New on East 12th St., Hip City Veg

The long-troubled TGI Fridays in Union Square is finally set to close, as the building goes on the market. “Union Square is so hot down there these days with real quality restaurants it just doesn’t compete well,” explains operator Dennis Riese.

As per the Governor’s Executive Order issued April 15, everyone is required to wear face covering in the form of a mask, scarf, or other reliable protection of the nose and mouth while in public.  Also, every building occupant is to wear face covering while you are within any common area of the building including hallways, stairwells, elevator, lobby, laundry room, etc.

Most shareholders/owners are signed up for online payment of maintenance/common charges.  We strongly encourage those who are not already signed up to please contact your AKAM Management Executive for additional information.

Below are a few other reminders and best practices (as applicable to your building):

• Continue notifying your AKAM Mgt. Executive should anyone in your household test positive
• Essential repairs within apartments/units will be made in accordance to COVID-19 protocols
• We will advise when restrictions on renovations are lifted
• Be mindful of noise emanating from your apartment/unit to avoid disturbance to your neighbors
• Be aware of potential impostors/scams looking to gain access into your apartment/unit
• Continue practicing social distancing everywhere

Please see the following COVID-19 related links you may find helpful:

CDC.gov – COVID-19 Updates and Best Practices / NYC.Gov – COVID-19 Updates and Best Practices

As the New York Pause period now extends through May 15, 2020, we have listed various types of stay-at-home things to do which may interest you:

• The New York Philharmonic has launched “NY Phil Plays On”. It is a new free digital portal streaming 150 hours of free performances online.  Go to www.nyphil.org/playson to watch.
• Nowadays is streaming virtual DJ sets every night live from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM.  Go to www.nowadays.nyc/stream for disco beats, tutorials and deep-listening sessions.
• The New York Public Library is offering more than 30,000 free titles available to download on their app SimplyE.  You need to be a New York City resident with a library card which you can apply for on SimplyE.  Go to www.nypl.org.com for details.
• The Tribeca Film Festival will be releasing 15 free VR films starting on April 17^th.  They will be available on Oculus Quest and Oculus Go headsets.  Go to www.tribecafilm.com for details.
• The Metropolitan Opera is offering free online performances.  Every day a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is released. Go to www.metopera.org to watch.
• The Children’s Museum of the Arts is offering a free online series. These free interactive sessions take place over Zoom and invite children of all ages to participate in sing-a-longs, create their own artwork and explore creative movement. Go to www.cmany.org for more information.
• BroadwayHD is currently offering a free seven-day trial. You can enjoy Broadway classics like “Cats”, “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music”. Go to www.brodawayhd.com to register.
• Headspace is offering free sleep, meditation, and movement exercises. Visit www.headspace.com/ny for details.
• Taste Buds is hosting free online cooking classes every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:00PM using basic pantry supplies you likely have in the house. The classes are for adults and kids to cook together. Go to www.tastebudskitchen/cooking-club to enroll.
• Visit Timeout NYC – At home entertainment / City Guide NY – At home entertainment for updates!

Please join us in continuing to thank all building staff members for their continued hard-work and dedication.  We would also like to thank all building volunteers, including members of the Board, for their valuable time and input.

Mystery solved. The New School’s anchor retail tenant, for better or worse, is CVS. Because we all need more pharmacies.

Rumor has it that the parking garage directly across from us at 12 East 13th St. is for sale and could be converted into offices, a hotel, or most likely 17 to 20 luxury condos. More construction to come????

Goodbye Borgo Antico on 13th across from our front door. It’s turned into City Tavern, a rather uninteresting bar with regular old bar food.

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.