<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3tT6hJ_1F2lZTAh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3tT6hJ_1F2lZTAh00" width="1500" height="1000" >Hello, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of real estate and policy.<ul><li>The real estate industry’s once-unified front against COPA has fractured.</li><li>Developers who ignore stop work orders would face great scrutiny under a new City Council bill.</li><li>A J-51 reboot could unlock tax breaks for an additional 4,200 co-op and condo buildings.</li></ul>In this edition we mention: Real Estate Board of New York Executive Vice President of External Relations and Advocacy Zach Steinberg, Small Property Owner of New York member Christopher Athineos, Habitat for Humanity in New York City and Westchester County Chief of Staff Matt Dunbar, Green Co-op Council Director Priya Mulgaonkar, Council member Ty Hankerson and others.We HeardIndustry split: A year ago, much of the real estate industry was united in opposition to the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA. That front has since cracked. Take the Real Estate Board of New York. The industry trade group strongly opposed earlier versions of the bill. After Council member Sandy Nurse revised the legislation this spring to narrow the pool of properties covered and shorten the window for city-approved nonprofits and joint ventures to buy distressed multifamily buildings before they hit the broader market, REBNY has taken a more measured tone. “These are meaningful changes that make the bill more targeted and reduce the risk of disrupting transactions,” REBNY Executive Vice President of External Relations and Advocacy Zach Steinberg said at a City Council hearing on the bill Wednesday. But REBNY isn’t ready to sign off. The group is pushing for several more changes, including a clear exit path for buildings that no longer meet COPA’s coverage criteria, “reasonable limits” on penalties and lawsuits for violators and restrictions on the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s ability to expand the program through rulemaking. As written, the bill gives HPD broad latitude to expand the types of buildings subject to COPA. “These changes would help ensure the bill is predictable, administrable and does not unintentionally discourage investment in housing,” added Steinberg. Other landlord groups, including the Small Property Owners of New York, still vehemently oppose COPA. “The city should not create a system in which small owners are squeezed financially, become distressed and then told that their distress justifies greater government intervention in the disposition of their property,” testified Christopher Athineos with SPONY. Nonprofit developers, meanwhile, say COPA would offer them an advantage in preserving more distressed housing and expanding homeownership to tenants. “What is necessary in the market is more opportunities to create opportunities where tenants can become owners of their own properties,” said Matt Dunbar, chief of staff with Habitat for Humanity in New York City and Westchester County. “We fully endorse COPA.”Stop work patrol: A new City Council bill is taking aim at developers who disregard stop work orders, proposing tougher inspection requirements once the Department of Buildings orders a project to halt. Queens Council member Ty Hankerson introduced the bill Thursday, arguing that stricter oversight is needed because some developers simply keep building rather than fix the violations that triggered the order. “Some developers have seen the cost of complying with a stop work order as too great, so instead of stopping work and correcting the problem identified by the Department of Buildings, they instead just continue working and ignore the order,” wrote Hankerson in a memo on the proposal. Hankerson’s bill would amend the city code to require inspections of major renovation worksites where buildings officials have issued a full or partial stop work order. The legislation targets significant structural and renovation projects: demolition of more than 50 percent of a worksite’s total floor area, removal of one or more floors of a structure or a building enlargement that affects the exterior envelope. The bill would require the DOB to inspect a site within 14 days of issuing a stop work order to confirm that work has paused. Inspections would continue every 14 days until the violation is corrected. Each follow-up inspection would be conducted jointly by the unit that issued the order and inspectors from at least two other related DOB units. “It will be more difficult for developers to skirt the rules and will further incentivize them to address the violations,” wrote Hankerson, “rather than ignoring the violation and pressing ahead with the work anyway.” The legislation would add a lot of work to DOB’s limited inspector workforce — city data shows the agency has 604 inspectors on staff with 46 vacancies and 25 inspectors in the hiring pipeline — so it’s difficult to imagine the department would be on board with the bill in its current form. We’ll keep you posted.&nbsp;J-51 jackpot: New data offers a snapshot of how many properties could benefit from the revival and expansion of a coveted property tax break to offset building upgrades. A City Council bill renewing the state-authorized J-51 tax break would make an additional 4,200 co-op and condo buildings, representing more than 94,000 units, eligible for the abatement, according to a new report from the Green Co-op Council, a climate policy nonprofit. The state previously limited the benefit to co-ops and condos with an average assessed value of $45,000. This year’s state budget raised that threshold to $60,000, equivalent to a sales-based market value of roughly $550,000. The threshold would also rise annually with the Consumer Price Index, keeping the eligibility bar in line with inflation. The Council bill, sponsored by Council Member Pierina Sanchez, would allow the city to apply the expanded abatement to renovations completed between June 30, 2026, and June 30, 2036. The proposed J-51 reboot would help property owners make climate-friendly investments to comply with Local Law 97 “so the next generation can live in cleaner, more sustainable homes while keeping their homes affordable,” said Priya Mulgaonkar, director of the Green Co-op Council. In total, just under 10,300 co-op buildings encompassing about 285,000 units would be eligible for the proposed J-51 program, according to the Green Co-op Council’s analysis. Queens accounts for the largest share, with nearly 7,000 eligible co-op buildings. Another roughly 5,500 condo buildings, representing 69,000 units, would qualify, with more than 2,000 of those buildings concentrated in Brooklyn, the data shows. Owners of rent-stabilized multifamily buildings could also tap the program, though the state did not expand eligibility criteria for those properties despite lobbying from landlord groups and state lawmakers.Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com. Bill TrackerBill Number Lead Sponsor(s) Summary CommitteeIntro. 0905 City Council member Sandy Nurse Gives city-approved nonprofits first opportunity to buy certain multi-family buildings Committee on Housing and BuildingsIntro. 1039 City Council member Ty Hankerson Beefs up inspection requirements on construction sites after a stop work order is issued Committee on Housing and BuildingsThe Catch-UpCity Council member Lincoln Restler used a Wednesday hearing with city officials to blast the “shitty conditions” tenants in his district, from Greenpoint to Brooklyn Heights, say they’re living with — and put the blame on the 421a tax break, reports The Real Deal’s Ben Miller. Tishman Speyer’s proposed Hudson Yards skyscraper could land a $100 million property tax break from New York City, in what would be the largest economic subsidy since Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office, reports Bloomberg.In the quarter-century since Sept. 11, a rebuild of 5 World Trade Center is still halted thanks to politics and rising construction costs, reports The New York Times.The Kicker“This will be the embodiment of the dream to have more transit-oriented development.” – Gov. Kathy Hochul recently told reporters, on the proposed Interborough Express light-rail between Brooklyn and Queens.</div></body>

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Hello, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of real estate and policy. The real estate industry’s once-unified front against COPA has fractured. Developers who ignore stop work orders would face great scrutiny under a new City Council bill. A J-51 reboot could unlock tax breaks...

Policy Pro: Real estate industry split on COPA

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Hello, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of real estate and policy. The real estate industry’s once-unified front against COPA has fractured.

Policy Pro: Real estate industry split on COPA

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