LEGAL/FINANCIAL

Pace University has put its 15-story dormitory at 106-108 Fulton Street in downtown Manhattan up for sale, and the building’s 75,000 square feet above the retail ground floor are being marketed with an eye toward “mid-market luxury housing” – probably condos, the New York Post reports.

The property could fetch about $60 million for Pace, which plans to vacate the building in June. Though modest in size compared to the gaggle of new projects on the once-grimy, newly resurgent stretch linking the East River and One World Trade Center, the dormitory “is ready to go right now,” says Kenneth Zakin, head of the sales team at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

Originally built in 1900, the structure was an office building and a hotel before Pace converted it to a dormitory in 1999.

No word yet on whether the Burger King on the ground floor will stay or go after the building is sold.

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Three years ago, the New York state legislature shook up the world of co-ops and condos by changing the way tax abatements get parceled out. Starting in the 2012-2013 tax year, only primary residents of co-op and condo apartments were eligible. The change complicated bookkeeping for co-ops in a number of ways, and it was only in the last few months that things had settled down enough so that one managing agent could say, “The situation has more or less returned to normal.”

Guess again.

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In a co-op building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with a no pets policy, a shareholder secretly adopted a dog. True or false: if the board doesn’t take any action with 21 days, the pooch becomes legal.

False, according to the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. The illegal pet becomes legal if the board remains silent for three months, not three weeks. The rule applies to co-ops, rentals and some condos, and it kicks in if the board knew about – or should have known about – the illicit canine.

But boards who file a timely lawsuit to evict the dog might want to take this as an opportunity to rethink their pet ban. What does the majority in the building want? Are they deeply opposed to all pets – or should some pets be allowed under specified circumstances? And remember: residents with disabilities who can prove that their so-called “support pet” is vital to their well-being are allowed to keep the pet regardless of house policy.

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Since the New York State Legislature codified the current property tax system into four classifications in 1981 – Class 1 including one- to three-family homes; Class 2 for
co-ops, condos, and rental buildings; Class 3 for utilities; and Class 4 for commercial properties – the system, inequitable from the start, has grown into a patchwork of rates, assessments, caps, and phase-ins so complex and politically fraught that each time a proposal has been made for reform, the howls of protest have pushed it back.

There is no touching the system without creating, in relative terms at least, winners and losers.

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In most co-op and condo buildings, the super helps residents with minor side jobs – painting a room, hanging a light fixture, maybe even installing a dishwasher. The resident and super usually agree to a price, and it’s usually paid in cash. Some residents worry about alienating the super if they seek outside bids for such work. A co-op shareholder on the Upper East Side has a question for the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times: “Should a super be held to a standard of ethics regarding bidding on a job or receiving payment?”
“Residents should never feel beholden to the staff on site,” says Mark Levine, a principal of Excel Bradshaw Management Group. “The work should be done by the most qualified technician for that particular job.”

Policies on moonlighting supers vary. While some buildings have lax oversight, others spell out that building staff is not allowed to perform side jobs while they’re on the clock. Some even forbid staff from any moonlighting in-house.

“Some buildings do have a rule that prohibits such work to avoid these types of problems,” says real estate attorney Adam Finkelstein. If you’re unsure about your building’s policies, ask the board for clarity. Boards that don’t have a policy in place might consider instituting one – along with a mechanism for enforcing it.

If you do hire the super, be aware of the risks. Does he have the necessary skills to do the work? If a pipe springs a leak, does he have adequate insurance to cover any damages?

“It’s easy to have the staff members taking care of these projects,” says Levine, “but it’s not always in the best interests of the building.”

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In January we told you that the Jewish Theological Seminary had sold a chunk of its campus in Morningside Heights, plus limited development rights and an off-campus residence for $96 million. Now, the Commercial Observer reports, the developer Savanna has secured a $34.6 million loan from Pacific Western Bank to help fund its plan to erect a 250,000-square-foot luxury condo building on the former campus parcel on West 122nd Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. The architecture firm Beyer Blinder Bell will design it.

Meanwhile, the seminary, which has hired the architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, is moving ahead with plans to use its windfall to build a performing arts space, as well as a residence hall above a new library that will house the school’s collection of rare Judaic books, manuscripts and scrolls.

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(Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series of first-person articles by Stewart Wurtzel, an attorney who was elected to the board at the Yacht Club Condominium on Long Island and helped the property recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.)

I have represented cooperatives and condominiums every day of my 32-year legal career. And on multiple occasions in every one of those years, I have had to remind my client board members that theirs is the least appreciated position on Earth. Similarly, I have had conversations or gotten requests from angry board members that made me scratch my head as to why someone on a board could get so infuriated with a resident. But after two-and-a-half years as board president, I now understand. Indeed, I have experienced the rewards and frustrations that are experienced on the client side of the phone.

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A long-delayed plan to turn the landmark Christian Scientist church on Central Park West into condos has been scrapped, YIMBY reports. The developer, listed as 361 Central Park West LLC, withdrew the plan to build 35 condos because of likely rejection by the Board of Standards and Appeals, which must approve waivers necessary for the conversion to proceed.

In March 2015, after weathering a lengthy approval process with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the developer filed for the waivers on the basis of five “hardships,” including the narrow, irregular shape of the lot.

The conversion plan faced vocal community opposition, and attorney Michael Hiller, representing the Central Park West Neighbors Association, called the hardship application “considerable hubris.” He added, “This is a victory not only for the Upper West Side and the church’s congregation who fought valiantly to preserve the church, but for all New Yorkers who believe that our history is valuable and that landmark buildings should be preserved and protected.”

The congregation has moved to another church on West 65th Street. The CPW church was built in 1903, and its interior, which did not have landmark status, has already been gutted. The building now resides in limbo.

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A long-delayed plan to turn the landmark Christian Scientist church on Central Park West into condos has been scrapped, YIMBY reports. The developer, listed as 361 Central Park West LLC, withdrew the plan to build 35 condos because of likely rejection by the Board of Standards and Appeals, which must approve waivers necessary for the conversion to proceed.

In March 2015, after weathering a lengthy approval process with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the developer filed for the waivers on the basis of five “hardships,” including the narrow, irregular shape of the lot.

The conversion plan faced vocal community opposition, and attorney Michael Hiller, representing the Central Park West Neighbors Association, called the hardship application “considerable hubris.” He added, “This is a victory not only for the Upper West Side and the church’s congregation who fought valiantly to preserve the church, but for all New Yorkers who believe that our history is valuable and that landmark buildings should be preserved and protected.”

The congregation has moved to another church on West 65th Street. The CPW church was built in 1903, and its interior, which did not have landmark status, has already been gutted. The building now resides in limbo.

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Thinking about installing a canopy at your building’s front door? Beware: long ribbons of red tape await.

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