More Development Planned for LES and Queens | New Yorkers Make Space in 1-Bedroom Apartments

Image: New York Times/Handel Architects

1. New Mixed-Income Housing on the Lower East Side “For nearly half a century, the view south from the corner of Essex and Delancey Streets has been of vacant parking lots behind chain-link fences, carving a desolate hole in the otherwise vibrant neighborhood. But this month, construction finally began on a $1 billion redevelopment project that will reshape the Lower East Side. With financing secured, developers can now begin work on Essex Crossing, a 1.65 million-square-foot project that will eventually add 1,000 units of housing to the area, half of which will be permanently affordable. The first development phase will deliver 556 mixed-income units, a new home for the historic Essex Street Market, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a museum and a new shopping corridor along Broome Street.” [New York Times – 07/24/15]
2. Two More Massive Projects Planned for Astoria “Two large-scale developments are being planned for more than seven areas of Queens waterfront, Crain’s has learned. And along with two other massive projects—known as Halletts Point and Astoria Cove—the mixed-use complexes are set to transform part of a gritty peninsula west of Astoria into a new community along the East River. The two sites are separately owned plots north of 26th Avenue between Second and Fourth streets. Together, they are bigger than a city block. They sit between Alma Realty’s 1,723-unit Astoria Cove project, which was approved last year, a park called Whitey Ford Field, and the 2,400-unit Halletts Point, which the Durst Organization is developing after purchasing a majority stake in the venture from Lincoln Equities.” [Crain’s New York Business – 07/24/15]
3. Making More Space in a One-Bedroom Apartment “Can’t find a decent two-bedroom at a price you can afford? Try searching for a one-bedroom big enough to turn into two. That’s what some buyers are doing as soaring prices and a scarcity of listings in New York City make it tough to jump to the next apartment size up. Plus-size one-bedrooms — the kind that would allow, say, a couple expecting a baby to put up a wall to create another bedroom — are increasingly sought-after, brokers say, as less expensive alternatives to existing two-bedrooms. Large one-bedrooms with separate dining areas, known as Junior 4s, are in especially hot demand as the dining nook can easily be converted to a nursery or home office.” [New York Times – 07/24/15]
4. Landlord with a Bad Rep Among Tenant Groups Buys Affordable-Housing Building “Affordable housing tenants in Staten Island are reacting with cautious optimism to the recent sale of their 454-unit complex to a landlord notorious for converting such buildings to market-rate and luxury properties. Stellar Management, led by Laurence Gluck, recently partnered with nonprofit CAMBA Housing Ventures to buy Castleton Park Apartments for around $30 million. Castleton, located at 165-185 St. Marks Place in the St. George neighborhood, was built under a state affordable-housing program called Mitchell-Lama. Now, as part of an agreement with city, state and federal agencies, Stellar will undertake a $30 million renovation of the property and preserve it in the affordable program for the next 37 years in exchange for a variety of subsidies.” [Crain’s New York Business – 07/23/15]
5. Board of Affordable Housing Co-Op Accused of Using Building as Piggy Bank “A co-op on West 106th Street that was nursed back to life by tenants who took it over from a deadbeat landlord decades ago has slipped back into disrepair after board members began using it as their own personal piggy bank, according to a lawsuit filed by tenants. The 54-unit four-building complex at 13-19 W. 106th St. — formally known as 13-19 Duke Ellington Boulevard Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) — became part of a city program designed to give low-income tenants an opportunity for home ownership in derelict rental buildings in 1994 in exchange for tenants running it themselves. But tenants Glen Grant and Pascally Toussaint said the board has slowly been running it into the ground, racking up more than $143,000 in back taxes and nearly $70,000 in water and sewer charges, according to public finance records.” [DNAinfo – 07/27/15]
6. 40-Story Tower on LICH Site Could Prove Contentious “A redevelopment plan for the site of Long Island College Hospital, the future of which became a campaign issue in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2013 election, is being shaped by a new coalition announced on Friday. But Brad Lander, a City Councilman involved in that coalition, is already questioning the developer’s plans for a 40-story tower on the site. Fortis Property Group, which is in the process of buying the land housing LICH, announced it has joined with local residents and elected officials to map out possibilities for the site. ‘Today’s announcement marks an important step forward in what we hope will be a collaborative, thoughtful discussion about the future of the former LICH site,’ Joel Kestenbaum, president of Fortis, is quoted saying in a press release.” [Crain’s New York Business – 07/24/15]
7. Zoning Out The Poor “In a recent study for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, economist Steven Horwitz points out that restrictive zoning laws impede social mobility by making it difficult or impossible for the working class and poor to establish home-based small businesses…This is just one of several ways in which restrictive zoning policies harm the poor. An even more significant one is the way in which restrictions on new development artificially inflate the price of housing in many cities, thereby pricing many of the poor and working class out of the market. Economists have been criticizing such policies for many years. It isn’t just libertarians and free market advocates like Horwitz and Edward Glaeser of Harvard. Leading left-wing economists and policy analysts, such as Paul Krugman and Matthew Yglesias, have decried restrictive zoning as well.” [Washington Post – 07/26/15]
8. NYCHA Launches Job Opportunity Program “The New York City Housing Authority and Citi Community Development announced last Thursday the launch of ‘Doorways to Opportunities,’ a multi-partner initiative that will provide public housing residents with access to employment opportunities, free financial counseling and entrepreneurship training. Urban Upbound’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Bishop Mitchell Taylor, City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) and representatives from NYCHA, Citi and Urban Upbound made the announcements outside the Urban Upbound Astoria Jobs-Plus headquarters. As the first worker cooperative for public housing residents, ‘Doorways to Opportunities’ will work with people living in seven public houses borough-wide, which includes the Astoria Houses. It is a part of a 10-year plan, referred to as NextGeneration NYCHA, that was announced by Mayor de Blasio in May.” [Queens Chronicle – 07/23/15]
9. Rejuvenating Red Hook, Brooklyn “Can the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, cut off from the rest of the borough in the 20th century by postwar Gowanus Expressway and then hurt economically by the movement of cargo terminals and traffic across the harbor to New Jersey in the 1970s, emerge from its urban torpor? In theory, its waterfront could be rejuvenated along the lines of other fashionable Brooklyn areas, and developer Sanba, working in collaboration with AA Studio on a waterfront redevelopment called King & Sullivan Townhomes, is betting that it will. Demolition for the project has been completed and construction is about to start. The development will include 12 three-story townhomes measuring 2,800 square feet on King Street (109-125 King St.), with the remaining 10 townhomes located on Sullivan Street (72-84 Sullivan St.). Five different facades, inspired by architectural elements present in Brooklyn—steel, arches, brick and terracotta—will add variety to each building, according to AA Studio.” [MultiHousingNews.com – 07/24/15]
10. The Housing Market Still Isn’t Rational “Home prices have been climbing. They have risen 27 percent nationally since 2012, even more in places like San Francisco. But why worry? If you accept the efficient markets theory — and believe that real estate is an efficient market — then these prices are based on ‘new information,’ even if you don’t know what that information is. The problem with this kind of thinking is that the efficient markets theory is at best a half-truth, as a voluminous literature on market anomalies shows. What’s more, even that half-truth is grounded mainly in the stock market, which attracts professional investors who sometimes do make the market behave efficiently.” [New York Times – 07/24/15]