Rendering of Proposed Development. Image Credit: KPA Architects
City Council rejected the first private application of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. On August 16, 2016, the City Council rejected a proposal to rezone a large corner lot in order to construct a new mixed-use development located at 4650 Broadway in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood. Currently a two-story commercial building operating as a parking garage and U-Haul truck rental facility occupies the site. The original proposal from the developer, Acadia Sherman Avenue LLC, was to build a new mixed-use building that would have retail and community space on the bottom two floors, contain 335 residential units and rise 23 stories. The original project would have made permanent 30 percent of the floor area as affordable housing under the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law.
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Image Credit: NYS Association for Affordable Housing.
Association of developers and contractors of affordable housing claimed that local law on prequalification and disclosure violated their constitutional rights. On September 24, 2012, the City Council passed Local Law 44, which required the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to create a public website disclosing the scope and location of publicly-funded affordable housing projects as well as complaints about developers, contractors and subcontractors involved in the project. The website must also list which developers, contractors and subcontractors were designated “prequalified” or “disqualified” along with the selection criteria for the designation. A participating developer, contractor and subcontractor must provide quarterly salary reports if it has an annual gross revenue of at least $2.5 million or it is a principal owner of another entity and together have an aggregate annual gross revenue of at least $2.5 million. The failure to provide the quarterly reports disqualified the developer, contractor or subcontractor from being designated as prequalified. (more…)
City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod & HPD Commissioner Vicki Been are sworn in before the Council’s oversight hearing. Image credit: William Alatriste, NYC Council
HPD, City Planning, NYCHA among those who answered questions on the results and direction of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan. On November 17, 2014, the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, joined by the Committee on Land Use and Committee on Community Development, held an oversight hearing on Housing New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan. The Council heard testimony over the course of seven hours from Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been, City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod, along with representatives from the New York City Housing Authority, the Housing Development Corporation, labor unions, tenant advocacy groups, and other stakeholders.
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The property tax exemptions will affect seven buildings in Brooklyn Community Board 16. Image credit: Department of City Planning
Dean Atlantic HDFC received property tax exemption for seven buildings. On August 21, 2014, the City Council voted 47-0 to approve an Article XI property tax exemption on seven buildings owned by the Dean Atlantic Housing Development Finance Corporation. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development requested the exemption from the City Council on Dean Atlantic’s behalf. The buildings are all in Brooklyn Community Board 16, covering the Ocean Hill and Brownsville communities. Six of the buildings are located in an area bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Dean Street to the south, Rockaway Avenue to the west and Eastern Parkway to the east. The seventh building is located further south at the corner of Park Place and Saratoga Avenue. The buildings are either two-or three-stories for a total of twelve residential units, with five of the buildings featuring a commercial space on the ground floor. The residences are two- and three-bedroom units.
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Date: 08/28/2014
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Rendering of Rheingold Development as seen from Bushwick Avenue and Forrest Street, Brooklyn. Image Courtesy of Forrest Lots, LLC.
Controversial Bushwick development project questioned on affordable housing goals in public hearings. On December 10, 2013, the full City Council voted 48-1 to rezone six blocks in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in order to allow the development of ten mixed-use developments. The rezoning area is bounded by Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Melrose Street, Stanwix Street, and Forrest Street. Council’s Committee on Land Use voted 18-1 and Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted 10-0 to approve the project. Council Member Charles Barron voted in the negative at the Stated Meeting and Land Use Committee meeting, citing concerns about housing affordability. (more…)
