The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has relaxed the eligibility requirements for the 421-a tax abatement program, in order to sustain developments stalled due to reduced access to financing. Previously, the tax abatements were only available to projects worked on continuously and completed within 36 months of breaking ground.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-New York) thinks that plans for revitalizing Penn Station into a premier gateway to the City of New York will have to proceed in a reduced and piecemeal fashion, though she still supports the idea of transforming the Farley Post Office into the new Moynihan Station.

The Real Estate Board of New York has proposed that 421-a tax abatements, which are given as incentives to build affordable housing, be based on the full value of the property. Since 2007, legislation limited deductions to $65,000, although the original state law from the 1980s provided that 421-a certificates were based on full value.

Developer Atlantic Development, one of the City’s largest builders of affordable housing, filed court claims against developers Larry Silverstein and Joseph Moinian alleging the two developers owe millions in relation to the City’s 421-a program and inclusionary housing incentives.

The Bloomberg administration has proposed extending 421a tax benefits to developers who are able to prove that their projects were delayed due to financing problems or foreclosure by a lender. Steven Spinola, head of the Real Estate Board of New York, said that the Board was pleased by the news.

The Hudson River Park Trust is asking for $57 million of federal stimulus money to repair Pier 40. The Trust hopes it will be easier to attract a developer for the pier if it did not need so many costly repairs. Currently, the pier houses some offices, a parking lot and ball fields, and contributes half of the park’s $14 million budget.

At the end of 2007, the 421a tax incentive program was changed to stop allowing low-income housing developers to sell tax abatement certificates to market rate housing developers to reduce their tax burden. The Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spignola is advocating the reinstatement of the program given the current real estate market slowdown.

Converting Financial District office space into condos has been a regular practice. More than 7,500 new residential units have been added to the neighborhood via conversion since 2004, and residential population has more than quadrupled since 1990.

The city’s 421-a tax abatement program is allowing the David Marks Development Group's to set prices lower than average in its Conrad building at 342 East 110th Street in East Harlem. One and two-bedroom condos range in price from $399,000 to $560,000. The average price for a one-bedroom condo in East Harlem and Harlem was $530,039 and the average for a two-bedroom was $891,060 in 2007. Builders...

The 421-a tax abatement program, which was approved by both the city council and the state legislature in 2007, is set for review when the state legislature returns to session in the winter. Many legislators seek to expand the program’s exclusion area, making it more likely that new developments in their neighborhoods will have affordable units. The program, which has a built-in review feature based...