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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
221 West 29th Street, a residential building. Application for 421-a Partial Real Estate Tax Exemption, with 19 on-site units of "affordable" housing, out of 375 residential units altogether
WHEREAS, The 221 W29 Residential LLC (Applicant) is constructing a residential building at 221 W 29 Street with 95 apartments; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is seeking to use two forms of government subsidy to finance their development of apartments in exchange for making 19 of their building's units affordable for low-income households; and
WHEREAS, The first taxpayer subsidy to the Applicant would be, if the 421-a application is approved, a 100% property tax exemption for the entire building (including the 80% of market-rate units) for a period of 12 years followed by an 8-year partial exemption; and
WHEREAS, The second subsidy to the Applicant is the zoning bonus, pursuant to the Inclusionary Housing Program; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is proposing a building where the unit mix of affordable units does NOT match the unit mix for market-rate units; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant was asked to attend a meeting of the Land Use, Housing, and Zoning Committee of Manhattan Community Board Five and, unlike prior applicants for the 421-a exemption in Manhattan Community District Five, the Applicant refused to attend a public meeting of the community board and take questions from members of the committee or members of the public; and
WHEREAS, The applicant has indicated that there will be amenity space in the building, but has indicated that low-income tenants will be obligated to pay to use the space that is being subsidized through the 421-a tax exemption; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five believes that any private developer whose real estate project is subsidized through a tax exemption and a zoning bonus must ensure that low-income residents have affordable access to the government-subsidized rooms so that families and individuals can be full and equal members of their building community; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five believes that any private developer whose real estate project is subsidized through a tax exemption or a zoning bonus must ensure that low-income residents have affordable access to the government-subsidized rooms so that families and individuals can be full and equal members of their building community; and
WHEREAS, In 2015, the Torkian Group using both 421-a and the Inclusionary Housing R10 Program Zoning Bonus in Community District Five at 38-46 West 33rd Street made a legally binding commitment to ensure that its tenants would permanently have a right of affordable access to the roof, gym and other building amenities by committing to the following terms:
● The amenity fee for the first year for a single adult tenant of an IH unit will be set at not more than either $750 per year or 50% of the rate for single adults in market-rate units (whichever is less);
● The amenity fee for the first year for all adult tenants of an IH unit will be set at either not more than $1,000 per year or 50% of the rate for the adult tenants of market-rate tenant households (whichever is less);
● Each year, the amenity fee may rise no more than the percentage increase set forth by the Rent Guidelines Board (or a successor organization), or, if such board ceases to exist, the annual increase will be no more than percentage increase year-to-year in median household income as set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the New York, NY HUD Metro FMR Area;
● Under no circumstances will the annual amenity fee charged to low-income tenants ever be more than 50% of the rate charged to market-rate tenants;
● Upon each lease renewal, tenants in IH units will be clearly notified of the discounted rate available to them through mail;
● IH tenants will have the opportunity, if they so wish, to pay one-twelfth of the annual amenity fee each month rather than as a lump sum payment; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five asked the Applicant to make the same commitment made by the Torkian group to ensure that amenities at 221 West 29th Street will be accessible at an affordable rate to low-income tenants; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant stated that they were not prepared to make a commitment to Community Board Five to ensure affordable access to building amenities for low-income tenants; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five strongly believes that a developer availing themselves of four overlapping public subsidies, yet not making any guarantee that low-income children and adults will have access-let alone affordable access- to building common spaces amounts to a taxpayer-subsidized tale-of-two-cities building; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five strongly urges the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development to deny the 421-a application for 221 West 29th Street because approving the application would facilitate the creation of a publicly subsidized building where low-income tenants can be prohibited from accessing amenity space that is supported with a property tax exemption; and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five asks for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development to withhold action on the application until the applicant has engaged with the community by attending a public hearing at Community Board Five.