Housing Starts: Policy Shift: Rental Sales | Record Home Prices in Brooklyn | East New York Facelift

Announcing new development. (Credit: Office of Mayor de Blasio/City Limits)

1. Policy Change Could Benefit New York’s Landlords and Tenants In a policy shift that could help New York City retain its existing supply of affordable housing, the state will allow owners of hundreds of mixed-income rental buildings to sell most of their apartments as long as they permanently preserve their low-income rentals or increase their number. [New York Times – 10/10/14]
2. Market-Rate Tenants in NYC Push Landlords Despite Fear of Eviction In a rental complex right by the East River in Harlem—full of no-fee rentals, as the big sign outside boasts—tenants are organizing for improvements to their buildings. It’s a common story for buildings losing rent-regulated units where the tenants have a litany of complicated rights. But in this case, these are not tenants of rent-regulated units, and they have absolutely no protections or tenant rights. [Epoch Times – 10/11/14]
3. Build It Back Program Status Report Shows 90 Percent Of Applications Say They’ve Received No Help Out of the 14,000 applications submitted to the Built it Back program, 90 percent said they have not seen any help, according to a status report from the city’s Department of Investigation. “Poor communication or no communication, lost paperwork, no one getting back to them, very complex, confusing regulations”’ City Councilman Mark Treyger, of Coney Island, said of problems cited. [CBS News – 10/10/14]
4. Brooklyn Home Prices Reach Record in Third Quarter The median sale price of condominiums, co-ops and single-family homes climbed 4 percent from a year earlier to $587,515, according to a report today by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Of the deals that closed in the quarter, buyers agreed to pay the asking price or higher 55 percent of the time, the biggest share ever in the firms’ data for anywhere in the city. [Bloomberg – 10/09/14]
5. East New York Facelift Underway for 63 Buildings Residents pay 30% of their income towards rent, capped at 60% of the area’s median income, or about $1,042 for a two-bedroom. The project helps establish the neighborhood as a stronghold for the working class, BRP Managing Partner Meredith Marshall said. “East New York is kind of the next hot area — for workforce (housing),” Marshall said. “It’s not going to be the next Williamsburg or Greenpoint.” [New York Daily News – 10/13/14]
6. Innovative Apartment Complex for Homeless People Opens on Skid Row The $40-million Star Apartments building, developed by Skid Row Housing Trust and designed by architect Michael Maltzan, has attracted international attention for its striking profile. The 100-unit building, which began accepting tenants almost a year ago, is made out of prefabricated modules stacked like children’s building blocks at angles that jut out above the corner of Maple Avenue and 6th Street. Amenities include a community garden, running track, exercise and art rooms and a library. The official opening was delayed to let residents settle in. [Los Angeles Times – 10/08/14]
7. City Revamping its Affordable Housing Toolkit The city’s housing department aims to boost the number of affordable housing starts by nearly 25 percent this fiscal year—the first full budget cycle with Mayor de Blasio in office—with a goal of 16,000 units. That’s a lot of units. But that’s also a pace that would put the city far short of de Blasio’s target of 200,000 in 10 years. [City Limits – 10/08/14]
8. De Blasio Announces Funding For Neglected Parks At Bowne Playground, in the midst of an audience of dozens of local schoolchildren, the Mayor announced the launch of the Community Parks Initiative. This multi-pronged effort will invest in under-resourced parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs, particularly those located in densely populated and growing neighborhoods with above-average concentrations of poverty. [Queens Tribune – 10/09/14]
9. Developers Just Keep on Bowling Over the Village In yet another “strike” for developers, a new luxury high-rise in the Village will be replacing the East Coast’s longest continuously operating bowling alley, a neighborhood fixture since 1938. Billy Macklowe, the owner of 110 University Place, filed plans to demolish the building and erect a 23-story apartment building two weeks ago. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation had tried to make him consider an approach more in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. [The Villager – 10/09/14]
10. Community Space Reduced from City Building Sale Community Board 1, the new mayor and the building developer are left to handle and haggle over the details of the $160 million sale of 346 Broadway by the Bloomberg administration —with the fallout evident at the Mon., Oct. 6 Planning Committee meeting. C.B. 1 did not initially support the sale but eventually did with the promise of a 16,000 sq. ft. media center that would serve the community’s youth. But it turns out that 16,000 was really 15,713 sq. ft. of rental space, which actually is 10,000 sq. ft. of space that can be used. [Downtown Express – 10/09/14]