The BroadsheetDAILY ~ News of Lower Manhattan ~ 2/19/20

Municipal Think Tank Urges City to Weigh BPCA Takeover

The City’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), a publicly funded agency that provides nonpartisan information on critical issues confronting the City, is proposing that the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio consider a municipal takeover of Battery Park City.

This recommendation hinges upon the unique, hybrid nature of the community, which was built on acreage newly created from landfill in the 1970s. This unusual situation arose because the freshly created site straddled complicated jurisdictional boundaries. The portion of the new land closest to West Street (the previously existing waterfront of Manhattan) would protrude roughly 500 feet to the bulkhead line, which traditionally fell within the jurisdiction of a local municipality — in this case, New York City. But Battery Park City’s 92 acres extended beyond this demarcation, a full 1,000 feet into the Hudson, to what is known as the pierhead line, a legal boundary beyond which artificial structures may not be built into navigable waters. That extra length customarily fell within the purview of the State.

This raised the question of which arm of government would own the new (and very valuable) land: the City or the State? Charles Urstadt, the founder of the community — who served as the first chairman and president of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) — cut this Gordian Knot by deeding the inner (landward) 500 feet the project to the City of New York, while the State of New York kept title to the outer half. He then re-split the difference by having the State (in the form of a newly created BPCA) cede its interest to the City, but lease the entire parcel back from the City for 99 years.

But in these negotiations, the City insisted upon an escape clause: The municipal government would have the option, at any time, to cancel the 99-year lease and take full possession of Battery Park City’s 92 acres, in exchange for one dollar, plus assumption of the BPCA’s outstanding debt, which currently totals more than $1 billion.

In the meantime, the BPCA acts on the City’s behalf by collecting property taxes (in the form of Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT) and ground rents. The latter form of payment results from the exotic nature of property ownership in Battery Park City, where homeowners, landlords, and developers do not own outright the land they occupy, but instead lease the space (through June, 2069), in exchange for yearly payments of ground rent.

For decades, this option has been a moot point, because the City reaps an annual windfall from the BPCA’s excess revenue (totaling roughly $200 million in 2019), for which it is required to do nothing in exchange, while the Authority looks after the operational details of running and maintaining the community. For this reason, City Hall has had little incentive to consider exercising its right to acquire Battery Park City. And while some local leaders and elected officials advocated for this option years ago, when relations between the community and the BPCA were at their most contentious, these calls have subsided as the rapport between the Authority and residents has improved.

But the IBO now calculates that dissolving the BPCA would yield the City an extra $70 million per year, over and above the current annual payout of $200 million, after a two-year transition period. “City revenue would increase by guaranteeing all surplus income would flow to the City without requiring the Authority’s approval,” predicts IBO analyst Elizabeth Brown. “Following the satisfaction of past agreements and based on recent budgets, this could total about $70 million annually, above what the city now receives as a transfer of PILOT revenue in as little as two years.”

Ms. Brown continues that, “proponents might argue that Battery Park City differs little from other City neighborhoods — it receives similar services, and its residents, in effect, pay the same taxes. Now that the neighborhood’s construction is complete, the BPCA is unnecessary and the City should have exclusive control over the revenue it produces. While the City already receives most of BPCA’s excess funds, the state-controlled BPCA board can and has at times allocated funds to fill State budget gaps to the detriment of the City. If the City realizes efficiencies by combining BPCA and City operations, revenue would increase. The City would also have the right to sell land now leased through ground leases to private developers.”

She continues that, “opponents might argue that Battery Park City is one of the City’s best-maintained neighborhoods thanks to its dedicated funding. Residents and business moved to the area, often paying higher rents due to the ground-lease structure, in exchange for its amenities. If funds were distributed City-wide, local maintenance would suffer — particularly hurting the neighborhood’s many parks. They also might argue an ownership change is unnecessary: BPCA is already required to transfer most of its surpluses to the City and the remaining funds cannot be spent without the City’s approval.”

Largely absent from this analysis is the impact that such a move would have on the financial outlook of the people who live in Battery Park City. The prospect of maintaining affordability (both for renters and condominium owners) is largely contingent on the possibility that the BPCA will agree to renegotiate the leases for these buildings, and agree to forgo a series of ruinous increases in ground rent enshrined in the original contracts, dating (in most cases) from decades ago. This appeal is rooted in politics and policy: the perceived value of maintaining middle-class affordability, rather than allowing the community to devolve into an enclave of unalloyed wealth.

Such a possibility would likely become more remote if the City took direct control and ownership over the community. Given the relentless budget pressure faced by City Hall, precisely the opposite imperative would almost certainly come to the fore: the need to cut expenses, while collecting the maximum possible revenue.

In the alternate scenario outlined by Ms. Brown, “to sell land now leased through ground leases to private developers,” the prospect of financial relief would shift from improbable to impossible. If private investors took ownership of the land beneath the residential buildings in Battery Park City, there would be no realistic basis whatsoever for residents to ask for (or expect) concessions on the terms of ground leases. Such investors would have every incentive (and legal right) to extract the utmost profit from their property.

But while ongoing BPCA stewardship over the community may represent the best of all possible options for residents on several levels, there are also limits on how much accommodation residents can expect from that agency. At the February 5 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, Authority president B.J. Jones was asked about the appropriate balance between maximizing BPCA revenue, and preserving affordability. He replied, “it we cut back too much on what we collect, there’s always the chance that the City will exercise their one-dollar option,” he answered.

Tenants at Another Financial District Building Seek Class-Action Status in Suit Against Landlords

A map, compiled by New York University’s Furman Center (which advances research and debate on housing, neighborhoods, and urban policy) illustrating the dozens of Lower Manhattan buildings — erstwhile office towers, converted to residential use — that have benefited from the 421-g program.

Ban on Broker’s Fee Will Impact Lower Manhattan More Than Other Communities

A new analysis from PropertyClub.com, an online real estate marketplace that eliminates middle-men for landlords, brokers and managers, indicates that Lower Manhattan renters will gain more than those of most communities from the recently announced ban on tenants paying broker’s fees.

February 18 – March 1, 2020

The most alluring two weeks in the Moon’s cycle are about to begin. Each morning this week, one crescent moon after another – one more delicate than the one before – drops down a slanted ladder sketched by three planets in the southeast. The celestial drama of the waning moon and planets unfolds at dawn within twenty degrees of the southeast horizon.

On Wednesday, red Mars, not very bright at 1.19 magnitude, will be in view above brightest Jupiter at -1.93m, a crescent to its right. Next morning, the 20^th, a fingernail crescent appears just below modest Saturn at 0.64m.

To observe Mars and Saturn, be positioned by 5:45am at a location with a clear view to the southeast horizon. The moon and Jupiter may be visible until about 6:15am.

Teens and educators conduct citizen science

 and

February 17 – 23, March 14 – 24 ongoing

 https://www.globeatnight.org/5-steps.php

April 4 & 5, 2020 Northeast Astronomy Forum http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.html

April 2 & 3 Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaic.html

Alliance Readies First Steps in Master Plan to Balance Beauty with Security Around Stock Exchange

	A rendering of the proposed street furniture the Downtown Alliance wants to install on Broad Street.

The Downtown Alliance is preparing to implement the first phase of a master plan unveiled in May, 2018, which aims to transform the “frozen zone” — a 3,000-feet security perimeter surrounding the New York Stock Exchange, which has enclosed (and limited access to) 19 acres of the Financial District since shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. To read more…

City Council Announces Design Competition to Improve Pedestrian Access to Brooklyn Bridge

Some 15,000 pedestrians and 3,600 cyclists compete with each other and souvenir vendors for as little as ten feet of width on the deck of the Brooklyn Bridge

The City Council has partnered with the Van Alen Institute (a New York nonprofit architectural organization, dedicated to improving design in the public realm) in sponsoring a contest to incubate fresh ideas for better pedestrian access to the Brooklyn Bridge.  To read more…

Centuries-Old Aesthetics to Converge with Cutting-Edge Technology at Historic Seaport Warehouse

	245 Water Street

Trinity Church has purchased a historic warehouse in the South Street Seaport district, which it intends to convert into a four-family residence, while also adhering to the environmentally rigorous “passive house” standard. The building, at 245 Water Street (between Peck Slip and Beekman Street), was originally built in 1836, after a fire destroyed the previous structure on that lot. The building was put up by the firm of Hendricks & Brothers, who operated cooper mines in Newark, but had their offices in Lower Manhattan. The family, who had anglicized their names from the Henriques of their native Spain, had been in the cooper business for generations, selling to customers like Paul Revere and Robert Fulton.

1PM

4PM

All materials will be provided. First come, first served. For children ages 3 and older. New York City Public Library, Battery Park City branch, 175 North End Avenue.

6PM

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7PM

7PM

Longtime Residents, Neither Rich Nor Poor, Face an Uncertain Future Downtown

	The approximate number of new apartments created between 2010 and 2018.

The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has released an updated version of its Where We Live NYC affordable housing plan, which contains some striking insights about Lower Manhattan.

The report finds that between 25 and 30 percent of all local rental units are rent stabilized, while market-rate apartments comprise between 35 and 42 percent of all units. To read more…

 Wednesday February 19

Photos and information culled from Wikipedia and other internet sources

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Battery Park City’s annual art exhibition opened on Sunday, January 26.

  To read more…

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After Two-Year Hiatus, Work to Resume at St. Nicholas Church

Work is slated to resume soon on the construction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church within the World Trade Center site. The striking design (shown here in a rendering) by architect Santiago Calatrava, who also created the nearby Oculus, has made the structure one of Lower Manhattan’s most eagerly anticipated new buildings.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on January 2 that a newly formed non-profit organization will raise funds and underwrite the completion of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, within the World Trade Center Complex.

The building, designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava (who additionally created the nearby Oculus, also in the World Trade Center) is slated to replace the histo precious parish church that fell among the victims of September 11. To read more…

Much-Touted Crackdown on Placard Parking Not All It Was Cracked Up to Be

Epicenter of a Notorious Slum Proposed for Commemoration

The Five Points gang, a criminal organization that drew its members from the ethnic immigrant populations that inhabited the neighborhood.

In 1831, the City government considered a petition that warned, “that the place known as “Five points” has long been notorious… as being the nursery where every species of vice is conceived and matured; that it is infested by a class of the most abandoned and desperate character.”

A decade later, Charles Dickens, visiting New York, wrote of the same Lower Manhattan neighborhood that had inspired the petition, “what place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps? Let us go on again, and plunge into the Five Points…. To read more…

	In an instant, both wagon and horse were vaporized, and the closest automobile was tossed twenty feet in the air. Incredibly, the iconic bronze of George Washington surveys the devastation from the steps of the Sub-Treasury without so much as a scratch.

As the noon hour approached on a fall Thursday morning in 1920, a horse-drawn wagon slowly made its way west down Wall Street toward “the Corner,” the high-powered intersection of Wall and Broad. Its driver came to a gentle stop in front of the Assay Office, where stockpiles of gold and silver were stored and tested for purity. But theft was not his motive.