Policy

. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) issued a statement last Wednesday pledging that "The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with president-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening the nation's aging infrastructure." The statement issued by organization chief Robert Ivy assured that the country's architects would help the incoming president and congress with construction industry-related matters: "During the campaign, president-elect Trump called for committing at least $500 billion to infrastructure spending over five years,” said Ivy–possibly providing an imperative for the message. But that does not appear to be reason enough for members, who say they do not necessarily "stand ready to work with him and with the incoming 115th Congress.” A swift and indignant backlash led to an apology by Ivy released early this week.
Read on

Trump Tower residents are sick of protestors; problem unlikely to improve

Photo via Kristal T/Flickr

November 11, 2016

Trump Tower residents are sick of protestors; problem unlikely to improve

Since Donald Trump announced his run for office, Trump Tower, where the President-elect both lives and keeps his political headquarters, has been a hotspot for protestors. While in the past few months, inconveniences haven't escalated far beyond anti-Trumpers stopping by to give the building the finger, after the 2016 election results were announced, it's become veritable zoo outside the 5th Avenue tower as thousands have convened to denounce (and to be sure, support) a Trump presidency. The situation has become a major disruption for residents of the luxury skyscraper who are now annoyed with the crowds. As The Post so fittingly writes, "It’s not so easy being a member of the 1 percent if you live at Trump Tower."
more on the complaints here

November 11, 2016

Cuomo’s revised 421-a plan will move ahead as REBNY and construction trades come to agreement

Ever since the city's 421-a tax exemption program expired in January, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) have been negotiating under what terms to extend and/or modify the program. Both groups took part in what the city believes were "secret talks" with Governor Cuomo over the summer, after which he released his proposal to revise 421-a with wage subsidies for construction workers. REBNY was concerned about this stipulation, claiming it would increase construction costs by up to 30 percent, but a press release sent yesterday evening reports that they've reached an agreement with the Trades Council to move ahead with Cuomo's version of the plan, which, in addition to setting a $60 hourly wage for qualifying projects in Manhattan and $45 in Brooklyn and Queens, extends the tax breaks up to 35 years (up from de Blasio's proposed 25 years) and mandates newly created affordable units be kept in place for 40 years.
More details this way

November 10, 2016

UWS school rezoning proposal aims to reduce crowding and increase integration

By Metro New York

After 25 meetings in two years and amid a mix of public outcry and support, the New York City Department of Education unveiled its final proposal to rezone District 3 on the Upper West Side Wednesday. The move hopes to lessen overcrowding and nurture integration at 11 schools from West 59th Street to West 116th Street. […]

November 10, 2016

Real estate industry likely to benefit from a Trump presidency

The city's real estate industry isn't too worried about a Donald Trump presidency. Real estate insiders feel that the man whose family's fortune was made in the industry and padded by its favorable tax breaks, foreign investments and still-rising market will be unlikely to bite the hand that has fed it so well, Crains reports.
Loopholes safe; affordable housing not so much

‘Not my president’: Thousands join Anti-Trump protests across New York City

Image via Rachel Maddow Blog on twitter

November 10, 2016

‘Not my president’: Thousands join Anti-Trump protests across New York City

Demonstrations broke out across the country yesterday evening as hundreds of thousands gathered to protest the election of Donald Trump for president. NYC itself was largely activated by two groups, Socialist Alternative and Answer Coalition, who used social media to call upon New Yorkers to gather at Union Square and Columbus Circle, near Trump International Tower. Thousands of participants held signs emblazoned with a swath of issues now under threat, from LGBT to Black Lives Matter to the environment. Chants like "Not my president!" "Trump Makes America Hate" and "Don't Lose Hope" rang through the streets as protestors marched through Midtown to convene at Trump Tower. Among the crowds, however, were also Trump supporters who showed up to celebrate the victory.
more photos from the demonstrations

City says under-construction 421-a buildings must include housing for the homeless

555Ten, an Extell building that would be affected by the 421-a changes

November 7, 2016

City says under-construction 421-a buildings must include housing for the homeless

As 6sqft reported last week, Governor Cuomo, developers, and unions have been engaging in closed-door talks to bring forth his revision of the city's 421-a program that includes wage subsidies and an extension of the previous 25-year tax break up to 45 years. Glaringly (but not surprisingly) absent from the negotiations is Mayor de Blasio, but he's now taking matters into his own hands, at least when it comes to those under-construction buildings that got in to the program before it expired in January. According to the Times, the de Blasio administration introduced a new policy that says these projects must include housing for some of the 60,000 New Yorkers currently living in homeless shelters, but developers, particularly Extell's Gary Barnett, are not happy about the changes.
Find out more

November 4, 2016

POLL: Should Cuomo’s revised 421-a plan move forward?

The city's hotly debated 421-a tax abatement program expired in January after a 44-year run. CityRealty reports that the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development has seen the number of applications for tax exemption decrease by 45 percent from that time to September 2016, costing the city $1.2 billion this fiscal year. Over the summer, the Governor presented a revised version of the program that would offer wage subsidies to construction workers, but this drew concern from the Real Estate Board of New York, who say the proposal would cause construction costs to rise by up to 30 percent. Now, Politico reports that Cuomo, developers, and unions have been engaging in closed-door negotiations to bring his plan forward and extend the previous 25-year tax break up to 45 years (REBNY and the Mayor had presented a 35-year extension last summer).
Tell us if you think the Governor's plan should move ahead

October 31, 2016

René Lalique’s windows saved this Fifth Avenue building from destruction in the 1980s

By Tracy A. Marciano

In 1984, a series of grime-covered windows at 714 Fifth Avenue caught the attention of an architectural historian by the name of Andrew Dolkart. Seemingly innocuous, and almost industrial in aesthetic—at least from afar—the glass panes would later become the foundation for a preservation victory.
more this way

MAP: East Williamsburg would be fined the most by new Airbnb law

After Governor Cuomo recently signed into effect a bill that would impose fines of up to $7,500 on those offering illegal short-term Airbnb rentals, the company filed a federal lawsuit against the legislation, saying it would "impose significant immediate burdens and irreparable harm." And according to an analysis from ValuePenguin, shared by DNAinfo, it's East Williamsburg that would be hit the hardest by the new regulations. The personal finance website says that, as of October 1st, the neighborhood (zip code 11211) has 314 full apartment rental listings, which could result in $2,355,000 in fines. It's followed by zip code 10003, which covers parts of Greenwich Village, Gramercy, and the East Village, the Lower East Side (10002) and Chelsea (10011).
More data ahead

Policy

MAP: Two thirds of landlords benefiting from 421-a tax breaks didn’t file rent regulation paperwork

View the map from ProPublica in its interactive form here >>

October 27, 2016

MAP: Two thirds of landlords benefiting from 421-a tax breaks didn’t file rent regulation paperwork

The city's 421-a program, which expired in January, provides tax breaks of up to 25 years to new residential buildings that reserve at least 20 percent of units as affordable. Proponents of the program feel it offers a much-needed incentive to build low- and moderate-income housing, but those not in favor think it gives unfair tax breaks to the wealthiest developers. The latter camp may be gaining steam, as a new report from ProPublica, outlined in Gothamist, says that nearly two thirds of the 6,400 rental buildings where landlords received tax reductions through 421-a didn't have required rent stabilization paperwork on file, meaning they could raise rents as much as they chose. ProPublica compiled this data in both an interactive map and searchable database.
Is your landlord cheating the system?

October 26, 2016

Pier 55 appeal dismissed in court; park construction can move ahead

After nearly a year and a half of yo-yo-ing back and forth between stop work orders and lawsuits, the Barry Diller-funded Pier 55 park can finally move ahead freely. The New York Law Journal reports that yesterday the state Court of Appeals denied the City Club of New York's appeal of September's ruling in favor of Pier 55 and the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) that said construction could continue on the 2.75-acre offshore park, dismissing the opponents' claims that the park failed to go through adequate environmental impact evaluations and violated the public trust doctrine by planning to host private events.
What this means for Pier 55

October 24, 2016

Airbnb files federal suit against Governor Cuomo’s $7,500 fines on illegal listings

Back in June, the NYC legislature passed a bill that would impose fines of up to $7,500 on those offering illegal short-term Airbnb rentals, and at the end of last week, Governor Cuomo signed the bill into effect, reports the Times. The new regulation piggybacks on what's been the state law since 2010--that apartments can't be rented out for less than 30 days if the lease holder isn't present. Despite the fact that a recent report estimates 56 percent of the site's 2015 listings fell into this category, Airbnb is taking aim against the Governor, filing a federal lawsuit that says the new law "would impose significant immediate burdens and irreparable harm on Airbnb."
Find out more this way

Policy

October 21, 2016

Designation of South Village Historic District may mean approval for massive St. John’s Terminal project

The Landmarks Preservation Commission's plans to add 10 additional blocks to the South Village Historic District are at the top of the agenda for city preservationist groups. As Crains reports, the addition of the historic district is also a condition for a City Council vote in support of the St. John's Center development, a 1.7 million-square-foot, mixed-use project proposed for 550 Washington Street across the street from Pier 40 in Hudson River Park. That project requires the council's approval, and City Councilman Corey Johnson said in August that he'd vote for the project, proposed by developers Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group, if the addition of the third and final phase of the historic district, currently bordered by Sixth Avenue, West Fourth Street, LaGuardia Place and Houston Street, goes forward. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), among others, has pushed for the landmarking of what would be the city's first tenement-based historic district.
Find out more

Trump’s Wollman Ice Rink and Bronx golf course were more personal gain than public good

Photo via Flickr cc

October 19, 2016

Trump’s Wollman Ice Rink and Bronx golf course were more personal gain than public good

Photo via Flickr cc Though few would deny that Donald Trump enjoys placing himself in the spotlight, WNYC reports that the Republican presidential nominee has a history of claiming to save the day on public projects when it turns out that he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, and the city ended up holding the bag. Among his supporters, Trump has a reputation for stepping in to rescue abandoned city projects, a favorite example being Central Park’s Wollman Ice Rink. About thirty years ago, the rink had fallen into disrepair and had sat unused for six years due to the city’s inability to find the funds or move past the red tape involved in fixing it. Trump brought his “get it done” attitude to the project, offering to help fix the rink. In 1986, the city agreed to let him lend a hand. Though Trump completed the repairs on time and under budget, the rink repair job wasn't the act of philanthropy–nor the ongoing financial bonus for the city–that the candidate claims it was.
So what's the real story?

Policy

October 17, 2016

Plan to turn Sunset Park library into 49 low-income apartments moves forward

In 2014 the news surfaced that Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) was planning to sell its Sunset Park branch at 5108 4th Avenue to a non-profit community development organization, Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC). The developer would demolish the 43-year-old building and build in its place a larger library with eight stories above that would contain 49 below-market-rate apartments, in part with public money allocated by Borough President Eric L. Adams. The developers say the plan will create housing for Brooklyn's neediest residents. Brooklyn Paper now reports that developers are preparing to pitch the project to Community Board 7’s land-use committee on November 3 as part of a public review process. The city council has the final say whether it goes through.
Find out more

October 14, 2016

Public Advocate’s office releases watchlist of NYC’s 100 worst landlords

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James released this year's annual "Worst Landlords Watchlist" Thursday at a tenants' rights rally in lower Manhattan. The interactive database lists the top 100 building owners who have racked up the most violations (like rats, roaches and dirty elevators, to name just a few) relative to the number of buildings they own. This data is gathered from the Department of Buildings and Department of Housing. Three of the city's five worst landlords according to the list have been on it for two years in a row. The top three offenders–Harry D. Silverstein, Allan Goldman, and Efstathios Valiotis–own buildings throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Silverstein received 2,032 HPD violations and 50 DOB violations over 575 units in eight buildings.
Find out if your landlord is on the list

October 12, 2016

Landmarks lauds Natural History Museum expansion plan, see new renderings

After revising its expansion plan last month to preserve more public parkland, the American Museum of Natural History had its day in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, and as DNAinfo reports, the agency lauded the plan for a new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, with chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan referring to it as a "stunning piece of architecture" and an "absolutely wonderful addition." In making their determination, the Commission was presented with a slew of new renderings, which show the $325 million, Jeanne Gang-designed project from various angles, as well as new views of the surrounding parkland.
More renderings and next steps

October 6, 2016

The Avegant Glyph is a wearable movie screen with surround sound

By Metro New York

The Avegant Glyph offers cinema screen entertainment without the distraction of people rustling popcorn. The wearable, invented by a Silicon Valley start-up, resembles a hefty pair of headphones but when you slide the band down over your eyes, micro mirror projection gives the impression that you’re watching an enormous display. READ MORE AT METRO NEW […]

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October 5, 2016

Macro Sea’s David Belt takes us inside New Lab, an 84,000-square-foot thinkspace in the Navy Yard

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has since its inception acted as a pole for the cutting edge and creative, from its time as the "The Can-Do Shipyard" where U.S. warships assembled, to present day as urban farmers, photographers and filmmakers carve out spaces for themselves on the campus' more than 300 acres. But the latest most notable addition to the Navy Yard is most certainly New Lab. New Lab is the creation of Macro Sea (who many will remember brought dumpster pools to NYC a few years ago) and is a revolutionary hub that turns an 84,000-square-foot former shipping building into a thinkspace for nearly 300 engineers and entrepreneurs working in advanced hardware and robotics. Here, members whose work include everything from designing nano microscopes to using synthetic biology to engineer cities can take their ideas from concept to prototype to production under one roof. It's what the founders are calling "a breakthrough ecosystem of shared resources." In this 6sqft feature, we speak to New Lab's co-founder and Macro Sea Executive Director and founder David Belt. David is also the founder and Managing Partner of DBI, which is currently managing the realization of the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, amongst other high-profile projects around the city. Ahead, he takes us through the new facility and gives us some intel on what inspired the design, the cutting edge companies that have taken up space, and what he ultimately hopes to achieve with New Lab.
Learn more about New Lab with David here

October 5, 2016

Buried treasures from the city’s past will be on view at a new Manhattan research center

New York City has catalogued and created a digitized archive of the many buried artifacts from its past; Wednesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission is officially opening a repository of those countless artifacts. The New York Times reports that the Nan A. Rothschild Research Center–the first municipal archive devoted to a city’s archaeological collection, has found a home in Midtown Manhattan. More than a million artifacts will now be available for viewing by researchers and scholars by appointment; a digital archive is already available. The climate-controlled repository at 114 West 47th Street contains artifacts from 31 excavated sites from all five boroughs, including the city’s first major historical dig, the Stadt Huys (now 85 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan), which, when the artifacts were discovered in 1979, raised the idea that archaeological treasures were buried beneath old buildings.
Find out what you can dig up at the digital archive

October 4, 2016

How Otis’ elevator made modern skyscrapers possible

Advances in engineering continue to push modern skyscrapers to dizzying new heights, but at the core of these structures, quite literally, is an often overlooked technology that’s been key to their proliferation: the elevator. The earliest known reference to the elevator was by Roman architect Vitruvius, who reported that Archimedes built his first elevator around 236 B.C. The design was fairly rudimentary, a platform using pulleys and hoisted by hand or by animal. While elevators found their way into countless buildings and homes in the centuries that followed, including that of Louis XV who used a private lift to connect his Versailles apartment to that of his mistress, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that their true potential was unlocked.
read more about the elevator here

October 4, 2016

Affordable housing applicants with low credit scores and legal history now protected from discrimination

In recent months, the city has been pushing for legislation that better protects tenants, including a bill that would guarantee lawyers for all low-income residents facing eviction and regulations over screening software services that leads to landlord discrimination. They're now taking this idea to affordable housing lotteries, where there's been a major uptick in activity over the past couple years due to the Mayor's goal to add or preserve 200,000 units over 10 years. As DNAinfo reports, the city is releasing today an online Marketing Handbook for the lotteries, and among the objectives are protections for applicants with low credit scores and those who have previously taken their landlords to court.
Find out more

October 3, 2016

Flood regulations may thwart plan to convert Lower Manhattan public spaces to retail