Image Credit: NYC DOT.
On October 4, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department ruled in favor of the City in its appeal challenging a February Supreme Court ruling that halted the City’s development of the permanent open restaurants program. (read more…)
Development Rendering Image Credit: City Planning
Two Bridges development gets Appellate Division ruling but two lawsuits remain pending. On August 27, 2020, the First Department’s Appellate Division unanimously ruled in favor of a Lower East Side development that would consist of four towers, 11,000 square feet of retail, and over 2,700 residential units. Of the 2,700 residential units, approximately 700 units will be dedicated to affordable housing and 200 units will be set aside for senior housing. The project’s development group includes JDS Development Group, L+M Development Partners, CIM Group, and Starrett Development. The development’s challengers are the New York City Council and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
41 East 11th Street. Image Credit: Google Maps
Commercial tenant claimed the 2019 Housing law required owners to provide a written notice of nonpayment of rent. The owner of a building located at 41 East 11th Street, Manhattan, filed a petition in Civil Court to evict its commercial tenant, Washington Square Institute, for non-payment of rent. The owner claimed rent in the amount of $240,007 for the period of August 2019 through October 2019, calculated at the monthly rent of $67,561. The owner moved for summary judgment. (read more…)
200 Amsterdam Avenue Rendering Image Credit: SJP Properties
Advocates applaud decision while developers find decision deeply flawed. On February 15, 2020, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society of New York, won an Article 78 case regarding the construction of a 668 foot, 52-story condominium building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York County Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry’s ruling requires the Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit and compel the developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America, to remove the floors that exceed what is permitted under the Zoning Resolution.
Screen Shot of Department of State’s Rent Law Memorandum. Click the image to view the full memorandum.
Real estate community in state of confusion over 2019 Rent laws. On February 10, 2020, the Real Estate Board of New York Inc. (“REBNY’”), the New York State Associations of Realtors (“NYSAR”) and a host of residential real estate brokerages were granted a temporary restraining order, blocking the New York State Department of State’s guidance on broker commissions. The TRO comes in conjunction with their Article 78 filing seeking to invalidate the memorandum’s entire section prohibiting landlord’s brokers from collecting commissions from prospective tenants.
