Last year’s budget was all about tax incentives, tenant protections and the potential to upzone parts of NYC for more housing.
This year, I had a lot less to talk about. Of course, the looming threat of federal funding cuts means that this year’s spending plan could be chopped up mid-year, and the future of various housing programs is up in the air, so there is no shortage of housing and real estate-related issues to track.
The lack of big housing swings in this year’s budget may have created room for a long-sought policy to be approved: a state-based voucher program. The program is a four-year pilot, and allocated $50 million for this year, which is a fraction of what lawmakers have long sought. But the fact that it was included at all this year is a big deal, and proponents are hoping this is a foot in the door to getting larger allocations in the years ahead.
Also worth noting: The budget makes it easier for rentals to be converted into condos. Before you get too excited, the rule change has a six-year sunset and only applies to the market-rate units in specific buildings. The idea is to preserve affordable units in buildings where the regulatory agreement keeping those units affordable is about to expire. If you want to go deep on this issue, Nixon Peabody’s Erica Buckley has a handy breakdown.
Notable but not earth-shattering: The budget includes $100 million for a revolving loan fund for mixed-income housing, split evenly between NYC and the rest of the state. Gov. Kathy Hochul had originally proposed creating a fund solely for housing outside the city, but Senate Democrats had pushed for NYC to be included.
Funding is, obviously, critical to building housing. But the success of something like the voucher program will rely on much more being allocated, and on enough housing being built to accommodate voucher holders. That’s where policy changes that make it easier to build (at the state level, think environmental review reform; at the city level, some of the changes being contemplated by the Charter Revision Commission) come in.
For more on the budget, check out my recap.
What we’re thinking about: Do you feel like your eyeballs are going to fall out of your head after reading through a bunch of the budget bills? Do you want to share any little-noticed tidbits or details of policies that were approved? Do you just want to brag about actually reading the budget? Let’s talk! Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Tuberculosis is indirectly responsible for the invention of the cowboy hat. Per John Green, author of “Everything is Tuberculosis,” a hatmaker from New Jersey, John Stetson, moved out west in the mid-1800s after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Stetson noticed that the straw hats worn by people out there did not hold up well in the rain, and the raccoon-skin caps were, Green told the podcast 99% Invisible, just gross. Stetson recovered from his illness and designed a hat that could withstand the weather and resist bug infestation.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on Friday outside a federal immigration detention facility that recently reopened in his city, Associated Press reports. Baraka, who is running for governor, was trying to join New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman, who say they had scheduled a tour of the facility. The Department of Homeland Security describes the situation different, saying the lawmakers did not ask for a tour and that “a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.” Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, posted on social media that Baraka had ignored DHS warnings to leave and was taken into custody after he had “chosen to disregard the law.” The New York Times reports that a video shows Baraka being arrested in a public area outside the facility.
— Tech companies will now need to disclose to New York users that AI chatbots are not, in fact, human, Gothamist reports. The new rules were included in the newly-approved state budget. “It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, it’s new, exciting technology. Let it thrive.’ We need to protect human beings,” Manhattan Assembly member Alex Bores, a Manhattan Democrat, told Gothamist.
— ICYMI, Mayor Eric Adams went to Washington, D.C., Friday to visit President Donald Trump, Politico New York reports. The visit coincided with the deadline for the Department of Justice to release documents in the now-dismissed corruption case against Adams. The Adams administration indicated that the meeting was scheduled to “discuss New York City priorities.”
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Friday was $10.8 million for a condominium unit at 39 West 23rd Street. The 3,200-square-foot condo unit at the Flatiron House is new construction. Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group and Shelley O’Keefe have the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $340 million for 522 Fifth Avenue. RFR’s Aby Rosen sold the 600,000-square-foot office space to Amazon, per reports.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $35 million for a condo unit at 27 Wooster Street. The Soho penthouse unit is 6,700 square feet. Compass’ Leonard Steinberg Team has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 49,090-square-foot, 11-story residential building at 216 East 201st Street in the Bronx. Nikolai Katz of Nikolai Katz Architect is the applicant of record. — Joseph Jungermann
