Gotham Org Project Heads to City Council Clash

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Hey there, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of policy and real estate:

• City planning officials approved the Monitor Point apartment complex, setting the stage for a City Council clash (and potentially a first test of the city’s new housing appeals board).
• The Mamdani administration unveils a blueprint to accelerate affordable housing development and get New Yorkers into apartments faster.
• A new state bill would block evictions tied to alleged deed theft schemes.

In this edition we mention: City Council member Lincoln Restler, Gotham Organization executive Bryan Kelly, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg, State Sen. Leroy Comrie, Assembly member Stefani Zinerman and others.

We Heard

• Development struggle: The City Planning Commission on Wednesday approved the proposed Monitor Point project, a 1,150-unit development on the Greenpoint waterfront, setting up a likely City Council showdown — and potentially the first test of the city’s new housing appeals process. In a 10-to-1 vote, the commission signed off on Gotham Organization’s plan to build three residential towers on parcels leased from the Greenpoint Monitor Museum and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Forty percent of the apartments would be permanently affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area median income. The proposal also includes a new home for the museum, replacement MTA facilities and new open-space connections to Bushwick Inlet Park. Commissioner Leah Goodridge, a tenant-rights attorney, cast the lone dissenting vote without explanation. The project now heads to City Council, where local member Lincoln Restler has already drawn a line in the sand. Restler says he won’t support the project unless half the apartments are affordable and the Mamdani administration commits to completing Bushwick Inlet Park — a long-stalled promise from the 2005 Williamsburg-Greenpoint rezoning. “If the developer and Mayor Mamdani and the MTA want to build predominantly luxury housing on this site, then I’m a no,” Restler told The Real Deal, pointing to the MTA parcel’s status as public land. “And we’ll wait for a new team to come along with a proposal that actually meets the needs of my neighborhood.” Gotham Organization argues that deeper affordability doesn’t pencil out. The developer says it is spending roughly $130 million on development rights, replacement MTA facilities and infrastructure needed to make the project viable. “We don’t believe there’s a plan B for this site,” Gotham development president Bryan Kelly told the commission in April. If the Council rejects the proposal, Gotham could turn to a new Charter-backed appeals board approved by voters in November. The three-member panel — made up of the mayor, Council speaker and borough president (Antonio Reynoso in this case) — can override Council rejections for projects that include affordable housing. That could make Monitor Point the first test case. We’ll keep you posted as the situation unfolds.
• Slashing red tape: Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday rolled out a sweeping plan to speed up affordable housing construction across the five boroughs, targeting bottlenecks at every stage of the development pipeline. The blueprint, produced by the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development, or SPEED, task force launched on the mayor’s first day in office, aims to shave at least eight months off project timelines. For developments requiring rezonings, City Hall says proposed reforms could cut approvals by as much as two years. At a high level the initiative aims to streamline bureaucracy in four phases of the development process: environmental review and planning; pre-development and financing; permitting and approvals; and marketing and leasing. For example, the mayor plans to establish a new review team focused on shepherding smaller housing projects through reduced environmental reviews, to complement environmental reforms anticipated in the state budget. The push — along with several other proposals in the SPEED report — will require a staffing boost; the administration committed to 96 new positions across city agencies to help accelerate housing approvals. Those hires were included in the executive budget released Tuesday, even as the city projected more than $300 million in savings tied to agency headcount reductions. Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said the administration is reallocating resources by cutting vacant positions while adding staff in areas “where it’s really going to make a big impact.” Those staffing changes will take time to implement, but the administration says other reforms could be in place by year’s end, including shortening the housing lottery application period from 60 days to 21, streamlining income verification and cutting back on apartment inspections — moves the city says would reduce the average time from construction completion to move-ins from 210 days to under 100. Industry groups, including the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, the New York Building Congress and the Real Estate Board of New York, said they welcomed the proposed changes.
  
• The Deed Theft Eviction Protection Act: Activists made headlines last month when police arrested four people, including Council member Chi Ossé, who gathered outside a Bedford-Stuyvesant townhouse seeking to block officers from carrying out an eviction. The activists pointed to the situation as an example of deed theft — when a property’s deed or title is transferred without the owner’s true knowledge or consent. The state Attorney General’s office said it determined the specific situation Ossé protested was not in fact deed theft but rather a complex property dispute. Still, the moment drew attention to those who suffer deed theft, and a gap in state law that allows a resident to be evicted from their home even as they’re fighting to prove ownership. Under current law, a court can order an eviction before a judge has a chance to rule in a separate case on who lawfully owns a property. A new state bill, introduced by State Sen. Leroy Comrie and Assembly member Stefani Zinerman, would plug that gap by preventing an owner of record from being evicted while the title to that property is being challenged in court. 

Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com. 

Bill Tracker

The Catch-Up

Steve Roth undermined his valid pro-growth critique of Mayor Zohran Mamdani with inflammatory comments comparing “tax the rich” rhetoric to hateful slurs, writes TRD columnist Erik Engquist.

Some landlords are using planned demolitions to try to bypass New York’s Good Cause eviction law, setting up court fights over whether redevelopment plans are legitimate grounds to remove tenants, reports The City.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday said Long Island Rail Road commuters should plan to work from home if the train service shuts down for a strike, writes Gothamist.

The Kicker

“We have to cut the ribbon on new housing and we will do so by cutting the red tape that’s in its way,” Mayor Mamdani told reporters on his blueprint to speed up affordable housing construction.

Read more

MTA plans mixed-use redevelopment for Greenpoint waterfront

The Daily Dirt: Mamdani’s need for SPEED

The Daily Dirt: Deed theft takes center stage