Thursday, December 1, 2016

Developer illegally demolished affordable housing


From DNA Info:

A major developer that demolished a residential building by falsely telling the city it didn't contain any rent-regulated apartments should compensate for the lost units by constructing new, permanently affordable ones, local officials say.

Last week, representatives for The Related Companies attended a Community Board 4 land use committee meeting hoping to secure the board’s support to construct a mixed-use building at a five-lot site at the southeast corner of West 23rd Street and 11th Avenue currently owned and operated by U-Haul.

But ever since the committee discovered that Related filed false information with the city’s Department of Buildings allowing the developer to raze a residential building at 500 W. 28th St. in the Special West Chelsea District that shouldn’t have been demolished, the board has been “very upset,” committee co-chair Betty Mackintosh said.

Department of Housing Preservation and Development records show that the West 28th Street building housed six apartment units before its demolition — at least one of which was rent-controlled or rent-stabilized, according to a letter CB4 plans to send to the DOB.

10 comments:

JQ LLC said...

Too bad there was no DOB command post there at the time that would have squelched such brazen destruction and displacement of people.

Anonymous said...

The owners should be fined millions!

Anonymous said...

Do they leave it up to the person trying to tear down the building to check the facts? Typical government laziness.

Joe Moretti said...

See the post above this on crackdowns...........

Anonymous said...

Sounds fair.

But give em community service too, just like those other guys.

(sarc) said...

These are the unintended consequences of Government trying to finagle the invisible hand of the free market.

Forcing a land owner to accept less than market value with no benefit in return is comparable to forcing a person to work for much less than minimum wage in an exploitation scheme!

Another unsuccessful Governmental price manipulation.

And here the heavy hand of Government is making an example for anyone considering otherwise.

Why must a landowner and investor take a loss because of government mandates?

Leave the landlords alone and The City should build more Housing Authority Projects...

Anonymous said...

Yawn!
So what else is new?

ron s said...

Make them do a week of community service. That'll show 'em.

Anonymous said...

@sarc - No one's forced to join the affordable housing program - developers and landowners do it for the tax breaks.
If they decide to play the game, they have to follow the rules.

Anonymous said...

Was the false filing made under some sort of legal certification, under the penalties of perjury? Is the author suggesting that the only method of redress by the City DOB or the Special West Chelsea District has [beyond simply being very upset] no right to sue or file a criminal / civil action for the false filing? Or is this a matter of not wanting to mess with a major developer such as Related?

"But ever since the committee discovered that Related filed false information with the city’s Department of Buildings allowing the developer to raze a residential building at 500 W. 28th St. in the Special West Chelsea District that shouldn’t have been demolished, the board has been “very upset,” committee co-chair Betty Mackintosh said.

I do hope that someone with specific knowledge on this topic might answer these questions. Thank you.