July 24, 2008
FALLING ACORN! HOW FAR FROM THE TREE?
Noticing New York
Michael White digs into the recently unearthed ACORN scandal — and scores points for a witty headline.
Do you know about ACORN’s top-management cover-up of a million dollar embezzlement? The cover-up discovered just a few days ago lasted for eight years. I am figuring our local state and city government officials must now be in a tizzy evaluating what to do about the national housing and advocacy group.
...As with any cover-up, the standard questions need to be trotted out for the standard basic investigative due diligence. Who knew what, and when did they know it?
Who needs to be asking those questions? Any government agency that has been doing business with ACORN, is currently doing business with ACORN, or may have planned to do business with ACORN.
In New York, we’ve definitely got some of those agencies. And in New York, there is another set of impinging questions that must, perforce, be examined concerning ACORN and the proposed $4.4 billion Atlantic Yards megadevelopment which ACORN has complicitly helped design as a subsidy sponge. A bunch of New York State agencies are going to have to ask these questions and the rest of us in the broader New York community are going to be wanting answers too.
Posted by eric at 12:46 PM
July 18, 2008
National ACORN's (episode of) scandal, and NY ACORN's dubious Brooklyn stadium deal (in 2000)
Atlantic Yards Report
ACORN founder [and former national director] Wade Rathke wrote 3/1/07 on his blog about AY:
Surprisingly, we found ourselves on the opposite side of the divide among the Park Slope liberals and others who were unwilling to join us in making the diversity of the community the core issue.
As Norman Oder examines ACORN NYC's role in a previous Brooklyn stadium controversy, you gotta worry that Rathke's head scratching might be genuine; if so, he missed the part about how Bertha Lewis cut a deal and sold out her coalition partners, who, incidentally, fought on.
The result was a win-win for everyone involved: local stakeholders benefitted from the renovation of the Parade Grounds, the Mets built the minor league ballpark in Coney Island (a location much better served by public transporation) and jobs were created.
But Bertha Lewis's penchant for being a solo broker for the community left one journalist a little suspicious. From Oder's interview with Neil deMause:
Q. Was there a parallel with the Atlantic Yards affordable housing agreement signed by ACORN?
A. It just happened much earlier in the Nets deal. She sold out or bought in, depending on how you want to put it, very early. Ok, fine, if you’re going to give me what I want, then I’ll go for it. There are arguments for doing CBAs [Community Benefits Agreements] where, if developer does do enough things for the community, then that’s OK, people buy in.
The problem of course is that Bertha didn’t get together with everybody in the community and say, OK, let’s figure out what the community wants, and let’s present a list of demands to Ratner and, until you make us all happy, we’re not going to go along with it. It’s that I’m going to cut a deal for myself and everybody else is then the enemy.
So, yeah, speaking of people who’ve lost credibility. I mean, ACORN’s done a lot of good things, and I’m sure Bertha has done good things in her time, but she definitely has this capacity for selling her support for projects based more on narrow self-interest of her and the organization rather than what’s good for community or the city. That’s disappointing, to say the least.
NoLandGrab: Keep in mind that ACORN stands to profit financially from Atlantic Yards by acting as the administrator for the project's affordable housing component.
Posted by lumi at 6:04 AM
July 16, 2008
I.R.S. Could Crimp Bloomberg's Big Plans
NY Observer
by Eliot Brown
The Observer's lead real estate reporter takes an in-depth look at New York City's furious efforts to preserve tax-exempt financing for its favorite son, Bruce Ratner.
As the Bloomberg administration scrambles to get its development projects in the ground amid a slowing economy and a waning political term, two major planned initiatives the city has championed face a formidable hurdle: the Internal Revenue Service.
For the financing plan for the Atlantic Yards housing and sports arena complex in Brooklyn, and for one being considered for the planned middle-income-housing mega-complex at Hunter’s Point South in Queens, the city would need a favorable ruling from the I.R.S. or face substantially higher costs for both projects. Negative rulings from the federal agency could result in tens of millions of dollars in added costs, putting up new obstacles to major developments that have already seen ambitions scaled back.
For both projects, the city wants to use tax-exempt financing, a method that lowers costs substantially—perhaps more than 15 percent—with the bulk of the savings coming out of federal tax revenues.
And, at least in the case of Atlantic Yards, the I.R.S. is rather wary, as it has called the financing method a “loophole” that it has ordered closed.
NoLandGrab: We haven't rooted this hard for the IRS since "The Untouchables."
Posted by eric at 11:18 AM
July 13, 2008
Funds Misappropriated at 2 Nonprofit Groups
The NY Times
By Stephanie Strom
NYC ACORN, the group that signed the Atlantic Yards affordable housing pact with Bruce Ratner, and which professes to advocate for the underserved, has been concealing a dark secret for several years. Even after the discovery of the misappropriation of nearly a million dollars by the founder's brother, the national organization decided not to disclose the fact to its own board and continued to keep the brother on the payroll.
NYC ACORN Director Bertha Lewis, who signed the housing agreement with Bruce Ratner, is now interim national director.
A whistle-blower forced Acorn to disclose the embezzlement, which involved the brother of the organization’s founder, Wade Rathke.
The brother, Dale Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000, Acorn officials said, but a small group of executives decided to keep the information from almost all of the group’s board members and not to alert law enforcement.
Dale Rathke remained on Acorn’s payroll until a month ago, when disclosure of his theft by foundations and other donors forced the organization to dismiss him.
“We thought it best at the time to protect the organization, as well as to get the funds back into the organization, to deal with it in-house,” said Maude Hurd, president of Acorn. “It was a judgment call at the time, and looking back, people can agree or disagree with it, but we did what we thought was right.”
The amount Dale Rathke embezzled, $948,607.50, was carried as a loan on the books of Citizens Consulting Inc., which provides bookkeeping, accounting and other financial management services to Acorn and many of its affiliated entities.
Wade Rathke said the organization had signed a restitution agreement with his brother in which his family agreed to repay the amount embezzled in exchange for confidentiality.
Wade Rathke stepped down as Acorn’s chief organizer on June 2, the same day his brother left, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.
He said the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a “weapon” into the hands of enemies of Acorn, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to its often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers.
Wade Rathke said he learned of the problem when an employee of Citizens Consulting alerted him about suspicious credit card transactions. An internal investigation uncovered inappropriate charges on the cards that led back to his brother.
“Clearly, this was an uncomfortable, conflicting and humiliating situation as far as my family and I were concerned,” he said, “and so the real decisions on how to handle it had to be made by others.”
The executive director of New York Acorn, Bertha Lewis, who has been named director of an interim management committee set up to run the national group’s day-to-day operations, said Dale Rathke was paid about $38,000 a year but that none of that money was used to pay back Acorn.
NoLandGrab: This makes you wonder what else ACORN has been keeping from its constituents and supporters. Keep in mind that ACORN stands to profit financially from Atlantic Yards by acting as the administrator for the project's affordable housing component.
Posted by lumi at 4:28 PM
June 26, 2008
ACORN on Displacing Residents and Businesses ...In Coney Island
This was brought to our attention by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:
From Crain's:
...“Here we go again,” said Bertha Lewis, executive director of Acorn. “The administration is proposing yet another mega-project that will displace residents and small business.”...
Ms. Lewis is talking about Coney Island.
Posted by lumi at 4:27 AM
June 12, 2008
As Cranes Fall and People Die
Economic Development for Whom?
CounterPunch.org
by Judith Levine
In an essay decrying the conventional wisdom that in a construction boom, accidents will happen, Brooklyn author Judith Levine fingers a ubiquitous bogeyman.
Developers—like Forest City Ratner, preparing for Brooklyn Atlantic Yards—demolish affordable housing to build “sub-market-rate” housing, which is unaffordable to most New Yorkers. Meanwhile, the City announces that budget cuts will force 15% rent rises in public housing and the closing of community centers and programs.
...Perhaps City Hall has always been a wholly owned subsidiary of the equivalent of Forest City Ratner. Perhaps there’s never been a time when New Yorkers didn’t wake up to the sound of jackhammers, when life here was not noisy, crowded, and chaotic. When workers did not fall to their deaths from skyscrapers and cranes.
But the question is always the same: who benefits?
The job of public officials is to ensure that the answer is the public—not just developers, but the rest of us.
NoLandGrab: Well, we know Bruce Ratner and his cronies benefit. The check for everyone else is in the mail.
Posted by eric at 2:33 PM
June 3, 2008
Elected officials sign development pledge, but the question is money
Atlantic Yards Report
On Saturday, the highlight of the Peoples’ Accountable Development Summit--part of the Fifth Avenue Committee’s South Brooklyn Accountable Development Initiative--was a pledge from elected officials to uphold a list of Accountable Development Principles, listed at right.
Those signing the pledge included City Council Members Letitia James and David Yassky, Rep. Yvette Clarke, Assemblymen Hakeem Jeffries and Jim Brennan, State Senators Velmanette Montgomery and Eric Adams, and City Council candidate (and 52nd A.D. Democratic District Leader) JoAnne Simon. Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Borough President Marty Markowitz sent representatives to sign the pledge. The principles are honorable; while some, such as the goal of accountable process, do not require more money, others do depend on a commitment of funds.
The main component is a redefinition of affordable housing, calling for making units "truly affordable to people in the neighborhood"--a dig at projects like Atlantic Yards, which contains a significant slice of subsidized units--2250 of 4500 planned rentals, plus 200 of 1930 onsite condos--but which are not necessarily affordable to average Brooklynites. While there's a 50/50 pledge regarding the AY rentals, when that pledge was announced, it applied to the project as a whole; now it would be 38%. Note that "truly affordable" is not defined.
Posted by eric at 10:12 AM
May 25, 2008
Affordable housing DOA
The Brooklyn Paper
by Mike McLaughlin
Here is a story that reminds us: although a developer might tell you that he's providing affordable housing, they only get built when, and if, public funds are available to pay for them.
The leaner, meaner real-estate market has forced one of the city’s major developers to eliminate more than 200 affordable housing units from his 660-apartment complex in Downtown Brooklyn.
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain and possible mayoral candidate, told The Brooklyn Paper that he is moving ahead with his project, which was halted in February, and that it is now no longer the mixed-income community he originally proposed.
...
He also couldn’t scrounge up the city and state affordable housing bonds, so he cast off those politically popular below-market-rate units.
The loss of those subsidized apartments provides a cautionary tale for other mega-developments, like Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards, where thousands of affordable units have been indefinitely delayed, that promises of below-market-rate housing are only as strong as the availability of taxpayer subsidies.
Posted by steve at 8:45 AM
May 16, 2008
By the numbers
Bergen Record
The Nets kicked off sales Thursday of a portion of their luxury suites for the proposed Barclays Center, which they hope to open in Brooklyn by the end of 2010. Some seating facts:
64 "Level A" luxury suites, priced at $190,000 to $450,000
54 "Level B" luxury suites, priced at $155,000 to $400,000
12 Court-level "bunker" suites, priced at $540,000
3,200 Premium "club" seats, price not set but probably more than $150 per game
2,000 Upper-level seats for $15
NoLandGrab: Interesting that the Nets also remembered to promote the promised 2,000 $15 seats. Those, of course, won't be on sale for a very long time. Most likely, though, they'll be available much, much sooner than any of the units listed below.
Posted by eric at 12:22 PM
May 6, 2008
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: New Frank Gehry Atlantic Yards Design:
"Ridiculous" Design Has No Impact on Stalled Project
Renderings Only Show Phase 1 of Project
Leaving Out Bulk of "Affordable" Housing
BROOKLYN, NY— Today Forest City Ratner and its architect Frank Gehry released new designs for a portion of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The architectural renderings show a new design for the project’s proposed arena and 2 other buildings in Phase 1 of the project. But the developer shows no rendering at all for Phase 2--the larger part of the project--which is planned to encompass about 78% of the 2,250 "affordable" units. A State Funding Agreement provides no timeline whatsoever for Phase 2 and the developer has not provided a credible timeline for Phase 2.
"The new design from Frank Gehry is no better than the last--in reality it has gone from the absurd to the ridiculous aesthetically and programmatically," said Ron Shiffman, Professor, Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment and a New York City Planning Commissioner [1990-1996]. The fact that there isn’t a new design released for Phase 2 concerns me greatly. It seems like there is no plan for the bulk of the affordable housing, which would be in Phase 2. To destroy buildings of significant quality that could house people and jobs for what looks like an open-ended series of parking lots, rather than housing that could be affordable to low and moderate income area residents, is terrible planning and policy."
The New York Daily News published the Frank Gehry renderings as an exclusive. The paper reports that the so-called "Miss Brooklyn" signature skyscraper, is now called simply "Building 1." The reduction of that tower from 620 feet to 511 feet was announced as a "concession" on December 20, 2006 when the project was approved by the Public Authorities Control Board. Today marks the first time the reduction has been shown in a rendering. The rendering does not show the project’s massive scale as it relates to the surrounding neighborhood; its only context is a dark void explaining nothing about the projects context.
The NY Post published exclusive renderings from the Municipal Art Society (MAS) which show the project fully built out within the existing neighborhood context, as well as built only in part (an arena. and one building) surrounded by newly demolished, blighting parking lots. Apparently the MAS renderings were motivated by the March 21 NY Times interview with Mr. Ratner where the developer described the trouble he was having getting his project off the ground.
"Mr. Gehry and Mr. Ratner can release redesigns of Atlantic Yards’s buildings every week if they’d like, but that wouldn’t respond to the core reasons for the widespread opposition to the project," said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. "The new designs are a fantasy. The project lacks committed financing (including tax-free housing bonds and a bond for the arena), an anchor tenant, and the land needed for the project, while Ratner faces vigorous litigation, a frightening credit market and exponential increases in construction costs. His project is in serious jeopardy. So when he says he ‘anticipates’ it will be completed in 2018, it's simply not credible. It means nothing."
DEVELOP DON'T DESTROY BROOKLYN leads a broad-based community coalition fighting for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them DDDB is 501c3 non-profit corporation supported by over 4,000 individual donors from the community.
#
Posted by lumi at 4:18 AM
May 2, 2008
Interest groups split after squabble over affordable housing at Willets Point
NY Daily News (Queens Edition)
by John Lauinger
How does the battle over Willets Point differ from the battle over Atlantic Yards? Well, for one thing, ACORN was on the side of those fighting the abuse of eminent domain — or at least they were until 10 days ago.
A Willets Point business association has parted ways with an influential housing advocacy group, claiming it exploited them to wage an affordable housing battle with the city.
The Committee to Save Willets Point, which includes more than 100 small businesses in the so-called Iron Triangle, said they were misled and misrepresented by the nonprofit organization ACORN.
"It has become apparent to our committee that ACORN's goals and ours are not the same, and that it's not useful for us to collaborate in the fight to preserve the livelihoods of the hard-working people of Willets Point," the committee wrote in an April 21 letter to ACORN.
..."They were always trying to put words in our mouths," Olaya said, adding that his members' main concern is to have their businesses relocated.
"If the city wants to negotiate, we want to negotiate," Olaya added, charging that ACORN never told them their line in the sand would be 60% affordable housing or bust.
NoLandGrab: 60%! Is that what ACORN was demanding for Atlantic Yards before they started "negotiating" with Bruce Ratner?
Posted by eric at 10:56 AM
April 29, 2008
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace
Brownstoner.com
Here's one development near the Vanderbilt Railyard, featuring a lot of affordable housing, that's actually going forward as scheduled.
While the future of affordable housing at Atlantic Yards is unclear, there's been some progress on Atlantic Terrace, the mixed-income development a stone's throw from the AY footprint. There was a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project back (rendered at right) in October, and workers have dug the big hole that'll eventually get filled with 80 co-ops, 50 percent of which will be affordable to low-income families and 20 percent of which will be affordable moderate-income earners. Last year there were stories in the Observer and Post about how plans for solar panels on the building's roof had to be scrapped because the looming shadows of AY high-rises would interfere with harnessing sunshine. Perhaps dark days for AY help that design facet see the light of day.
Posted by eric at 12:34 PM
April 26, 2008
De Blasio claims AY would have 3000 low-income units
Atlantic Yards Report
In an interview in the Spring issue of the Park Slope Reader, City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who's running for Borough President, shows he hasn't improved his due diligence regarding Atlantic Yards.Notably--unless he was misquoted--he claimed that the project would include 3000 low-income housing units, a significant overstatement.
Actually, the plan is to include 900 low-income rental units--at 30-50% of AMI (Area Median Income)--among 2250 affordable rentals, and 600 to 1000 for-sale affordable units, of which a "majority... will be sold to families in the upper affordable income tiers," according to the Housing Memorandum of Understanding Forest City Ratner signed with ACORN. That means households with six-figure incomes, perhaps needing a boost in New York, but hardly low-income.
Posted by amy at 11:03 AM
April 23, 2008
Behind 80 DeKalb, FCR's test run for AY marketing (and, probably, housing bonds)
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder takes an in-depth look at Forest City Ratner's 80 DeKalb project for clues about the company's chances of securing scarce tax-exempt bonds for Atlantic Yards.
Forest City Ratner's plan for a 365-unit rental apartment building at 80 DeKalb Avenue, a new tower at the edge of Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn, offers some obvious and not so obvious parallels regarding the housing planned for the Atlantic Yards project.
The marketing of residential real estate--a first for FCR in Brooklyn and one of only three such company projects in the city--presents the obvious parallel.
The less obvious parallel: the developer's success in gaining scarce tax-exempt bonds from the state housing finance agency--in an application that earned praise from the agency's head--shows that FCR may be well-positioned to compete for similar bonds from the city housing finance agency to build AY.
Posted by eric at 9:12 AM
April 18, 2008
Pols: Stop Bruce now
The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman
Any construction at the Atlantic Yards site must be blocked until developer Bruce Ratner commits — in writing — to building the full state-approved project, three councilmembers said this week.
Bill DeBlasio (D–Park Slope), David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights) and Letitia James (D–Fort Greene) made the demand in a letter to state officials this week, just two weeks after Ratner announced that the 16-skyscraper project has been significantly downsized and that most of the promised below-market-rate housing is no longer scheduled to be built.
According to Ratner, the project now only consists of a publicly financed basketball arena and two or three smaller residential buildings around it.
“We need something in writing from Forest City Ratner [that] confirms what will be built when,” DeBlasio told The Brooklyn Paper. “We need to stop until there is a clear plan. The plans have changed, at least according to Ratner himself, so why should demolitions continue?”
Posted by lumi at 5:27 AM
April 16, 2008
Councilman wants Atlantic Yards demolition halted - for now
NY Daily News
by Jotham Sederstrom
The News follows up on comments made to bloggers Monday evening by Brooklyn Beep candidate Bill de Blasio.
Point:
A Brooklyn councilman who has been supportive of the controversial Atlantic Yards project has called for a moratorium on the struggling basketball arena plan.
Councilman Bill de Blasio bashed developer Forest City Ratner for keeping government subsidies hidden and not telling residents about construction delays.
"I've been frustrated in general by the lack of communication by Forest City Ratner for years, and it seems to me it's only gotten worse, not better," said de Blasio, who is running for borough president.
Counterpoint:
Forest City Ratner Executive Vice President Bruce Bender argued in a statement that the project has been transparent but did not address the developer's refusal to publicly reveal aspects of public funding and security concerns involving the plan.
"Atlantic Yards has been reviewed and debated extensively for over five years, including two public hearings before the City Council, multiple other state public hearings and hundreds of public meetings," Bender said in the statement.
"As the Council member knows, all of Atlantic Yards, including all of the affordable housing, will be built, and any delays in the construction phase will result in delays in delivering the thousands of units of affordable housing and thousands of jobs that Atlantic Yards will create."
NoLandGrab: Bruce, you ignorant.... But we digress. Why is Bill de Blasio the last to know that Forest City Ratner couldn't be trusted? If politicians of his ilk had been more skeptical about Atlantic Yards from the outset, we wouldn't be in this mess now. Still, we're glad that de Blasio is speaking up.
As for Bruce Bender: "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Is it possible that he's been faxing out the same statement for the past three years?
Posted by eric at 10:35 AM
April 15, 2008
De Blasio blasts Ratner, Calls for Moratorium on Demolitions
Bill de Blasio is mad as hell, and he wants to know why the rug has been pulled out from under Atlantic Yards' promised affordable housing. The Gowanus Lounge and Brownstoner share the scoop from last night's blogger meet-up with the Council Member.
The Gowanus Lounge, De Blasio Calls for Moratorium on Atlantic Yards Demolition
City Council Member and Brooklyn Borough President candidate Bill de Blasio is calling for a moratorium on demolition in the Atlantic Yards footprint. Mr. de Blasio made comments deeply critical of possible changes in the huge project as part of a wideranging discussion last night that covered everything from construction safety as developers race to beat changes in the 421a tax break program to zoning issues in Gowanus and Carroll Gardens.
...On Atlantic Yards, Mr. de Blasio said, "I am livid at the New York Times interview with Ratner" in which the developer announced that the project would be scaled back and that massive amounts of affordable housing would be seriously delayed or eliminated. "There was no discussion with the community before he went on record," Mr. de Blasio said, adding that the changes put "the entire community benefits agreement up for question."
Brownstoner, De Blasio Blasts Ratner on AY Obfuscation
The Councilman also said that he thinks the entire development should be reviewed again by the state if Forest City Ratner is now conceiving of a vastly different project, particularly one that reneges on its promised affordable housing. "I held out hope for the project because of the amount of affordable housing it would create, as well as the number of jobs it would bring," he said. "But I have been constantly disappointed in the lack of community involvement...I've never seen anything that's been mismanaged so fundamentally in terms of community involvement."
NoLandGrab: What Council Member de Blasio is overlooking is that there really hasn't been any discussion with the community ever, and that early support for the toothless and barely enforceable Community Benefits Agreement by him and other politicians has now come home to roost.
Additional coverage:
Curbed, Atlantic Yards Stall: Another Call for a Demolition Moratorium
Posted by eric at 11:58 AM
April 14, 2008
Nicole P. Marwell: Sociology of Brooklyn 11237 + 11206 + 11221
Who Walk In Brooklyn
Here's an interview with Nicole P. Marwell, author of "Bargaining For Brooklyn," about community-based organizations (CBOs). The introduction to the interview notes one well-known CBO, ACORN, and its Executive Director, Bertha Lewis. Lewis signed a memorandum of understanding with Forest City to include affordable housing in the proposed Atlantic Yards development. Given the problems plaguing Atlantic Yards, the affordable housing may not be built until far into the future, if ever.
Enter into this affray Nicole P. Marwell, a Wisconsin-raised, Chicago and New York educated, Bronx-residing sociologist who currently teaches at Columbia University. While the history of Latino Kings County has yet to be written— despite the fact that “Spanish” BK is just as old as, say, the Italian one—Nicole’s book, Bargaining For Brooklyn, will be a substantial resource for whoever does. How so? Because Nicole gets deep into one of the most important & least glamorous aspects of understanding a city of the haves & the ain’t-got-shit, the mysterious—to outsiders— world of “community based orgnanizations” (CBOs). In Brooklyn, the best known of these groups is probably ACORN, & even their notoriety is due more to Bertha Lewis’ failed devil’s bargain with Bruce Ratner on the so-called “Atlantic Yards” project than their any of their other, less disputable initiatives.
Posted by steve at 5:01 AM
April 12, 2008
In need of correction: the AY housing page
Atlantic Yards Report
From the official Atlantic Yards web site, a page in need of significant correction, given the news of the Atlantic Yards stall.
Posted by amy at 9:28 AM
April 4, 2008
Public Hearing Scheduled for 80 Dekalb Financing
Brownstoner
Today the Eagle reports that funding for the affordable housing units in one of Forest City Ratner's Brooklyn projects is looking more promising than it is for Atlantic Yards. The 34-story rental tower, as rendered above, will probably receive tax-exempt and/or taxable multifamily housing revenue bonds for 80 Dekalb's construction “not to exceed $109,500,000” from the Housing Finance Agency, which is having a public hearing about the matter on April 15th. The entire project is supposed to cost around $204 million, and at least 35 20 percent of its 365 apartments are going to be set aside as affordable rentals. As the photo on the jump shows, after a slow period last fall, work on the foundation is in full swing.
Posted by steve at 5:55 AM
March 28, 2008
Why Atlantic Yards depends on a Democratic administration in DC
Atlantic Yards Report
While Bruce Ratner is busy trying to convince reporters that Atlantic Yards is stalled because of the economy, Norman Oder keeps pointing out that it's the supply of affordable housing funding, stupid:
Besides the credit crunch and the lack of a market for office space, both acknowledged by Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, the project depends crucially on a sufficient supply of tax-exempt bonds, a "crisis"--in the words of city housing head Shaun Donovan--evident well before the downturn in the economy.
And, despite efforts in Washington by top legislators representing New York, the problem likely won't be alleviated until a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress revamp the rules and allow hard-pressed states like New York additional "volume cap," or the capacity to issue bonds free of federal taxes.
Posted by lumi at 6:17 AM
March 27, 2008
And what about those for-sale affordable units? The fine print is vague
Atlantic Yards Report
Some details surface regarding one of the big outstanding questions about the deal cut by developer Bruce Ratner to gain support for his controversial Atlantic Yards project:
A major question raised about the 600 to 1000 affordable for-sale units, on and off-site, announced by developer Forest City Ratner as part of the Atlantic Yards Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is why they were absent from the General Project Plan approved by the Empire State Development Corporation. That wasn't cause for confidence.
The recently-unveiled State Funding Agreement does, however, mention the pledge that's contained in the agreement FCR signed with the advocacy group ACORN.
However, as far as I can tell, the document has no teeth, since it asserts no deadlines and no penalties, though it does assign deadlines for other phases of the project and penalties for failure to meet those deadlines.
For one thing, if FCR doesn't build as many market-rate condos--and all housing is now on hold--the MOU appears to give the developer an out. Also, the construction of for-sale affordable units depends on unspecified subsidies.
NoLandGrab: In other words, affordable condos for "families in the upper affordable income tiers" are delayed until further notice.
Posted by lumi at 5:22 AM
March 23, 2008
Bad news for Atlantic Yards...
Community Benefits Agreements
Amy Levine explains how the delays and setbacks in the controversial Atlantic Yards project will affect developer Bruce Ratner's commitments to signatories of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA):
All of this news suggests that the affordable housing promised in the CBA may not be built until years after the stadium, if ever. Unfortunately, the CBA doesn't give the community any real redress. Consider the following provisions (text of the CBA is available here):
- The term of the CBA lasts until 30 years after construction begins on the first residential building. If Ratner only builds the arena, it might be difficult to show any breach for not building affordable housing since he can claim that the housing is still in the works (pgs. 5-6).
- The CBA also provides that "[t]he Developers may change the Development Phases in their sole discretion prior to commencement of the first Development Phase; provided that they shall provide advance notice...as soon as reasonably practicable" (pg. 11). Again, Ratner has free reign here to change the plans, and significantly postpone construction of the residential units, since construction has yet to begin.
- The affordable housing agreement specifies the percentage of units that will be affordable. It does not set any minimum amount of affordable housing that must be completed, even though the creation of new affordable housing has been one of the key reasons for public support of the project.
- Ratner is required to submit quarterly status reports to the CBA Coalition and the independent compliance monitor, but those status reports focus mainly on jobs--there is no requirement that Ratner report the amount of affordable housing that has been constructed (pgs. 41-43).
- If a new developer takes over the project, it will have no real obligation to continue the CBA. Ratner will still be responsible for the jobs development and local employment provisions (pgs. 49-50).
The problem goes beyond affordable housing though. The CBA also includes provisions that the project will include open space (pgs. 30-31), a community health center (pgs. 26-28), and child care, youth and senior centers (pgs. 28-30). If Ratner postpones construction of most of the project due to financial problems, there's a good chance that these will be postponed too. And that means that the community may end up with a stand alone stadium that causes traffic, noise and crime problems without adding many of the benefits that the developer promised.
Posted by lumi at 4:52 PM
As vows fade in Atlantic Yards, so do housing hopes
NY Daily News
Michael Daly
The Daily News made a comeback from their "Atlantic Yards-free" editions with two articles today. You can read the Errol Louis column here: "Blight at the end of the tunnel," or just skip ahead to Atlantic Yards Report's analysis of the dynamic duo: Daily News columnists Louis, Daly lament AY setbacks, blame NIMBYs, avoid facts.
Some locals fret that without the surrounding towers, the arena will be like other such venues, which are second only to bus terminals in imparting a seediness to the immediate vicinity.The bigger fear is that Ratner will end up selling off property that he acquired via eminent domain with the promise of affordable housing. The new developers would be free to erect more of the obscenely overpriced condos springing up everywhere in Brooklyn.
Unless, that is, the city finds a legal way to make all of Ratner's promises apply to anybody who buys property he acquired on the strength of those pledges.
Posted by amy at 1:19 PM
March 21, 2008
A statement from ACORN: "every confidence" in Forest City Ratner
Atlantic Yards Report
OK, at least somebody's still bullish on Atlantic Yards:
Bertha Lewis, Executive Director of NY ACORN, issued a statement regarding the Atlantic Yards stall:
"Forest City Ratner made a commitment to ACORN and to the people of Brooklyn to deliver on a historic plan for affordable housing. While the credit crunch and the downturn in the economy may lead to some delay, we continue to have every confidence they will live up to their commitment. This commitment was the basis for our support and the support of elected officials at the local, state and federal level.”
NoLandGrab: Given the existence of the "historic" Community Benefits Agreement, we're left to wonder if ACORN is contractually obligated to maintain confidence in Ratner. If not, then one could read this as "we took a lot of heat for supporting this project — don't make us have to take to the streets against you, Bruce."
Posted by eric at 3:33 PM
Favorable Atlantic Yards News For Ratner [a Dreamer]; Will Get Bonds
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Up there with "Dewey Defeats Truman," Dennis Holt's report that Bruce Ratner has secured scarce affordable-housing bonds has been greatly exaggerated:
If all this wasn’t bad news enough for the Yards opponents, the state housing authorities announced late last week that four developers will receive the state’s allocation for tax exempt bond housing funds. One of those was Forest City for Atlantic Yards.
(This is critical, since it makes it easier for Forest City to honor its housing commitments up front, and those, along with the sports arena, are the project’s strongest political pluses.)
NoLandGrab: The Eagle scooped all other publications with this incredible bit of news, which no one we know has been able to confirm. This makes one wonder if Holt's source wasn't actually the state housing authority — or if maybe he received this exclusive in a dream.
Posted by lumi at 4:46 AM
March 4, 2008
Bizzarro
Photographer Harry J. Bizzarro added some photos to the Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
 |
This one is a good reminder to take your umbrella before leaving the house today.
From the National Weather Service:
Rain likely, mainly after 3pm. Patchy fog after noon. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. South wind between 14 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Posted by lumi at 5:27 AM
March 3, 2008
Atlantic Yards Report shorts
From Norman Oder's weekend reading list:
StreetsBlog
Before AY, the necessity of congestion relief
A posting on Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn about gridlock at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues led to some serious debate on Streetsblog on the causes, solutions, and the role of DDDB.
Suffice it to say that even Atlantic Yards proponents like Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership of New York City believe the project could work only with congestion pricing.
And even a significantly dense but smaller project like that contemplated under the UNITY plan would require, as its planners suggest, “extensive traffic calming, parking reduction, and bicycle lanes to discourage vehicle use for both local and inter-borough travel.”
Play (NYT)
Why NBA team ownership can be very lucrative
Joe Nocera's article in yesterday's Play, The New York Times Sports Magazine, headlined Big time Losers describes the "Bad Owner" who runs lousy teams:
Why does the Bad Owner seem so impervious to it all?
Actually, there is a reason, a very good one. To own a franchise in any of the three major sports — football, baseball or basketball — is to enter a club in which it is nearly impossible to come away a financial loser.
His case in point is NBA's Los Angeles Clippers; owner Donald Sterling has seen his investment skyrocket from $13.5 million to $300 million.
Nocera points out that the value of the badly-managed New York Knicks has continued to rise, given its stronghold in the nation's major media market.
He doesn't mention the New Jersey Nets, but Bruce Ratner's strategy is consonant with his observation. The Nets are losing money in the Meadowlands and team managers are trying to improve the mix of players. But the key comes in the future: the new arena at Atlantic Yards would prove quite lucrative, thanks to naming rights from Barclays, 130 luxury suites, other sponsorships, and television revenue.
NoLandGrab: In three seasons Bruce Ratner has joined the pantheon of big-time losers. Nothing could feed Brooklyn's historical chip on the shoulder more than his ruining a winning franchise and moving it to "the fourth largest city in the US."
NY Times Real Estate Section
The lottery-like chances for subsidized middle-class housing
A New York Times Real Estate section article yesterday on the chances of the middle-class getting subsidized housing in New York City was headlined Winning That One in a Million.
Atlantic Yards, with 1350 subsidized middle- and moderate-income units and 900 subsidized low-income units, would seem to improve the odds slightly. Then again, if the project takes 20 years, or 30 years--or doesn't get off the ground at all--then the odds improve less and less.
Posted by lumi at 5:16 AM
February 29, 2008
Atlantic Yards Report shorts
Norman Oder posted four short articles on Atlantic Yards Report this morning:
Driving Miss Brooklyn, a troubled Brooklyn condo market?
Apparently Forest City Ratner's decision to shift flagship Atlantic Yards tower Miss Brooklyn from condos to office space was based on discernible trends in the industry. (Then again, things can change, given that Miss Brooklyn was supposed to be office space when announced in December 2003.)
In yesterday's New York Sun, real estate columnist Michael Stoler suggested that many in the real estate community see a growing divide between the luxury market in Manhattan and some of the more speculative projects in fringe areas.
AY affordable housing a myth? Better to call it delayed
It seems that each time the press reports the story about the scarcity of funds for affordable housing and the impact on Atlantic Yards, the stakes get raised:
Like a game of "telephone," in which a message gets mangled as it gets passed from one party to another, the Atlantic Yards affordable housing story grows ever murkier.
The New York Observer's summary yesterday:
Federal funding crunch means Forest City Ratner won't be able to build 3,000 affordable-housing units at Atlantic Yards, fulfilling the prophesies of its opponents. [Brooklyn Paper]
But the Brooklyn Paper article reported only that a federal cash crunch threatens the promised 2250 units of affordable housing, adding some more voices to a story I reported a week ago.
That doesn't mean the promised affordable housing is dead. After all, a Democratic administration in Washington just might allow a state like New York much more capacity to authorize tax-exempt bonds.
The change in the Senate and the stakes for housing
When the balance of power shifts in the State Senate, rent laws in New York may get a second look:
The special election Tuesday to elect a State Senator in the 48th Senatorial district reduced the Republicans margin to 32-30, with several vulnerable Republicans expected to face tough competition in November. Portrayed in the press as a victory for Gov. Eliot Spitzer--and it is--the ramifications for New York City may be felt most sharply in the area of housing.
"The election today may change how we look at the rent laws," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said at a housing panel at the New-York Historic Society on Tuesday, when the results of the election had not yet surfaced.
Since 1971, the legislature, not the City Council, has held the most power over rent regulation, thanks to the Urstadt Law. A Democratic legislature, with a Democratic governor, will be far more receptive to maintaining and strengthening rent protections, and restoring "home rule."
The city's pension funds finally take on "predatory equity"
This article covers an existing affordable-housing concern, rather than Atlantic Yards affordable housing:
When in November, I reported on a conference where participants discussed the practice of "predatory equity"--investment funds making speculative investments in rental housing, intending to raise rents significantly--I was astonished that only the grassroots policy publication City Limits had previously covered the story.
After all, housing advocates had discovered that city pension funds had a stake in such investment funds. Politicians like City Council Member Letitia James weren't making a huge case about it, either, apparently waiting to get New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson and the city pension funds on board.
Yesterday, the above parties, as well as other elected officials and housing advocates held a press conference in which they announced a new residential real estate investment principles.
Posted by lumi at 4:50 AM
February 28, 2008
The Brooklyn Paper examines Atlantic Yards affordable housing house of cards
Fed cash crunch threatens ‘affordable’ A’Yards homes
By Dana Rubinstein
Thousands of affordable housing units — including some of the 2,250 rentals that Bruce Ratner promised to included in his Atlantic Yards mega-development — will not be built due to a huge shortfall in federal subsidies available for low-cost housing creation, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.
It would take between $6 and $7 billion in federal grants to build all the proposed affordable units in all of the pending projects in the state — roughly five times more money than is available, according to Mike Slattery, the senior vice president at the Real Estate Board of New York.
Indeed, in 2007, the feds only granted $1.6 billion in such bonds — and those numbers won’t change significantly in 2008.
“There’s a lot more demand for affordable housing projects these days and there’s not enough money available,” said Joe Chan, the president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the quasi-governmental group that oversees the redevelopment of the long-languishing area bounded by Tillary, Fulton and Jay streets and Flatbush Avenue Extension.
“We’re at risk of seeing less affordable housing than” originally planned, he continued.
Bonds bombshell killing projects
"The Explainer" rehashes the issue in Q&A form, but gets one thing wrong:
Didn’t Ratner promise 2,250 affordable units at Atlantic Yards?
Yes.What will happen to the units if the bonds aren’t there?
Some of them won’t get built.Can Bruce Ratner really back away from that promise? Yes, if he writes a $500,000 check — a small amount for his $3.6 billion company — to the housing group, ACORN, which signed Ratner’s Community Benefits Agreement in 2005.
In the "discussion" section Norman Oder points readers to one of his Atlantic Yards Report articles which explains that the $500,000 penalty would be for unfulfilled jobs promises, not for breaking affordable-housing targets.
In the weekly editorial, The Brooklyn Paper states:
It is becoming increasingly clear that developer Bruce Ratner will not be able to build much of the below-market-rate housing that he’s promised to include in Atlantic Yards.
...
The affordable housing units at Atlantic Yards remain the project’s principal carrot in the face of widespread community opposition and egregious misuse of public subsidies to a multi-billion-dollar company.But there’s a problem with Ratner’s promised units: If he can’t get the tax subsidies from the state, he can walk away from the deal simply by cutting a check for $500,000 — which represents a tiny .014 percent of the company’s $3.6-billion total value — to one of the signatories of his “Community Benefits Agreement.”
Then again, he could also call his enablers in state government and complain of the shortfall in subsidies. Perhaps they will do what they’ve always done — repeatedly at Metrotech and at Atlantic Terminal Mall — and lavish more taxpayer money on another of Ratner’s white elephants.
Posted by lumi at 5:22 AM
February 26, 2008
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: Ratner’s Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing Would Get Four Times the Subsidy of the City’s Average Per Unit
New York, NY—The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s Sarah Ryley is reporting today that the cost of subsidizing Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards “affordable” housing with tax-free bonds would require more than four times the funding per unit as the city’s average for all of 2007.
The Eagle article says: Spokesmen for Ratner and project sponsor Empire State Development Corporation declined to comment on why Atlantic Yards’ affordable units require roughly four times the funding as the city’s 2007 average.
The article continues, quoting Ron Shiffman, who did have comment:
Ron Shiffman, professor at the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment at the Pratt Institute and a former planning commissioner, did say that it would be “political suicide” for HDC to approve such costly apartments while rejecting others who could build more bang for the buck. “It becomes a real untenable argument for [HDC] to give [Ratner] priority over any other project,” said Shiffman, who opposes Atlantic Yards.
“Forest City Ratner is getting an unaccountable, sweetheart deal from our government, at the expense of taxpayers, to build a cost-ineffective project,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “Our elected officials and Mr. Ratner need to explain why his ‘affordable’ housing units require quadruple the subsidy of an average ‘affordable’ unit. We believe there is no explanation for an indefensible sweetheart deal.”
The Eagle article goes into accounting detail to describe the quadrupled subsidy per unit:
[NYC's Housing Development Corporation spokesperson Neill] Coleman said last year HDC issued $659 million in bonds to finance the construction or preservation of 4,786 apartments for low, middle and moderate-income city residents, an average of $137,000 per unit.
According to Ratner’s financial projections, in 2008 the company plans to request $177 million in bonds for 359 below market-rate apartments in two towers, and the following year $344 million in bonds for 680 below market-rate apartments in three towers, an average of $501,000 per unit. Overall, $1.4 billion in bonds for 2,250 units averages $622,000 per unit. (Emphasis added)
Posted by lumi at 5:51 PM
Ratner Will Be Treated Like Other Developers, Says City
Atlantic Yards Hasn’t Applied For Bonds, Units Would Cost Four Times As Much
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Sarah Ryley
Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner Companies has not applied for affordable housing bonds, and when the company does, it will not be prioritized over other developers, said a city official. As earlier reported in the Eagle, the state has more than $6 billion for affordable housing projects in its 2008 pipeline, with $960 million for projects located within the city, but only $1.6 billion in bonds to dole out.
According to Ratner’s financial projections, the company will be requesting $1.4 billion in housing bonds over a five-year period for 2,250 apartments.
IMPORTANT comparison of the cost of subsidizing Atlantic Yards affordable housing with affordable housing elsewhere in the city (emphasis added):
[NYC's Housing Development Corporation spokesperson Neill] Coleman said last year HDC issued $659 million in bonds to finance the construction or preservation of 4,786 apartments for low, middle and moderate-income city residents, an average of $137,000 per unit.
According to Ratner’s financial projections, in 2008 the company plans to request $177 million in bonds for 359 below market-rate apartments in two towers, and the following year $344 million in bonds for 680 below market-rate apartments in three towers, an average of $501,000 per unit. Overall, $1.4 billion in bonds for 2,250 units averages $622,000 per unit.
...
Ron Shiffman, professor at the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment at the Pratt Institute and a former planning commissioner, said it would be “political suicide” for HDC to approve such costly apartments while rejecting others who could build more bang for the buck. “It becomes a real untenable argument for [HDC] to give [Ratner] priority over any other project,” said Shiffman, who opposes Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab: Contrary to the headline, Bruce Ratner has NEVER been treated like other developers.
It will be interesting to see how Ratner and his political supporters manage to justify paying more for less and, despite protestations to the contrary, jumping over the backlog of other projects that have already requested financing.
Posted by lumi at 4:59 AM
February 25, 2008
Where’s the Dough for AY Affordable Housing?
Brownstoner asks some tough questions about subsidies for the affordable housing component of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan.
...does the project’s “scale” mean the city is giving a free pass for construction on the affordable housing parts of Atlantic Yards to take much longer than other aspects of the development? And what if there’s even less funding available for affordable housing in the future? Finally, is it fair for Forest City Ratner’s mega-development to eat into the creation of affordable units in other parts of the city and state?
NoLandGrab: These questions have been on the mind of affordable housing advocates for some time.
Posted by lumi at 7:10 PM
Ratner to Jump the Pipeline?
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn compares two quotes from Marc Jahr, president of the city's Housing Development Corporation.
One in response to the affordable-housing-funding crisis:
"It's a pity to have good affordable housing projects in a city that desperately needs affordable housing for virtually all income levels, to have them sitting at the starting line with their engines idling."
The second in which Jahr claims that Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards affordable-housing subsidies are NOT in jeopardy despite the backlog of projects that have already applied:
"Given the scale of the project . . . we're not concerned that the money won't be there."
So, either there's a crisis and Bruce Ratner is going to have to wait his turn, or lawmakers in Albany (i.e. the very ones who benefited from a $58,000 soft-money contribution from Ratner) are trying to work out a special deal for their favorite developer (they've done it before).
Develop Don't Destroy posits:
Should we be preparing to watch Mr. Jahr, the city and state put Bruce Ratner's yet to be requested housing bonds at the mouth of the pipe? Is that what's being considered?
NoLandGrab: Given that lawmakers have already fiddled with the "allocation criteria" of the available subsidies, the possibility of another "Ratner Clause" is getting stronger.
Posted by lumi at 5:26 AM
February 24, 2008
Could the Bond Market Hurt Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing?
Village Voice
Michael Clancy
Could the limited pool of affordable housing bonds jeopardize the 2,250 units of subsidized housing that developer Bruce Ratner pledged as part of his Atlantic Yards mixed-use stadium project?Norman Oder, of the Atlantic Yards Report, seems to think so. Ratner seeks $1.4 billion in such bonds, which would allow him to borrow money at discounted rate over the course of the 10-year project. But it's not clear whether Forest City Ratner has applied for those bonds, and there is a lot of evidence indicating that there might not be any money available if Forest City did, Oder wrote. The city's Housing Development Corporation wouldn't say whether the agency received the bond application from Ratner or not.
Either way, sounds like it's gonna be tough to build the affordable housing.
Posted by amy at 1:39 PM
Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing in Jeopardy Due to Housing Bond Cap "Crisis"
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
The proposed "affordable" housing for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project is in jeopardy.According to information from the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) Forest City Ratner’s (FCR) housing would require subsidization worth $1.4 billion in federally tax-free housing bonds from the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYCHDC). With the aid of these bonds, FCR proposes that 2,250 rental units out of a total 6,430 units would be deemed "affordable."
The problem is that there is no money now for Forest City Ratner.
New York State has a housing bond cap of about $1.6 billion per year for the entire state, New York City has only a portion of that cap, and there is a long pipeline of applications for this limited amount of financing in front of FCR. It is believed that FCR has not even applied for their housing bonds. According to Norman Oder in a story today on his Atlantic Yards Report, NYCHDC did not respond to a request for confirmation of this.
Posted by amy at 1:25 PM
HDC head curiously unconcerned about AY funding availability
Atlantic Yards Report responds to today's two-sentence NY Post article stating that federal funding shortfalls won't affect Atlantic Yards, because it's bigger than other projects.
Less than two weeks ago, Jahr wrote in City Hall News, as I reported Friday:
It is only February, but over $960 million in private activity bonds are required for affordable housing deals in HDC’s 2008 pipeline alone, while New York State overall has a pipeline of more than $6 billion. Unfortunately, however, New York State’s yearly allocation of cap is only around $1.6 billion.And, as I reported, he earlier this month told the Bond Buyer, "It's a pity to have good affordable housing projects in a city that desperately needs affordable housing for virtually all income levels, to have them sitting at the starting line with their engines idling.”
Simple physics suggests that the scale of Atlantic Yards, which would require $1.4 billion in bonds, should make it harder, not easier to find the funds--even if the scale makes AY "too big to fail."
Until and unless additional volume cap is found, thus allowing the city and state to issue more bonds, a lot of projects are going to be at the starting line.
Posted by amy at 1:19 PM
ATLANTIC YARD$TICK FOR POOR HOUSING
NY Post
RICH CALDER
A federal-funding shortfall that could hamper affordable housing projects in the city likely won't affect the Atlantic Yards project, a top official said yesterday."Given the scale of the project . . . we're not concerned that the money won't be there," said Marc Jahr, president of the city's Housing Development Corporation.
link (NoLandGrab: but really, don't bother clicking. That's the entire article. Read Atlantic Yards Report instead...)
Posted by amy at 1:15 PM
February 22, 2008
AY affordable housing jeopardized not by lawsuits but by funding "crisis"
Atlantic Yards Report
For years, affordable-housing experts have been warning that the availability of housing subsidies for Atlantic Yards is questionable.
Norman Oder explains:
Forest City Ratner has heavily promoted the 2250 units of subsidized housing in the Atlantic Yards project, and that's been cited as a public use by two courts. However, there's no money available for it right now, more than a half year after a city official cited a "crisis" in the provision of affordable housing bonds. ...
Wrote Marc Jahr, president of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) earlier this month in City Hall News:It is only February, but over $960 million in private activity bonds are required for affordable housing deals in HDC’s 2008 pipeline alone, while New York State overall has a pipeline of more than $6 billion. Unfortunately, however, New York State’s yearly allocation of cap is only around $1.6 billion.
Atlantic Yards would require $1.4 billion in housing bonds, according to information the Empire State Development Corporation disclosed to the Public Authorities Control Board and made public in the lawsuit challenging the AY environmental reviews.
...
So those bonds would be well behind requests made by many other developers seeking to make use of a very limited pool of affordable housing financing, a situation Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) told Congress last May was a “crisis” threatening 6700 units in the city’s pipeline.
For additional information on the affordable-housing subsidy supply-and-demand crisis check out Brownstoner's recently posted summary of the press coverage.
Posted by lumi at 5:14 AM
February 14, 2008
Quinn calls for task force to address housing crisis
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder analyzes the affordable-housing segment of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's State of the City address through the Atlantic Yards filter.
Here are some excerpts from Quinn's speech:
Now, the single biggest complaint I hear from New Yorkers is the syrocketing cost of housing and the devastating impact it’s having on our middle class. The reality is, if you are a teacher and firefighter, raising your kids in Clinton Hill and together make $110,000 a year, it’s hard to find a decent place to live.
Note that, under the guideline that people spend 30% of their income for affordable housing, the annual rent for such a household would be $33,000 and the monthly rent $2750. Also note that $110,000 is within the top range of households eligible for Atlantic Yards affordable housing.
Quinn is right that affordable housing is a challenge to many people. (Still, there are apartments in Clinton Hill well under $2750.) But Atlantic Yards was endorsed by the low-income group ACORN because its members thought it would help them.
Posted by lumi at 5:20 AM
January 21, 2008
On MLK Day, the question of jobs, housing, and infrastructure
Atlantic Yards Report
Well, where do we go from here (to quote the title of a King speech)? On Saturday, in a column headlined Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, taking off from the observation that the gap between rich and poor is ever-growing, observed:
Forget all the CNBC chatter about Fed policy and bargain stocks. For ordinary Americans, jobs are the be-all and end-all. And an America awash in new jobs will require a political environment that respects and rewards work and aggressively pursues creative policies designed to radically expand employment.
I’d start with a broad program to rebuild the American infrastructure. This would have the dual benefit of putting large numbers of people to work and answering a crying need. The infrastructure is in sorry shape. New Orleans comes to mind, and the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The country that gave us the Marshall Plan to rebuild postwar Europe ought to be able, 60 years later, to reconstitute its own sagging infrastructure.
Herbert's point, extrapolated to Brooklyn, is that targeted government investment can turn the tide. The need for jobs and housing is far, far greater than the holy grail of the Atlantic Yards project.
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
January 1, 2008
Where's housing (and other urban issues) in the presidential campaign?
Atlantic Yards Report
The citywide issue central to the debate on Atlantic Yards has been AFFORDABLE HOUSING. Does anybody know where the Democratic presidential candidates stand?
No, Norman Oder isn't stalking candidates in Iowa, instead he looks for clues in a City Limits article and the NY Times.
Posted by lumi at 3:08 PM
November 27, 2007
At the "Priced Out" conference, some Atlantic Yards subtext
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder goes all out on the "Priced Out" conference, where, as usual, Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan makes a few cameo appearances:
At the “Priced Out” conference on “addressing the pressures of living in NYC,” sponsored by by the New York City Council Black, Latino and Asian Caucus over the first weekend in November at Pace University, Atlantic Yards popped up several times, sometimes not so flatteringly. And it also led to some public diplomacy from both opponents and proponents.
Oder also posted a longer article on the conference in general.
Posted by lumi at 5:43 AM
November 26, 2007
Vacant lots, empty buildings = new opportunity for affordable housing
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder digs into a report by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and attends a Drum Major Institute panel on rehabbing vacant buildings to learn if there might be means of creating affordable housing that don't involve seizing private property and tossing big subsidies at mega-developers:
In the 1970s, New York City took over some 100,000 properties abandoned for nonpayment of taxes, and in subsequent decades helped community development groups fix them to create affordable housing. The numbers remaining are few, so the city now practices new tactics--tax incentives or increased development rights--to stimulate affordable housing.
But other solutions remain, notably the utilization of vacant or abandoned properties that are not in tax arrears. Unlike some other cities, notably Boston (as reported on the DMI blog), New York doesn't keep an inventory, nor has it changed any tax policies to incentivize owners.
(Regarding some seemingly stagnant properties in the Atlantic Yards footprint, the state got around the lack of incentives by declaring them blighted. A rezoning, however, might have done the trick.)
Posted by lumi at 10:28 AM
October 29, 2007
Are city housing projects really for sale? Nah, but it's time to "unlock value"
Atlantic Yards Report
In the wake of a Daily News article that spawned rumors that the City was thinking of selling off public housing assests, Norman Oder reports on the panel discussion about the future of public housing at a New School forum, moderated by Oder's most ardent reader, Errol Louis.
The discussion at the forum, A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS: How Will New York Save Its Public Housing?, which involved a variety of experts and opinions, was a lot more nuanced.
It began with moderator Errol Louis of the Daily News suggesting that, “if things worked perfectly, this would be a public hearing organized by government.” (Louis is out front among the city's press in covering public housing--here's a 7/29/07 column headlined A crisis hits home--in contrast with his frothing Atlantic Yards coverage.)
The structural gap in funding the city’s public housing is about $200 million, a little under ten percent of the operating budget, and has accumulated since the late 1990s, according to Douglas Apple, General Manager, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The budget has suffered because of lowered federal funding levels and the strains to provide for units that are not part of the federal system. He acknowledged that “conditions are not as good as they were a decade ago.” (The agency just cut 73 management jobs, the Daily News reported.)
Posted by lumi at 8:02 AM
October 25, 2007
Real Estate Round-Up: October 24, 2007
Brooklyn Daily Eagle rounds up coverage on the affordable-housing project in the shadow of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project, and follows up on the 421-a reform bill:
Atlantic Terrace, Brooklyn’s largest green affordable housing development (as reported by Linda Collins on the Eagle’s Brooklyn Space page Sept. 27) will have to go without solar panels on the roof because they would be worthless once cast in the shadows of the Atlantic Yards arena and high-rise development across the street. Yesterday, Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the non-profit Fifth Avenue Committee, which is developing Atlantic Terrace, told the New York Post that solar panels would have led to significant savings for residents, but now they’ll have to pay for a combination of traditional and renewable energy.
In the Eagle’s Sept. 27 article, architect Magnus Magnusson of Magnusson Architecture & Planning, said the solar roof would have been possible if Ratner’s towers had been reduced in height to 20 or 25 stories. “It’s just not an option for a building that will be in substantial shade all year round.”
On 421-a:
The state passed the 421-a legislation yesterday, which expands the areas where developers are required to include affordable housing in their projects to receive property tax abatements. But the legislation includes a controversial provision for Atlantic Yards that allows developer Forest City Ratner Companies to provide fewer units for low-income families.
While the modified version of the bill still gives Ratner tax abatements for the towers without affordable units, the abatement is for a shorter period of time, and are contingent upon the project meeting affordability requirements during each phase of construction. The affordability requirement for Atlantic Yards is the same as other heavily subsidized projects — 20 percent of the units would have to be affordable to those earning, on average, 90 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), versus the earlier version of the bill that required Atlantic Yards to make 20 percent of the units affordable to those earning, on average, 70 percent.
Read the rest to learn about the comparison with other developers.
Posted by lumi at 8:25 AM
October 14, 2007
What's a Brooklyn real estate bargain? If you ask the Times..
Atlantic Yards Report
The cover story in today's New York Times Real Estate section is headlined Brooklyn: A Bargain Hunter’s Guide and the Times explains that, in between the strong market in brownstone neighborhoods and the foreclosures in struggling neighborhoods, there are bargains--but keyed to the Times's more affluent demographic.
...
And what exactly are the contours of such bargains? Here are the prices of all the apartments mentioned in the article:
--Green Hill Condos, 324 22nd Street, Greenwood Heights; $999,000 (from $1.09 million) and $559,000 (from $599,000).
--Thornton Park, 721 Flushing Avenue, East Williamsburg. Developer pays closing costs, a 5 percent discount on units from $270,000 to $509,000. The article identifies the location as East Williamsburg
--55 Berry Street, Williamsburg. Developer offered $10,000 discount on unit of unspecified price; agreed to build a $3000 walk-in closet on an $815,000 one-bedroom with a home office. --Le Conselyea in Williamsburg, $425,000 (from contemplated $599,000) and $799,000 (from contemplated $995,000).
--Owners of larger free-standing homes in the $2.8-million-to-$3.5-million range may offer a 5 percent discount.
--855 Jefferson Avenue, Bed-Stuy, $950,000, down from $1.1 million."Affordable to who?"--as City Council Member Charles Barron asked scornfully, in another context, at the Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn rally in July 2006. Or, as State Assembly Housing Committee Chair Vito Lopez once said regarding affordable housing, "It's a relative thing."
Posted by amy at 10:54 AM
October 6, 2007
Some on appellate court skeptical of ESDC in AY relocation case
Atlantic Yards Report
While on September 26, a state appellate court appeared unsympathetic to a challenge to the state’s demolition plans posed by rent-regulated tenants of two buildings in the Atlantic Yards footprint, this morning some on another appellate court seemed more sympathetic to the same 13 plaintiffs as they challenged the state’s plan to find them new housing.The state has promised to provide, at minimum, the services of a real estate broker, moving assistance, and a $5000 payment—but that, attorney George Locker argued, will hardly guarantee similarly affordable housing. (Of the 13 plaintiffs at 624 Pacific Street and 473 Dean Street, 12 have rent-stabilized leases, and many pay rents that are $500-$600. The case is known as Matter of Anderson v. New York State Urban Development Corp.)
“Isn’t it reasonable to assume there is some comparable housing” in Brooklyn, asked Justice Robert Spolzino, who was the most skeptical among the four-judge panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, during the oral argument, which lasted less than 20 minutes.
Locker said it wasn’t. He said state law directs the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) to offer those displaced accommodation into the project, but has not made any offer to his clients. (Actually, state law says the ESDC should do so if "feasible.")
A commenter on Atlantic Yards Report asks, "Can someone explain to me this. If Bertha Lewis and Acorn is so interested in "affordable' housing, why then didn't they come publicly to the defense of these tenants. Yes, this is a rhetorical question. But I would like to hear from others."
NoLandGrab: A quick search on Craigslist for an apartment between $500-$600 in Brooklyn turns up 5 results. Two of them are not for apartments, but for renting a room in an apartment. One of them includes the caveat that you must work as the superintendent. Another has an income requirement of $16,800 - $24,800. That leaves one remaining real apartment, a $600 studio in Canarsie. I would suggest that the 13 plaintiffs hurry to apply, as it seems there will be stiff competition.
Posted by amy at 11:32 AM
September 24, 2007
The departing "middle-class" and AY affordable housing
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder examines a new demographic report and compares it to the income bands of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards housing program.
New York City Comptroller William Thompson on Sept. 12 issued a report on New York's 2005 outmigration patterns involving various income groups, and it was quickly used by columnist Errol Louis to argue for projects like Atlantic Yards that would include subsidized housing for the middle-class.
Not so fast. It turns out that moderate-income residents departing the city would not be helped much by Atlantic Yards, given that those in their (approximate) income bracket would be eligible for only 450 of the 2250 affordable units. In fact, when the affordable housing deal was first announced, 900 units were aimed at this demographic; developer Forest City Ratner instead shifted more of the affordable units to higher income brackets.
Thompson's press release, headlined THOMPSON: MODERATE-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS MOST LIKELY TO LEAVE NYC, made some somewhat subtle points: Moderate-income ($40,000 to $59,999 annual income) and higher-income households ($140,000 to $249,999 annual income) were most likely to leave the city, while middle-income ($60,000 to $139,999) and wealthy households ($250,000 and above) were least likely to leave.
Posted by lumi at 9:15 AM
September 16, 2007
Call an ambulance - our middle class is bleeding
NY Daily News
Errol Louis
That means we have to end the zero-sum politics that pits the needs of the poor against those of the middle class. Look at any of the big development projects around the city that include affordable housing - Atlantic Yards, Queens West, conversion of the Domino sugar factory on the Brooklyn waterfront - and there's a fight about whether subsidizing middle-class families amounts to a wasteful "giveaway" of resources best reserved for the very poor.That is outmoded thinking. Communities, and the city as a whole, thrive when we have many different income groups living side-by-side - civil servants near retirees, welfare moms next door to teachers and carpenters.
NoLandGrab: So...if the best communities are a mix of everyone, including welfare moms, why support a project where there will be no welfare moms? Atlantic Yards would produce exactly zero homes for people making less than $21,270/year. Currently 24% of residents within a 3/4 mile radius of the proposed project make less than $21,270/year. So call an ambulance, Errol, affordable housing is bleeding.
Posted by amy at 10:32 AM
September 6, 2007
The paradox of unaffordable ($7313!) "rent-stabilized" Atlantic Yards housing
Atlantic Yards Report
By what stretch of the imagination should an apartment leasing for $7313/mo. be "rent stabilized?" You can thank Bruce Ratner and his affordable-housing partner Bertha Lewis of ACORN for that absurdity.
Initially, Norman Oder was skeptical about Ratner's and Lewis's claim that even units priced above the $2000 "vacancy decontrol" threshold would still be "rent stabilized," but (the reader may want to sit down for this) Oder stands corrected by none other than the "Mad Overkiller" himself:
Would Atlantic Yards rental housing--the 2250 affordable units and the 2250 market-rate units--all be rent-stabilized, as has been promoted?
The answer: sort of, but in a confounding way that somehow would classify a market-rate apartment renting for $7313 as rent-stabilized.
And it would classify middle-income affordable units, some costing well more than $2000 a month, as rent-stabilized, even though such sums generated skepticism about affordability from potential renters last year and, indeed, $2000 is the trigger for decontrol of current rent-stabilized units.
According to the developer's chart of estimated rents, 450 of the 2250 affordable units would rent from $1861 to $3084 a month and another 450 would rent from $1488 to $2467.
Bertha Lewis of ACORN, in a 7/31/06 article in City Limits, described all 4500 Atlantic Yards rentals as rent-stabilized:
Beyond building new affordable units, all 4,500 rental units at Atlantic Yards will be rent-stabilized -- no small victory in an era where thousands of rent-stabilized units return to the free market every year.
...
The rules would be different for Atlantic Yards rental housing, which would be funded via the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC). The term sheet for the agency's mixed-income program--50% market, 30% middle-income, 20% low-income units--states:Upon project stabilization, New HOP and Market rate rent increases will be governed by allowable rent stabilization increases with no vacancy decontrol.
So, indeed, there would be rent stabilization, but with a twist. For the 2250 market-rate rental units, it would come after the fact, after the developer works out the rent.
I asked Aaron Donovan, spokesman for the NYC HDC, who confirmed, "The market sets the initial rents and subsequent to that, rent increases are governed by rent stabilization. If Forest City Ratner were to apply for financing under our Mixed-Income Program, these terms would apply."
NoLandGrab: As for the "no small victory" declared by Bertha Lewis, most of the aparments would be well out of the reach of those whom ACORN represents, which may be the first time in history that ACORN has advocated for upper-class housing reform.
Posted by lumi at 10:00 AM
“Affordable” studio would cost more (per square foot) than market-rate studio
Atlantic Yards Report
This is another Norman "The Mad Overkiller" Oder must-read.
In a nutshell, in the top tier of Bruce Ratner's "affordable" housing plan, a studio apartment is more expensive per-square-foot than a market-rate studio:
The fine print--and it is fine--in the Atlantic Yards Financial Projections document unearthed in the lawsuit by Assemblyman Jim Brennan and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery suggests something quite curious: affordable middle-income studio apartments in the Atlantic Yards project would cost more per square foot ($55.83) than market-rate studios ($51.62) in the same building.
The document projects that phenomenon in every rental building. The market-rate units would still cost a bit more on a monthly basis, $2151 vs. $1861, but that’s because they’d be 500 square feet, as opposed to 400 square feet.
...
Not all this is new. The projected monthly rents were revealed last year in the developer's housing chart and the size of the affordable apartments, governed by a New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) program, was also publicized last year.But the cost per square foot was not discussed until this document surfaced. Most crucially, the developer had not announced the projected costs and sizes of the market-rate apartments.
The laddering among the affordable units is apparently not triggered by the developer but by the NYC HDC , which would authorize bonds for the market and affordable rental housing.
NoLandGrab: Is the fact that NYC's Housing Development Corporation will be issuing bonds for financing "affordable" units that are predicted to cost more per square foot than market-rate units offensive to anyone other than Atlantic Yards freaks and geeks?
Posted by lumi at 9:22 AM
August 30, 2007
In Case of 421-a Reform, Good Governance Is In Eye of Beholder
State Bill Overhauls Affordable Housing Requirements for Tax Breaks
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Sarah Ryley
This article does a pretty good job of explaining the bill, and is worth a read. NoLandGrab is only going to focus on the Ratner Clause today:
Adding to the confusion over the controversial bill — which determines how much affordable housing, if any, developers have to include to receive property tax breaks — few people close to the issue were clear on exactly what the bill says, particularly in regards to the controversial Atlantic Yards “carve out.”
Here's Ryley's explanation of the Atlantic Yards "carve out" (footnotes, ours)
Atlantic Yards would be the only project within the exclusion zone that receives tax breaks for buildings that have only market-rate condominiums, but the tax exemption was changed from 25 years to 15 years, according to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office.
[This concession, touted by the Governor's office, appears to have made the carve-out more politically palatable.]
The original bill allowed only Atlantic Yards to average the income level of tenants in the “affordable units” so it would equal 70 percent of the area median income (versus requiring that tenants earn no more than 60 percent of the area median income). After recent revisions, the developer can make 20 percent of its units affordable to those earning up to 120 percent of the area median income, as long as they all average out to 90 percent. The new requirement is the same that other heavily government subsidized projects must adhere to, mainly because those projects were originally conceived to create more middle income housing in the city.
[This is where the benefits to Ratner get really fuzzy. This suggests that Ratner's affordable housing is more of a middle-income than a low-income housing plan. Also, It's not clear what "other heavily government-subsidized projects" refers to, though it's likely that the reference pertains primarily to Queens West, the CIty's favorite project du jour.]
It should be noted that Atlantic Yards was planned under the old legislation, when developer Bruce Ratner promised to include low- and middle-income housing in the project even though he could have built no affordable housing in any of the buildings and still received a 25-year tax abatement.
[This is a reminder that Ratner was planning on reaping even more benefits.]
Although no one will come out publicly in support of the special provisions within the legislation, including developer Forest City Ratner’s own people, privately some are calling it a grandfather clause. Also, Ratner is expecting other subsidies and financing that dictate what percentage of the housing in the project must be made affordable — but none would have given the company tax abatements for the market rate buildings.
[We repeat: the actual benefit is murky because, as we mentioned above, it looks like it's more of a middle-income housing plan, but "Ratner is expecting other subsidies and financing" which will ultimately help "dictate" how many units must be provided to applicants in different income bands (determined by percentage of the area's median income).]
“It’s unfortunate that again, public benefits are again being utilized to subsidize middle-income housing in Atlantic Yards,” says [NYC Councilmember Letitia] James. “So many community-based organizations came out in support of Atlantic Yards primarily because of the alleged affordable housing.”
[James makes the same observation — that it appears that Ratner's "affordable" housing will be directed more towards the middle-income applicants, thus making his "affordable" housing plan more expensive for those who need it most.]
NoLandGrab: There are not a lot of developers who can get personal legislative consideration, especially in a "reform" bill, but there's only one "Bruce."
Posted by lumi at 8:04 AM
August 28, 2007
It's official, Atlantic Yards to get special subsidies under "reform" bill (or something like that)
Either Atlantic Yards is getting special subsidies or is being treated the same as other developers, depending on what you're reading, and Ratner is getting hundreds of millions of dollars or saving the City hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on who's spinning:
City Limits, DEVELOPERS' INCENTIVES: NOW WITH MORE CAVEATS
The state legislature's language also means special provisions for Atlantic Yards, the enormous residential and commercial development under way in Brooklyn.
...
Under the legislature’s bills, Atlantic Yards will be allowed to have tenants with higher incomes in its affordable housing units than generally is allowed under 421-a. The language in the bills also says Atlantic Yards would be allowed to meet the requirements for affordable housing across all of its units, a number that developer Forest City Ratner projects at 6,400. The legislation means – and will mean until the fourth bill passes with amended wording – that the Brooklyn development could receive tax abatements for affordable housing before any such housing is built. Under the proposed fourth bill, A. 9373/ S. 6446, the development will be required to meet the 421-a affordability requirement every 1,500 units, however.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Tax Bill Reduces Low-Income Requirement for Atlantic Yards
Sarah Ryley is reporting:
Under the revised bill, Atlantic Yards would have to follow the same requirements as other projects that are heavily subsidized by the city, state or federal government.
Those developers, including Ratner, would now be required to provide 20 percent of their rental units to those earning, on average, 90 percent of AMI, and no more than 120 percent AMI. For-sale units would be capped at 125 percent AMI.
According to a spokesperson for Gov. Spitzer's office, Matt Anderson:
Anderson said Spitzer “shared the city’s concerns over the level of subsidies for the Atlantic Yards project. We believe, however, we’ve reached a fair compromise here.
“At every phase of the [Atlantic Yards] project, 20 percent of housing units for Atlantic Yards must be affordable to receive these abatements. Moreover, the length of the tax breaks was reduced from 25 years to 15 years for the market-rate buildings, which will save the city roughly $100-150 million.”
Anderson was referring to the portion of the revised bill that measures the “affordable” units in the Atlantic Yards project in increments of 1,500 units, versus over the course of the entire 6,400-unit project, as the earlier version had done.
NoLandGrab: If you're confused, then join the rest of us. Hopefully, soon, we'll get this explained to us in plain English so that we can translate it to you in more plain English.
Posted by lumi at 11:09 AM
August 26, 2007
This is Reform?
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
Reform-minded Governor Eliot Spitzer had that reform slip his mind this week when he signed the 421-a property tax "reform" bill with a special provision giving a $200 million tax break exclusively for politically-connected, billionaire developer Bruce Ratner. That's right, under the new bill Bruce Ratner is the only developer who can get a 15-year tax break for constructing buildings comprised entirely of unaffordable units; that's right, a tax break not to build affordable housing. This means that if "Atlantic Yards" is ever built there would likely be 4 entire buildings of luxury condos paying no taxes for 15 years. That is a loss of $200 million as estimated by New York City.Who gains? Bruce Ratner can sell those units at a higher price by passing on those tax savings to the new luxury condo owners. The Ratner Clause also allows Bruce Ratner to segregate residents of the "affordable" units from residents of his unaffordable units. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of the 57th District has called this "economic segregation."
Posted by amy at 10:31 AM
August 25, 2007
421-a compromise sent to gov’s desk - Democratic boss says deal will help minimize the impact of gentrification
Courier-Life
Stephen Witt gets points this week for mentioning the Atlantic Yards carve-out in his coverage of 421-A. Then, he quickly loses those points by saying that the carve-out has been completely reformed. In fact, the value of the carve-out to Forest City Ratner was only reduced from $300 million to $200 million.
Also under the compromise, the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, which was originally excluded from the new 421-a bill, which critics of the project called a “carve-out,” was renegotiated.After talks between the city and the Atlantic Yards developer, Forest City Ratner (FCRC), the original Atlantic Yards component was reformed to ensure that all promised affordable units are completed and integrated throughout the project.
Under the new legislation, FCRC buildings in the project must meet the new affordability requirements in order to qualify for a 25-year tax abatement.
Also FCRC agreed to ensure that their affordable units will be built simultaneously throughout the development of the project.
Posted by amy at 12:18 PM
Who's paying for the affordable housing? New Domino-watchers want to know
Atlantic Yards Report
If one of the lessons of the Atlantic Yards project for developers--like those of the New Domino project proposed in Williamsburg--is that they should hook up with affordable housing advocates to override zoning (or achieve a rezoning), a lesson for critics is that they should follow the money.After all, Atlantic Yards has been touted as "providing" affordable housing without any reference to the public funds behind the units or any analysis of whether they represent a good bang for the buck.
...
There's no guarantee those questions will be answered. Last year, the MAS, in comments filed after the Atlantic Yards Final Environmental Impact Statement was issued, asked:
In order to accurately assess whether the Atlantic Yards proposal will result in a net gain of affordable housing units, there needs to be an accounting of the public expenditures on this project versus the total amount of public subsidies available in the same fiscal year so that decision makers can accurately assess the public costs versus the public benefits. What percentage of the city’s total funds for housing will be required to build the project’s 2250 units?In response, the Empire State Development Corporation offered only generalities. (Only after the project was approved did details emerge.) Will DCP be more forthcoming? The EIS will be written by the same environmental consulting firm, the ubiquitous AKRF.
Posted by amy at 11:19 AM
Governor signs 421-a revision; Times, others ignore "Atlantic Yards carve-out"
Atlantic Yards Report
So Governor Eliot Spitzer has signed the reform of the 421-a tax break, which includes an "Atlantic Yards carve-out" worth up to $200 million for developer Forest City Ratner. When the "carve-out" was worth $300 million, it was criticized by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, ACORN's Bertha Lewis, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez, affordable housing advocate Brad Lander, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), the Brooklyn Paper, and others.When it was reduced but not eliminated, the only official to offer measured criticism was Jeffries. (He issued it after I queried him, but he may have been prepared to issue a statement anyway.) DDDB seemingly stood alone in its forceful criticism.
Affordable housing advocates, city officials, state officials, and the public at large all had something to gain in the revised legislation, beyond the "carve-out." So perhaps some critics felt they could only go so far.
But what about those seemingly independent? Good government advocates were silent, as were editorial pages beyond that initial Brooklyn Paper comment. The New York Times, in its reporting, managed to mangle the historical record. No one beyond a few Brooklynites questioned whether signing the bill comports with Spitzer's claim of being a reformer.
Posted by amy at 11:08 AM
New Laws for Housing Tax Break
The New York Times
The Times is very excited that Spitzer signed the 421-a revision. So excited, in fact, that they forgot to add the part about the Ratner Clause, a special little carve-out that makes the "more stringent affordability standards" LESS STRINGENT FOR RATNER.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law yesterday three bills to revamp a popular tax break for developers and encourage the construction of thousands of apartments for low-income New York City residents.The laws are expected to expand the number of neighborhoods where developers are required to include apartments for residents of limited means in order to receive tax breaks. Advocates for lower-cost housing have long said the laws would mean more housing for low-income residents and fewer incentives for developers to build luxury high-rises.
“This legislation will allow New York City to target its limited tax abatement resources to more effectively promote the construction of affordable housing in the neighborhoods that need it most,” the governor said. The tax program that is being revamped, known as 421-a, was started in the 1970s to spur housing development of any kind. Under it, developers received a 10-to-25-year exemption from increases in property taxes resulting from their work. But government officials and advocates for affordable housing say that given the change in New York’s real estate market since the program’s inception, the tax breaks are no longer needed in Midtown and other thriving parts of the city.
Under the new laws, developers will be required to meet more stringent affordability standards, give priority to neighborhood residents for lower-cost units, and ensure that units remain affordable for at least 35 years.
Meanwhile, the existing affordable housing stock in the neighborhood is quickly disappearing. This in from our neighbors on Bergen:
Block party to support the tenants in 533 Bergen Street (Carleton & 6th Avenue) this Sunday, Aug 26 12pm-6pm. There will also be a press conference at 12:30pm.The residents of this building are rent stabilized tenants who have lived in the community for decades. Their new landlords, Dan Bailey and Felicity Loughrey, are trying to evict four families from the building so that they can create one huge apartment and live in luxury. Join us in supporting the Bergen Street tenants' fight for survival and in telling Bailey and Loughrey that good neighbors don't evict neighbors.
DJs! Art! Food! Games! Balloons! Sprinklers! Support Your Neighbors!! Save Your Hood!!
Posted by amy at 10:57 AM
August 22, 2007
Break Out of the Box
How community input is driving new affordable housing designs
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE
BY BENDIX ANDERSON
More serious consultation among developers, architects, and the community is becoming the norm. Affordable housing developers across the country are increasingly following [Seattle Housing Authority's] model of inviting the surrounding communities to get involved in their projects’ designs. They’re finding that such involvement can be a recipe for improving their developments as well as for winning local political support.
They're even doing it in NYC:
In New York, the five teams of architects and developers that competed for a 1.4-acre wedge of abandoned rail yard in the South Bronx got an earful from the community at a public meeting before they submitted even the most basic sketches.
“When we were preparing our design, we really used this [feedback from the neighborhood] as a checklist,” said William Stein, principal for Dattner Architects, an architecture firm in Manhattan that collaborated with Grimshaw Architects to create the winning design.
“Getting community feedback is extraordinarily valuable,” said Adam Weinstein, president of nonprofit Phipps Houses. Phipps is developing that rail yard site in the Bronx, which will be known as Via Verde, in partnership with Jonathan Rose Cos.
And guess the name of the posterproject for lack of community input. [Hint: it's the project that's currently being dragged through the courts while other proj