Flickr / World Economic Forum
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Blackstone, whose firm owns the Stuyvesant Town apartments. The firm is reportedly taking affordable apartments off the market, after pausing renovations in protest of new rent laws.
Sign up for our Mapping the Future newsletter to receive housing news—including the latest news, statistics, tools for tenants and homeowners and affordable-rental lotteries—in your inbox weekly. Here are some of the headlines from this week’s update:
From City Limits:
Just over a year ago the rezoning of the Inwood neighborhood in northern Manhattan was approved by the City Council. It was one of the most contested rezonings to occur under Mayor de Blasio, as community groups made clear that they felt the rezoning would contribute to the elimination of affordable apartments and further gentrification in the community. A year out, the neighborhood’s rhythms and feel seem unchanged but physical changes are underway, with more to come, our reporter writes. Read more.
From around the City:
The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm that owns the Stuyvesant Town apartment complex, is reportedly keeping some units off of the market, after pausing some planned renovations because of the state’s new rent laws passed this spring, the Real Deal reports. The firm, which purchased the apartment complex with financing from the city in exchange for promising to keep 5,000 of the 11,000 units ‘affordable,’ until 2035, seems to be throwing a fit, because the new laws will not allow deregulation after 2035.
Rules requiring new hotels to obtain permits have been implemented in several neighborhoods in New York like recently-rezoned Midtown East and Inwood, but last week, Crain’s reported that Mayor de Blasio is considering requiring that all new hotels obtain permits. This week, the Post reports that just under 30 percent of de Blasio’s campaign cash has come from the hotel industry and Curbed looks how that cash might be motivating the push for regulation.
After new laws passed this June made rent regulation in other New York cities possible, activists are pushing the city of Rochester to consider implementing a system, the Wall Street Journal reports. More than 60 percent of Rochester tenants are paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing, according to a city-funded study.
The New York Times picked up the story about landlords and brokers continuing to charge more than $20 for apartment application fees. The new news prohibit landlords from charging more than $20 for apartment application fees, and some seem to still do it, but much of the confusion stems from brokers not knowing whether the new law applies to them too, and continuing to charge higher fees.
