REBNY Allowed To Sue City Over Hotel Conversion Law

New law would hinder hotel conversions to residential use. On June 2, 2015, New York City adopted Local Law 50, placing a prohibition on owners of hotels with 150 or more sleeping units from converting more than 20 percent of their hotel space to full-time residential uses. The law is based on City findings that such conversions were adversely impacting the City’s multi-billion-dollar tourism industry, as well as hotel employment. The purpose of the prohibition … <Read More>


Son Denied Mother’s NYCHA Apartment

Son lived in mother’s apartment to care for her in her last years, but had not been granted permanent permission to live in the apartment. Victoria Aponte was the tenant of record, and sole authorized occupant, of a one-bedroom apartment located in a NYCHA-owned housing development at 150 West 174th Street in the Bronx. In 2009, Ms. Aponte’s son, Jonas Aponte, moved into the apartment to assist his mother who had been diagnosed with advanced … <Read More>


Hotel Denied Sales Tax Refund

Hotel claimed tax credit for purchases of continental breakfasts provided to guests. The Washington Square Hotel LLC, located at 103 Waverly Place, Manhattan, purchased continental breakfasts from Café C–III, a vendor located on the hotel’s premises, and provided the continental breakfasts to guests. The hotel did not charge their guests separately for breakfasts, nor did the hotel give guests an option to decline breakfasts in return for a lower rate for a hotel room.


Environmental Impact Statement For Senior Residence Upheld

Non-profit developer sought to build residence for the elderly in Manhattan adjacent to a public school. In 2012, Jewish Home Lifecare, a non-profit providing health care services, applied to the New York State Department of Health for a permit to construct a residential facility for the elderly and disabled to be located on West 97th Street in Manhattan next door to P.S. 163. After Lifecare submitted an environmental assessment statement and an environmental impact statement, … <Read More>


Blocked Brooklyn Bridge View Claim Defeated

Development corporation constructed buildings in Brooklyn Bridge Park that blocked view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Promenade. In 2005 Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and Empire State Development Corporation adopted a general project plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park that included the development of a hotel, restaurant, and residential units upland of Brooklyn’s Pier 1. Community members demanded during the initial environmental review that the new buildings not block the view of the Brooklyn … <Read More>


Challenge to Denial of Hardship Application Fails on Appeal

Developer claimed that Commissioners irrationally and prejudicially analyzed hardship application, and that designation amounted to an unconstitutional taking. In 1990, Landmarks designated the City and Suburban Homes Company, First Avenue Estate an individual City landmark. The block-sized development is bounded East 64th and 65th Streets and York and First Avenues. Built between 1819 and 1915, it was constructed to provide high-quality housing to low-income New Yorkers in an alternative to crowded, poorly ventilated tenement buildings. … <Read More>