Note that the entire western side of 3rd Ave. between 10th and 11th Streets save for the southernmost building has been bought up and is destined to meet the wrecking ball. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation says there are significant buildings with important stories on the block, but it seems unlikely the city will step in to stop redevelopment.
No sooner did the Giant Bagel Shop and its associated pizza shop close than the pizza shop got retiled and reopened as Little Italy Pizza. That was quick.
PLEASE READ: YOU MAY HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE CITY IN ERROR:
Tens-of-thousands of city residents eligible for a popular condo and co-op tax break have received letters from the city incorrectly stating that they no longer qualify, according to city civic and co-op board leaders.
Late last week, co-op and condo owners began receiving the letter from the city Department of Finance stating that a revamped condo and co-op tax abatement bill passed by the Legislature in January meant they could not collect it. “Our records show that this unit is not your primary residence, so your abatement will be phased out,” the letter states. The new legislation only allows owners to claim the tax break on their primary residence, and no longer allows the break on secondary homes.
The problem was that many people received the letter at their primary residence—which is indeed still eligible for the full break, according to Warren Schreiber, co-president of the Co-Op and Condo Council in northeast Queens. Mr. Schreiber said in his own co-op of about 200 residences, some 45 people had received the letters— about 35 of whom actually count those units as their primary residence. That could make a difference of about $1,000 per unit on upcoming bills if not corrected, he said.
“Some people have been in their homes, 20, 30 or 40 years and are getting these letters,” said Mr. Schreiber. “I think what happened is that the Department of Finance’s records are out of date, but it’s causing a lot of confusion and chaos.”
Nearly two years ago, Finance Commissioner David Frankel acknowledged the department had erred on 15,000 property bills the city mailed that July because of a “computer glitch.”
But in this case, a Department of Finance spokesman said the agency had used available data to determine which of the city’s 360,000 condo and co-ops would qualify for the abatement, and automatically enrolled 230,000 of them. In instances where there was not enough information, the agency sent out 130,000 of the letters to homeowners saying were not eligible for the tax break.
Mary Ann Rothman, the executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, said she too had been contacted by several people who have received the letters—despite simultaneously receiving the state’s STAR tax rebate on the same property, which can only be claimed at one’s primary residence.
Still, she defended the city Department of Finance, arguing that it was simply sending the letters out to the large number of co-op and condo owners in an effort to make sure the city’s records were correct under the revamped program.
“This is making people nervous, but you have to remember that this is a total change in the way that the abatement is administered,” she said.
The letters the city sent to co-op owners directs them to send a form to an address in Maplewood, N.J., verifying that they are in fact receiving the abatement on their primary residence. The form is due on April 1, and city tax bills reflecting whether the abatement will still be granted will go out in June. Those no longer eligible for the abatement would retroactively have to pay 50% of the normal break in July, and would stop getting it altogether in July 2014.
But Mr. Schreiber said he was concerned that elderly property owners, those with disabilities or those who live elsewhere for the winter, would have their tax break incorrectly pulled.
The parameters of the new condo and co-op bill were originally hashed out in June 2012, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo at that time decided not to issue a message of necessity circumventing a three-day waiting period to pass it before the end of the legislative session. As a result, the city Department of Finance decided essentially not to collect hiked condo and co-op taxes under the expectation that the legislature would eventually pass the agreed-upon bill—which it finally did this January.
The revamped program offers greater benefits to middle-class owners, raising their tax abatements from 17.5% to, 26.5% next year and 28% in 2015 for properties whose average assessed value is less than $50,000. Units valued at more than $60,000 would get abatements of 17.5% over the next three years. Other previous aspects of the program—including one that allowed real estate speculators to claim abatement for secondary residences—were eliminated.
Farewell soon to Benny’s Laundry on 13th St., just the latest small business to fall to rapidly rising rents. Sigh.
With the forthcoming 15-month L train shutdown edging closer, the MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation have decided to convert Manhattan’s 14th Street into a busway three months ahead of the April 2019 shutdown.
The two agencies will launch the M14 Select Bus Service on January 6, 2019, in hopes that riders will give it a test-run before the actual shutdown begins. “By implementing the M14 SBS months before we start the L train tunnel repairs, we hope that customers will take the opportunity to try our buses and see how the 14th Street busway can factor into their commutes once we start work fixing the L train tunnel,” said New York City Transit President Andy Byford.
Between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m., 14th Street between Ninth and Third avenues eastbound and Third and Eighth Avenues westbound will be restricted to bus traffic only. The new SBS route will complement the current M14A and M14D buses and combined, the three routes will be able to handle roughly 84,000 passengers per day, notes amNY.
The SBS route will start off with five stops between First and Tenth avenues that match up with subway transfer points and will run every two minutes during morning and evening rush hours. After its initial launch, the SBS route will be extended east to the planned Stuyvesant Cove ferry terminal on the East River to accommodate ferry customers from Brooklyn. This is expected to happen shortly before the beginning on the shutdown.
Crumbs Bakery on University and 13th has closed…for the second time.
That sinkhole that opened up on University Place between 11th and 12th Streets certainly was something.
