Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Protecting public spaces of Stuyvesant Town
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
ST/PCV are now part of the empire of Tishman –Speyer Properties, at a price of $5.4B for 11.232 units, or $482K per apartment, the approximate market value of a one BR unit. Assume the scenario that such apartments are currently renting at $1,100/mo rent controlled, or at $2,400/mo market rate. Further, if sold as a condo to a market rate tenant at $300K, the new owner might pay nearly the same: $1,500/mo mortgage at 6%, plus $1,000/mo maintenance (interest to CALPERS or whoever finances Tishman, building maintenance, taxes, profit/loss on controlled units). The windfall capital gains may also entice some rent-controlled tenants, as money towards a retirement home. Rent-controlled tenants are safe (the law is good until 2011); Tishman can only decontrol an apartment upon the death of the occupant, with some tight succession rules. No doubt the renters’ incomes will be watched, since family income over the $175K max can move apartments into market rate area, as does a regulated rent when increased over $2K/mo, but that’s nothing new. Affordable NYC housing will continue to dwindle. The 1994 and 1997 laws that established the $2k/mo support limit may need a COLA, since rents have risen 64% in the 12 years (verify).
Most endangered are the open spaces, 260,000 sq. ft., or 6 ½ acres of landscaping and fresh air, never again to be duplicated in this tight city. ST/PCV was sneered at by urbanist purists, led by Lewis Mumford (in the New Yorker, 1948) and Jane Jacobs, because of the pedestrian construction of 110 residential buildings of 11-13 stories (although providentially kept far below the permitted FAR limits). Mumford considered it a police state product because of the eminent domain and condemnation proceedings in the dilapidated Gashouse District by Mayor LaGuardia, with Robert Morris, that put the 80-acre land package together. Now, with the passage of time, it has gained charm, particularly in the current-day context of tight spacing. Per Paul Goldberger: “this space really works…the curving walks, play areas, lawns and benches…the towers …are given variety by placement, grouping and landscaping,” as quoted by he Historic Districts Council, in a November 12, 2001 letter to the ST Tenants Association (TA) and CB6. copies to ESRA, This HDC report, signed by Simeon Bankoff, stated that the complex deserves preservation and protection. It proposed a three-pronged approach, to be pursued concurrently: designation of the entire site as an individual landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (as in Harlem River Houses); identification as a Special Planned. Community Preservation District (SPCPD) by the City Planning Commission, and downzoning, also by the CPC, i.e., reducing the FAR [this would inhibit reckless construction].
Pursuing this, the TA engaged Sandra Levine, a historian of architectural preservation, to work toward the designation. The effort succeeded at the NY State Office of Parks, Public Recreation and Historic Preservation, which declared ST eligible for the nominations to the New York State Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The NYSOPPRHD administers the Fed Register Act of 1966 and the NYS Act of 1980.
Under this designation the property owners, whose agreement is a prerequisite, are not hampered from implementing modifications and changes, unless public funds are involved, in which case hearings are held . Note that the public funds use for rebuilding the Union Square North Pavilion into a restaurant gave legal standing to the USCC protest. It is not expected that Stuyvesant Town will have a public road or such put through it. Nevertheless, Metropolitan Life, which invested $50M into ST/PCV in the 1990s, refused to accept the nomination. Currently the TA is considering the opening of negotiations with the Speyers about the .nominations to the State and National Registers, a worthwhile cause for both parties .
A listing on the New York State Register and on the National Register is actually an honorific, commemorating the significance and national importance of the structures and their locations. It would benefit Tishman-Speyer Properties in establishing the value of ST/PCV as quality residential property, and establish the bona fides of the developer, quoted in the NYTimes, that “there will be no sudden or dramatic shifts in the community’s makeup, character or charm.” Further, the designee can receive a 20% FIT credit for rehabilitation, such as the current extensive pavement and roadway work, and local and state credits for historic preservation.
As to the proposed NYC Landmarks Commission’s designation of ST as an individual landmark, Assemblywoman Sylvia Friedman, who originated the idea years ago, as chair of the CB6 Parks, Recreation and Landmarks Committee, has been pursuing it, as is Gary Papush, the current chair. The endangerment for the trees and the ambiance in 260,000 sq. ft open space, made up of the Stuyvesant Oval and the 15 playgrounds and athletics fields, the unique characteristics that raise ST/PCV way above other private housing developments nationally, was pointed out by Councilman David Garodnick, who spearheaded the TA’s effort to bid for the property. Note that three East Side projects have been granted landmark status – the City and suburban Homes Company Estates, the First Houses, and the Harlem River Houses.
Wally Dobelis thanks Jack Taylor, Susan Steinberg, Gary Papush & Sandra Levine for their contributions. Forgive the terseness; this unpaid community service column has a max of 825 words (you can find a version in the blog, sometimes longer, by googling Looking Ahead & Wally Dobelis), therefore the probability of re-zoning, and of the Special Planned Community Preservation District designation will be covered next week.
ST/PCV are now part of the empire of Tishman –Speyer Properties, at a price of $5.4B for 11.232 units, or $482K per apartment, the approximate market value of a one BR unit. Assume the scenario that such apartments are currently renting at $1,100/mo rent controlled, or at $2,400/mo market rate. Further, if sold as a condo to a market rate tenant at $300K, the new owner might pay nearly the same: $1,500/mo mortgage at 6%, plus $1,000/mo maintenance (interest to CALPERS or whoever finances Tishman, building maintenance, taxes, profit/loss on controlled units). The windfall capital gains may also entice some rent-controlled tenants, as money towards a retirement home. Rent-controlled tenants are safe (the law is good until 2011); Tishman can only decontrol an apartment upon the death of the occupant, with some tight succession rules. No doubt the renters’ incomes will be watched, since family income over the $175K max can move apartments into market rate area, as does a regulated rent when increased over $2K/mo, but that’s nothing new. Affordable NYC housing will continue to dwindle. The 1994 and 1997 laws that established the $2k/mo support limit may need a COLA, since rents have risen 64% in the 12 years (verify).
Most endangered are the open spaces, 260,000 sq. ft., or 6 ½ acres of landscaping and fresh air, never again to be duplicated in this tight city. ST/PCV was sneered at by urbanist purists, led by Lewis Mumford (in the New Yorker, 1948) and Jane Jacobs, because of the pedestrian construction of 110 residential buildings of 11-13 stories (although providentially kept far below the permitted FAR limits). Mumford considered it a police state product because of the eminent domain and condemnation proceedings in the dilapidated Gashouse District by Mayor LaGuardia, with Robert Morris, that put the 80-acre land package together. Now, with the passage of time, it has gained charm, particularly in the current-day context of tight spacing. Per Paul Goldberger: “this space really works…the curving walks, play areas, lawns and benches…the towers …are given variety by placement, grouping and landscaping,” as quoted by he Historic Districts Council, in a November 12, 2001 letter to the ST Tenants Association (TA) and CB6. copies to ESRA, This HDC report, signed by Simeon Bankoff, stated that the complex deserves preservation and protection. It proposed a three-pronged approach, to be pursued concurrently: designation of the entire site as an individual landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (as in Harlem River Houses); identification as a Special Planned. Community Preservation District (SPCPD) by the City Planning Commission, and downzoning, also by the CPC, i.e., reducing the FAR [this would inhibit reckless construction].
Pursuing this, the TA engaged Sandra Levine, a historian of architectural preservation, to work toward the designation. The effort succeeded at the NY State Office of Parks, Public Recreation and Historic Preservation, which declared ST eligible for the nominations to the New York State Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The NYSOPPRHD administers the Fed Register Act of 1966 and the NYS Act of 1980.
Under this designation the property owners, whose agreement is a prerequisite, are not hampered from implementing modifications and changes, unless public funds are involved, in which case hearings are held . Note that the public funds use for rebuilding the Union Square North Pavilion into a restaurant gave legal standing to the USCC protest. It is not expected that Stuyvesant Town will have a public road or such put through it. Nevertheless, Metropolitan Life, which invested $50M into ST/PCV in the 1990s, refused to accept the nomination. Currently the TA is considering the opening of negotiations with the Speyers about the .nominations to the State and National Registers, a worthwhile cause for both parties .
A listing on the New York State Register and on the National Register is actually an honorific, commemorating the significance and national importance of the structures and their locations. It would benefit Tishman-Speyer Properties in establishing the value of ST/PCV as quality residential property, and establish the bona fides of the developer, quoted in the NYTimes, that “there will be no sudden or dramatic shifts in the community’s makeup, character or charm.” Further, the designee can receive a 20% FIT credit for rehabilitation, such as the current extensive pavement and roadway work, and local and state credits for historic preservation.
As to the proposed NYC Landmarks Commission’s designation of ST as an individual landmark, Assemblywoman Sylvia Friedman, who originated the idea years ago, as chair of the CB6 Parks, Recreation and Landmarks Committee, has been pursuing it, as is Gary Papush, the current chair. The endangerment for the trees and the ambiance in 260,000 sq. ft open space, made up of the Stuyvesant Oval and the 15 playgrounds and athletics fields, the unique characteristics that raise ST/PCV way above other private housing developments nationally, was pointed out by Councilman David Garodnick, who spearheaded the TA’s effort to bid for the property. Note that three East Side projects have been granted landmark status – the City and suburban Homes Company Estates, the First Houses, and the Harlem River Houses.
Wally Dobelis thanks Jack Taylor, Susan Steinberg, Gary Papush & Sandra Levine for their contributions. Forgive the terseness; this unpaid community service column has a max of 825 words (you can find a version in the blog, sometimes longer, by googling Looking Ahead & Wally Dobelis), therefore the probability of re-zoning, and of the Special Planned Community Preservation District designation will be covered next week.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 9:32 AM 
