A double headline, one surprising, one anything but. The news of Joe Conley’s resignation from Community Board 2 after 23 years, was unexpected and sudden. Under normal circumstances, a reign of that duration usually ends with months of boozy goodbye celebrations at night, replete with cigars and backslapping. Followed by hungover days ferrying around to local public schools and senior citizen centers to pick up newly contrived award plaques. There’s also usually a handpicked and groomed successor. Unless there’s a big scandal, in which case [Read more…] about CONLEY SUDDENLY RESIGNS AND MU RAMEN HAS LONG LINES
Politics
ELECTIONS 2014: THE PEOPLE OF LONG ISLAND CITY HAVE SPOKEN
Well Election Day has passed, and I expect the results will have minimal impact on your life. Yet a very local vote the week before may hold greater significance in how it affects the people of LIC on a day-by-day basis. This vote was sort of open to everyone, but only about 50 people showed up. I am referring to the participatory budgeting powwow, where citizens nominate neighborhood capital projects to fund.
Here is what was interesting about it. [Read more…] about ELECTIONS 2014: THE PEOPLE OF LONG ISLAND CITY HAVE SPOKEN
THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING SHOW COMES TO HUNTERS POINT
“This is the best apartment deal in NYC”
“We hired a top-notch design team, they designed the Barclays Center.”
“These are the same buildings we build for people right across the river, for which we receive ridiculous rents”
Frank Monterisi, SVP of Related Companies and Head of HPS Phase I
I have a saying, “The lottery is for losers.” Think of it, in a typical lottery it goes like this, two million people each pay $1, for a total of $2,000,000, so that one of them wins $1,000,000. In other words, you put down a dollar with the expected probability of getting back 50 cents. Hmm, not sure how Warren Buffett would feel about those returns, but I personally find the whole concept despicable, and quite frankly, un-American.
Then there is the Hunters Point South Lottery. In this game of chance they are giving away between $128,000 and $1,275,000 in cash prizes to 925 people, and the cost to play is uhh -zero, …if you qualify. Furthermore, the odds of winning are better than 20 to 1 if you live in the Community Board 2 district, as opposed to 2,000,000 to 1.
How did we arrive at the “prize” math?1 The first thing we did was take the average rents in LIC from Modern Spaces 2Q 2014 report (see link below). Then we compared it to the midpoint rent range for each apartment type in HPS, as provided by Related Cos. The discounts for Moderate Income apartments ranged from 29% – 39% as compared to those paying current market rates. The discounts for Low Income apartments were an eye-popping 78% to 85%.
Those discounts are where most reporters stop, and readers sit or stand agape. Not LICtalk, we recognize the importance of a very valuable option embedded in getting an HPS apartment: that of not having your rent go up dramatically.
The power of compounding is the most powerful force in the universe according to Albert Einstein, and the monetary effect of it might only be eclipsed by the psychological one. Whether it be in your favor or not. Thus, we took the percentage discounts cited above, and applied them to the average LIC condo sale prices also found in the Modern Spaces report2, in order to realize what that option is worth.
That is how we arrived at the cash prize values, and based on the throngs that showed up for the affordable housing powwow last night in Hunters Point, I think many others have similarly calculated this bonanza. Trying to squeeze the SRO crowd into the auditorium was like [Read more…] about THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING SHOW COMES TO HUNTERS POINT
- for a detailed version of the math, were you so inclined, email me at editor@lictalk.com, and I’d be happy to oblige [↩]
- the one exception being 3-bdrm sales, where we used a figure of $1.5 million based on the very recent sale of a new 3-bdrm in a walk-up in Hunters Point, off the water, and w/ no view or amenities. My guess is that were a 3-bdrm condo hypothetically be available at HPS, it would go for between 1.5 and 2.5 million depending on the view. What do you think? [↩]
DID THE NY TIMES GRAB A LEDE FROM LICTALK?
Or is it lead? I don’t know, what do you think this is, a newspaper? Well whatever you want to call LICtalk, as everyone in the city knows there are two news sources of record in this city: us and The New York Times. While I must admit that they are a formidable competitor, sometimes it’s necessary to share the spotlight, especially on a controversial topic where the narrative is seemingly aligned. Anyway, yesterday The Times published an article entitled “Affordable Housing That’s Very Costly.” This came five days after my story about the fairness of Hunters Point South being set aside as affordable housing. While both of us questioned the use of ultra-luxury apartments for subsidized shelter, probably the biggest difference in the two tales was [Read more…] about DID THE NY TIMES GRAB A LEDE FROM LICTALK?
IS HUNTER’S POINT SOUTH MIDDLE-CLASS WARFARE?
The decision to set aside “affordable housing” in Hunters Point South is a misguided government attempt to alleviate a supposed problem.1 Instead it is nothing more than a reallocation from the slightly have-more’s to the slightly-have-less’s, and whenever you gaze upon the towers after they are completed, I hope that you come to visualize them as a monument to such. [Read more…] about IS HUNTER’S POINT SOUTH MIDDLE-CLASS WARFARE?
- Though it could just as easily be considered either a) an attempt to increase votes for politicians who support it(I mean, what politician wouldn’t support this seemingly benign project?) b) an attempt to create a legacy: largest affordable housing project in more than three decades, in grand view of everyone on the Circle Line, FDR Drive, midtown office towers. Might be as visible as Rock Center, and best of all, didn’t cost Mayor , err some politician, a dime [↩]