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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 22nd
Since 2009, tech jobs have increased by 57% in Brooklyn, from 6,200 to 9,800, and most of this growth has taken place in three locations: The Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown Brooklyn, and Industry City. Downtown Brooklyn has become particularly attractive to tech companies because it is currently home to 45,000 students from 11 colleges and universities. What’s also important to note is that many of these jobs combine tech and engineering, and consequently pay significantly more than typical tech jobs. The average pay is $92,900.While the influence of the tech sector will continue to expand in Brooklyn, its rate of growth may be … read more
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How Landlords Can Still Take Advantage of Solar Incentives
Economists for BP recently published their annual outlook on energy production and consumption and were startled to discover that 17 percent of the growth in the world’s energy last year came from renewable sources. This is by far the largest increase on record.
This surge is not only happening because of environmental concerns. It is also because new technologies are bringing down the costs of renewable energy production. In fact, the Financial Times reports that “the International Energy Agency estimates that solar will soon be the cheapest source of new electricity in some countries.”
While this is certainly good news, especially for the … read more
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LandlordsNY MemberWhat Landlords Need to Know About the State of the Market in 2018
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University recently released their annual State of the Nation’s Housing report, and the two primary takeaways are that housingexpenses are growing at an unsustainable rateand that supply is not keeping up with demand among low- and middle-income Americans. Both phenomena are interrelated, as the rise in building costs is slowing the pace of construction and sluggish construction of affordable housing is leading tohome and rental prices that are above what many Americans can afford.Consequently, "Homeownership rates among young adults today are even lower than in 1988, and the share of … read more
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New Law Could Force Landlords to Install Heat Sensors
A bill introduced by City Councilmembers Ritchie Torres (D-Dist. 15), Robert Cornegy (D-Dist. 36), and Mark Levine (D-Dist. 10) in May could require some landlords to install temperature sensors in their buildings. Borough President Eric Adams has also expressed his support for the measure.
As it stands now, the bill will only obligate the 150 buildings with the most violations of heat codes each year to comply should it become law. These sensors, which are described as “internet-capable temperature reporting device[s],” will be accessible by tenants and landlords, and landlords will be responsible for maintaining them for four years following … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 21st
The median price of a previously owned home rose to a record $264,800 in May, the National Association of Realtors reported. This makes housing in the United States the least affordable it has been since late 2008. ATTOM Data Solutions crunched the numbers and found that an average household would need to spend 31.2% of their income to afford a median-priced home, which is significantly above the historic average of 29.6%.
Bloomberg has more.
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Cushman & Wakefield has filed to go public and his hired the following army of banks to ensure that the deal happens: Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 19th
U.S. housing starts rose by 5.0% from April to May to their highest levels since 2007. This places them at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.350 million. This good news was tempered by the not-so-great news that the number of residential building permits declined 4.6% during the same period to an annual pace of 1.301 million. This suggests that there is far less construction in the pipeline than assumed. The numbers also reveal that starts in May were strong for single-family homes, but have stalled out for multifamily buildings.
The Wall Street Journal has more.
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Though there continue to be many roadblocks … read more
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LandlordsNY Member
Case of the Week: In the Matter of the Administrative Appeal of 2129 Amsterdam Realty LLC
Semantics is the lifeblood of law. This is not a cynical assessment of the legal profession. A cynical assessment of the legal profession would be that lawyers pretend to misunderstand plain language in order to create more complicated language that normal people can’t fully understand, which thereby necessitates and perpetuates the existence of the legal profession at a great expense to both the sanity and bank accounts of people who lack the necessary proficiency in the recondite and almost comically circuitous language of the law.
That being said, it can be extremely frustrating sometimes when your case hinges on … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 18th
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has officially weighed in on the controversial development at 80 Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn. The initial plan, as envisioned by developer Alloy Development, would consist of two very tall towers that would contain 900 units, 200 of which would be affordable, and two schools. What has made it so controversial is that the taller of the two would be 920 feet in height despite being immediately surrounded by low-rise brownstones.Because of the height disparity, Mr. Adams has recommended that the building be reduced to 600 feet in height and that it contain nearly 50 percent two- and three-bedroom units to accommodate more … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 15th
The Department of City Planning recently provided an in-depth look at the changing demographic landscape of Queens. They found that the borough’s 2,358,582 residents (as of 2017) are extremely diverse and that Queens most certainly lives up to its reputation as “The World’s Borough.”
At least 1,097,976 people living in Queens are internationally-born. The three most common countries these immigrants came from are China (16%), Guyana (7.1%), and Ecuador (6.6%). The remaining top ten most populous ethnicities in Queens are Bangladeshi, Mexican, Jamaican, Dominican, Colombian, Indian, and Korean.
Also of interest, particularly for … read more
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LandlordsNY Member
What Landlords Need to Know About Aging in Place
The Department of Housing Preservation & Development recently announced a new program to improve in-unit and building-wide safety features for senior citizens and disabled New Yorkers called “Aging in Place.” The program is a joint venture by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department for the Aging, and the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. It is available to owners of multifamily buildings undergoing city-financed rehabilitation and provides them with additional financing options to make these modifications less financially cumbersome.
Examples of building-wide modifications include installing:
- Additional handrails in … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 14th
Analysts are expecting the life science industry to expand rapidly in coming years and New York City’s real estate market is not in a position to handle it. Currently, only 1.7 million square feet of commercial space is capable of accommodating life science companies and labs. In Boston, conversely, the industry occupies 17.8 million square feet of commercial space.
There are several reasons why developers and landlords in the city should work to accommodate the industry. It is expected to grow faster than most others, the jobs it produces pay well, and the talent is already here. There are 4.8 New Yorkers with a life science degree … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 13th
New York City will spend $500 million to build affordable apartments for senior citizens on vacant land that is both city-owned and adjacent to existing public housing developments. The hope is that these new apartments will attract low-income seniors currently in two- and three-bedroom NYCHA units. By leaving, this allows more of the 207,000 families who are currently on the waiting list to move in and take their place.
Housing advocates believe that the $500 million is a step in the right direction, but contend that the city should be spending as much as $2 billion to create thousands of these units designed specifically for … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 12th
Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson have agreed to an $89.15 billion budget for the fiscal year of 2019. Though slightly higher than the executive budget proposal the de Blasio administration released in April, the plan does not contain the $400 property tax rebate championed by the City Council, but does put record sums into the city’s so-called rainy day fund. Also of note, the budget contains $106 million to partially fund the “Fair Fares” program that will begin providing half-priced MetroCards to New Yorkers living below the poverty line in January 2019.
Gotham Gazette has more.
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Numerous office tenants are realizing that … read more
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LandlordsNY Member
Case of the Week: Fox v. 12 East 88th LLC
One of the more bizarre cases to have come to our attention in recent months concerns the lawsuit between attorney Barry Fox and his previous and current landlords. It’s unlikely that anyone will experience something akin to this anytime soon, but it does go to show how even lawyers can find themselves tripped up by the law.
The undisputed facts are as follows: Mr. Fox moved into his stabilized, penthouse apartment in 1975. In 1996, he also took possession of the stabilized penthouse next door, thereby making him the sole tenant for the building's two penthouse apartments. He then spent approximately $500,000 to turn the two units into a single apartment. It was … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for June 9th
Landlords of suburban office parks are finding that urban amenities can make their properties more attractive to younger workers who have typically eschewed the suburbs in favor of cities. The vacancy rates for office space in Manhattan and New Jersey paint a very clear picture of this disparity. The former is 8.5%, while the latter is 23.9%.Some of the new features that suburban office landlords are trying out include food trucks, cafes, yoga studios, and even stand-alone structures dedicated entirely to amenities. Said buildings can include everything from fitness centers, meeting spaces, conference areas, and even restaurants. … read more
