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Vertigo963 t1_je20d7v wrote

It's not just the idea of development to which people are objecting, but the type of building that is going on, and who pays for and owns it, and who it's being rented and marketed to.

In JC, wealthy real estate investors are building low-quality "luxury" apartment buildings along the shore and in a few key hubs and then using the buildings to extract ever-increasing amounts of cash from a transient class of professionals who commute to NYC from JC for a 5-10 year period in their lives.

You could certainly imagine different funding, different ownership, different occupants, and/or different types of buildings, and I think different people have different preferences in that regard.

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paul-e-walnts OP t1_je213n6 wrote

I do believe that relying on the transient population will come at a cost to JC. But I guess in this explanation it’s not clear to me how buildings taking advantage of these temporary residents hurts everyone else.

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Vertigo963 t1_je22mcr wrote

Well, the current approach has given us a waterfront that is mostly owned by a group of wealthy nonresident investors who dominate our politics, coordinate to increase rents, and expend the absolute minimum they can on repairs, upgrades, infrastructure, neighborhood stores and amenities, buildings outside desirable areas, etc. I think those are some ways the current approach hurts everyone else.

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boneapetitty t1_je2prx5 wrote

Yes absolutely, and the tax abatements for most of the big buildings currently under construction in JSQ and downtown puts the tax burden on the middle class families that live in single / multi family dwellings.

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objectimpermanence t1_je2zy06 wrote

Which under construction buildings downtown have tax abatements? The city stopped issuing new abatements downtown years ago.

Also, an abatement doesn’t mean that zero money is paid to the city. Abated properties make a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the city.

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boneapetitty t1_je3lfrm wrote

I’m thinking about the buildings right near the Holland Tunnel. Do those not have tax abatements? I understand it isn’t zero money, but isn’t it still a substantial amount?

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objectimpermanence t1_je4xhov wrote

Like 75 Park Lane and The Beach? They don't have tax abatements as far as I can tell.

I don't think any of the new buildings in the "soho west" area do either. The first Cast Iron Lofts building did get a 5 year abatement, but that was done 6+ years ago before the city stopped giving out new abatements downtown.

You can see a list of abated properties and PILOT payments vs. what taxes would have been in the city's budget. Click the latest "user friendly" budget on the page here and go to page 7. They don't list the address for every property though, which is annoying.

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GeorgeWBush2016 t1_je4z2l2 wrote

Yeah I worked on a new affordable development recently and even that didn't get an abatement.

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