|
An upcoming rezoning of Gowanus is expected to create thousands of apartments, including affordable units, a public promenade bordering the canal, new schools, manufacturing and retail spaces to preserve the area's commercial character, Crain's New York reported. Local councilman Brad Lander also wants the rezoning to help fix three neighboring New York City Housing Authority complexes that need hundreds of millions of dollars of repairs. Lander has asked the Dept. of City Planning, the agency drafting the rezoning plan, to include a mechanism that would allow the three complexes, Wyckoff Gardens, Gowanus Houses and Warren Street Houses, to sell air rights into the district, potentially raising tens of millions of
dollars or more for the properties, which together have about 1,800 units.
Beijing's announcement that the U.S. and China have mutually agreed to roll back tariffs as part of a "phase one" trade accord lifted financial markets, but questions remained over how much ground-if any -the Trump administration had agreed to give, The Wall Street Journal reported. Optimism that the trade war was finally nearing an end was raised by comments from a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman in Beijing.
In an attempt to address the staggering number of empty storefronts across New York City, a Brooklyn City Council member plans to introduce a landmark bill that would seek to regulate commercial rents, Gothamist reported. Councilmember Stephen Levin had been expected to introduce the bill at the end of the summer. On Wednesday, he said that his office had begun researching the possibility of commercial rent control a little over a year ago and was surprised that there had been no recent effort to propose it. The councilmember's office did not immediately provide Gothamist with a copy of the bill but Levin said that his proposal provides a "clear and predictable framework for rental increases in commercial spaces" that
are limited by a certain size.
A breathtakingly ambitious Bronx project now has Gary LaBarbera in its corner, The Real Deal reported. The president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York came out strongly in favor of the project during a tour of the expansive site, citing the employment the development would create. "It is going to open opportunity for thousands of jobs, 10,000 permanent jobs for residents of the Bronx," the powerful labor leader said. "And it's going to create 8,000 construction jobs." The development, called Fordham Landing, will run along 40 acres between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan Expressway.
Barclays has provided $350 million to Shorenstein Properties to refinance the owner's leasehold interest in 1407 Broadway, a 1.1-million-square-foot Garment District office property, Commercial Observer reported. The five-year loan retires roughly $270 million in previous debt provided by Bank of America in May 2015 to fund Shorenstein's $330 million ground lease purchase.
|
