Housing Starts: Astoria Cove Next Step | Homeless Shelter Surge | Affordable Housing Goes Private

Affordable Housing Complex in the Bronx (Photo credit: Albert Vecerka, Bronx Times)

1. Council Approves Astoria Cove, Touting Concessions The City Council overwhelmingly voted to approve a massive redevelopment project in the Queens waterfront on Tuesday, the first major land-use approval under Mayor Bill de Blasio. City Council members touted the deal during a press conference near City Hall Park. “We have a project that is much more in-tune, and represents community-oriented development,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “This is the way that we should be going.” [Capital New York – 11/25/14]
2. New $1B Affordable-Housing Fund Proposed A nonprofit is proposing that Gov. Andrew Cuomo steer $1 billion of the state’s budget surplus to create an affordable-housing capital fund. The New York Housing Conference announced its idea Wednesday, and is the latest organization to line up for a piece of the budgetary pie. Mr. Cuomo has been left with an extra $5.1 billion this year, which made its way into the state’s coffers largely through legal settlements from financial firms such as Bank of America. The governor has vowed to spend the money on a one-time expense, rather than something that will need to be continually funded in the future, and the nonprofit is arguing it has a worthy cause. [Crain’s New York Business – 11/26/14]
3. Mayor de Blasio Secretly Opens 23 Shelters Around City to Handle Surge in Homelessness The city has opened 23 new shelters to combat a 13% rise in homelessness since Mayor de Blasio took office — some of them in neighborhoods whose residents had no idea the facilities were coming to their communities. Officials say the new shelters — in every borough except Staten Island — are essential to address the surge in homeless families that has swelled the population in the shelter system to record highs. There are 57,390 people currently living in city homeless shelters, some 24,760 are children. [New York Daily News – 11/25/14]
4. City to Lease Site to Affordable Developer for $100K Per Year The city would grant a 99-year lease to affordable developer SKA Marin for $100,000 per year in order to build a 202-unit supportive housing complex if lawmakers at the City Council approve the long-term deal. The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporationwould award the developers the rights to renovate an unused former nurses’ dorm called Draper Hall in East Harlem at 1918 First Avenue and expand the 114,463-square-foot structure by 13 floors under a proposed agreement the agency has circulated to state agencies and submitted to the Council for approval. [Commercial Observer – 11/25/14]
5. Developer to Pay Over $800 Million for Site Near High Line The site was slated to become an 869-unit condominium under plans submitted to the City Planning Commission in 2005 under the name Highline Towers. But the project by Edison Properties, a real-estate company that operates many parking sites and storage facilities, stalled during the economic downtown. The site was put on the market earlier this year with Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CBRE. [Wall Street Journal – 11/27/14]
6. Developers Bet it All on Penthouses The fact is that in recent months such boasts have become all too common among a gaggle of men now in the process of delivering a collection of penthouses of unprecedented size, opulence and, of course, cost. Among those are five penthouses—and counting—whose owners, like Mr. Shaoul, seek to crack the elusive nine-figure mark, and in the process blow away the current city record of $88 million paid for an apartment. [Crain’s New York Business – 11/30/14]
7. Southbridge Towers Officially Exiting Mitchell-Lama Program Southbridge Towers, a roughly 1,650-unit affordable housing complex in the South Street Seaport area, will officially go private, thus leaving the Mitchell-Lama program. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal concluded an investigation it began last month into the vote by tenants on the proposal to take the property private. The state agency said it found no fault with the voting margin. [The Real Deal – 11/26/14]
8. Washington Unveils Policy to Help People Get Foreclosed Homes Back Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure will be able to buy them back at current market value if the properties are owned by housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the regulator of the two firms said on Tuesday. Previously, the Federal Housing Finance Agency required the two firms to demand former homeowners pay the entire amount owed on the mortgage. [Reuters – 11/26/14]
9. New Affordable Housing Complex Surpasses the Norm On Wednesday, November 18, architectural and urban design firm RKTB proudly announced that an affordable housing project of theirs is now 100% occupied. East Clarke Place Court, a two-building complex, one 11-story building offering 73 units located on 12 E. Clarke Place and one 13-story building featuring 33 units on 27 E. 169th Street, has vastly improved the lifestyle of its residents and the neighborhood, greatly exceeding the standards of living that typical NYC affordable housing has to offer. [Bronx Times – 12/01/14]
10. Parking’s Prospects: A Dark Shadow Looms Over NYC Garages and Lots “Every time real estate is booming in New York, everyone looks at the parking lot first,” said Sam Schwartz, the former New York City Traffic Commissioner (the traffic department became subsumed by the Department of Transportation), who runs an eponymous consulting firm. Parking lots are easy prey for developers. ‘You have no tenants to kick out,’ Mr. Schwartz asserted. “Neighbors aren’t upset about losing a parking lot as opposed to a favorite restaurant.” [Commercial Observer – 11/26/14]