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Homeless families will be able to apply for housing in luxury buildings thanks to a new city rule, The Real Deal reported. Developers who are unable to fill affordable units in their luxury buildings through the housing lottery will be required to provide those apartments to shelter residents, Bloomberg reported. The rule applies to developers who received tax breaks in exchange for setting aside affordable units. About 200 vacant units were eligible as of Friday, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The city will pay the building owners to lease the apartments. The legal challenges against 200 Amsterdam Avenue, a 52-story tower on the Upper West Side, have culminated in an unprecedented decision: A State Supreme Court judge has ordered that the building must lose as many as 20 floors (or more) in accordance with the zoning for the neighborhood, Curbed New York reported. The decision comes several months after the 668-foot building, the neighborhood's tallest, topped out; sales for its 112 apartments have already launched, although none appear to be in contract, according to listings posted on StreetEasy. Opponents of the project, which include local politicians and civic organizations like the Municipal Art Society (MAS), have argued since it was first announced that the building flouts the city's zoning rules, since the developers pieced the lot it sits on together from several disconnected properties. Manufacturing in New York state accelerated in February to the highest level since May as orders and shipments jumped, Crains New York reported. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general business conditions index advanced to 12.9 from January's 4.8, according to a report Tuesday. The bank's gauge of orders surged to its best level since September 2017, while shipments climbed to the highest since 2018. The figures are welcome news for a factory sector that struggled last year with a slowdown in capital spending, weak export markets and trade policy uncertainty. Greystone has provided $105 million in HUD-insured financing to preserve over 480 units of affordable housing in New York City, Real Estate Weekly reported. The lender provided a $54,965,400 HUD-insured loan to refinance 31-41 23rd Street in Astoria, Queens, a 241-unit property spanning nearly 200,000 s/f. Earlier, Greystone provided $50 million in HUD-insured financing for 199 Avenue B in the East Village. The long-term, fixed rate financing preserves affordability for at least the next 35 years for its 91 units, which house residents whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). New York City's real estate industry suffered a big blow when the state legislature approved the new rent laws in June 2019, and now it's grappling with a trio of new threats: a potential ban on broker fees for residential brokers, commercial rent control and a retail vacancy tax, Commercial Observer reported. The Real Estate Board of New York, an influential real estate trade organization that represents 14,000 residential brokers in the city along with thousands of commercial brokers, once again stands on a precipice. Last year, it successfully beat back city legislation that would have capped residential broker fees at one month's rent. Now it's suing a state agency that claims the new rent laws mean brokers working for a landlord aren't entitled to collect commissions from renters. And it has to grapple with a mayor who wants to impose commercial rent control and a retail vacancy tax on landlords, which would create hurdles for commercial owners, tenants and brokers.
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