Hello and welcome to the Monday edition of the real estate newsletter. We’ll take a look at what’s to come in the coming week, and we’ll cover what you might have missed last week.
A strip of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue corridor could see one of the first neighborhood-wide rezonings of Mayor Eric Adams’ tenure, as his administration’s land-use agenda begins to take shape.
The Department of Urban Planning is moving forward with plans to redevelop land zoned for manufacturing along an area that covers parts of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, following a years-long campaign for a proposed community rezoning known as M-CROWN. The area has seen a flood of development interest in recent years, without enough attention or investment in local infrastructure and community needs, such as pedestrian safety, according to elected officials and local leaders. .
Council member Crystal Hudson led DCP director Dan Garodnick during a walk through the area on Friday, pointing out sites that could be developed and outlining the community’s vision for possible rezoning. The stretch along the Atlantic, busy with traffic on a weekday afternoon, is lined with an assortment of self-service storage facilities, auto shops, wholesalers and industrial businesses, and pockets of new developments.
“It’s always very helpful when people can see in the flesh both the potential that’s on Atlantic Avenue and also the needs that we have,” Hudson said Friday. “There’s a lot of potential here, and it’s a community that’s been asking to be rezoned and rezoned for a very long time.”
She was quick to notice that the community not only wants a surge of residential development only, but also space for industrial uses and businesses already present in the area. M-CROWN’s proposal calls for preserving and encouraging manufacturing uses and using market-rate residential development to subsidize affordable housing and manufacturing space.
“We currently have some light industrial uses. And we want to make this area an area where people can both live and work,” Hudson said.
Garodnick said at a separate event last week that the plan would generate both housing and jobs, while addressing infrastructure issues. “We look forward to working with Council Member Hudson to get it right,” he said Friday.
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SHELTER SKELTER – Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday called on state lawmakers to approve legislation that would make things easier convert unused hotels into affordable housing. “We face a homelessness crisis and an affordable housing crisis, but, with the help of our partners in Albany, we can work to solve them with one tool,” Adams said at City Hall Park. Sunday afternoon. “By repurposing underutilized hotels, we can create supportive housing faster and at lower cost. We can make affordable, permanent housing available to families, seniors, and any New Yorker in need, including our homeless neighbors. Let’s get this over with. This legislation, sponsored by Sen. Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) and Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn), would ease zoning and building code requirements that make successful conversions financially or logistically difficult, or even impossible. A state program set up last year has committed funds for conversions but has failed to make much progress due to regulatory hurdles.
LANDLORD WATCH – “AG James to State Law Enforcement Agencies: Don’t Let Landlords Use You to Violate Tenants’ Rights”, by Dean Moses of AmNY: “New York Attorney General Letitia James pointed out Monday that law enforcement should not be used at the request of landlords to violate tenants’ rights. In issuing a memo to law enforcement across the state, James said she was seeking to provide guidance regarding police response to tenant complaints. James is concerned that landlords or superintendents are using emergency services as a tool to break tenant legal proceedings such as meetings or to organize against landlords. As New Yorkers grapple with unprecedented rent increases and an increasingly difficult rental market, we are seeing some landlords employing disturbing tactics,’ Attorney General James said. “We have seen reports of landlords calling the police to tenants to rally and organize in their own buildings – actions that are well within the parameters of the law.”
MAJOR PROJECTS — “Seize and sell Russian oligarchs’ yachts, art and homes in the US to help Ukraine: Schumer,” by New York Post’s Haley Brown: “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants seize US-based yachts, art possessions and mansions of Russian oligarchs — and donate money to help Ukraine. “These oligarchs, loyal to Putin, are extremely wealthy and have purchased these types of assets, which are here in the United States,” Schumer said Sunday at a press conference in Manhattan. “There’s no reason for Putin’s wickedness and those ill-gotten gains to stay where they are when there’s a desperate need for relief.” Schumer said his plan would give the federal government the power to liquidate foreign assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs and donate that money. The assets include items such as yachts, helicopters, real estate and works of art and are worth billions of dollars, he said.
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RETAIL TROUBLES — “Madison Ave Retailers Lock Doors During Daytime Amid Crime Frenzy,” by Kerry J. Byrne of the New York Post: “The outlook for luxury retail in New York is bleak, literally. Posh shops on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side dim the lights, lock the doors and open by appointment only in an effort to combat a relentless plague of cheeky daytime shoplifters who terrorize the glitzy thoroughfare. The Carolina Herrera store near 67th Street has been robbed so many times that it now pretends to be closed, with dim lights and a locked door, even during normal business hours. “He looks closed,” lamented one bride-to-be, hoping to drop six silhouettes across three Herrera dresses for the aisle walk and post-ceremony receptions. She noted it was a “bad look” for one of the world’s most famous luxury shopping districts.
EXPANSION PLANS – “TF Cornerstone expands footprint in Brooklyn with purchase of The Berkley”, by Commercial Observer’s Mark Hallum: “TF Cornerstone has entered into an agreement to acquire a residential tower in North Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for $71 million from Trinity Place Holdings, according to both parties. The Berkley, located at 223 North 8th Street, is a 95-unit multi-family development with 19 apartments listed as affordable. The deal follows TF Cornerstone’s purchase of 250 North 10th Street in January 2020 for $138 million. “We took advantage of the current market to complete this opportunistic sell off,” Matthew Messinger, CEO of Trinity Place Holdings, said in a statement. “It further reinforces our investment thesis that even when interest rates are volatile and rising, high-quality multifamily assets in New York’s best neighborhoods remain in high demand.”
LAW AND DISORDER – “Rumble boxing gym ordered to pay nearly $1 million in back rent”, by Lois Weiss of the New York Post: “One, two, three… KO. A New York State Supreme Court judge ordered the boxing-inspired Rumble Fitness Center to fork more than at least $925,572 in arrears of rent for its location at 700 Broadway — and while it can’t cancel its own lease, its landlord can seek eviction from the fitness center. Although the pandemic created chaos for gyms and restaurants which were forced to remain closed by the governor’s numerous executive orders, the judge found that the commercial lease signed in September 2016 still required Rumble to pay rent to the owner of the condominium, which is the Schermerhorn Building Condominium. Board of Directors. The lease is for 10 years and 4 months with the possibility of extension for another 5 years.
— “Airbnb says staff can work remotely forever – and maintain pay,by Patrick Ralph of The Real Deal
— “West Village and Castle Hill get new business improvement districts“, by Brian Pascus of Crain
— “Suite life: Debt-ridden de Blasio spends thousands to live big in Brooklyn hotelby Rich Calder and Griffin Kelley of the New York Post
— “Deals of the Day: April 29by Crain staff
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