station’s planned overhaul could boost train throughput by as much as 33 percent with some operational changes, reports the New York Daily News.
DOGE staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development used artificial intelligence to help shape housing policy. Now, HUD is denying Freedom of Information Act requests seeking records on those AI tools and their role in policymaking, reports Wired.
The Kicker
“New Yorkers have been able to schedule food deliveries and the time they pick up their clothes at the dry cleaners for years, they should be able to do the same when it comes to an inspection of their home,” said Mayor Mamdani while announcing his “Rental Ripoff” report Thursday.
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