Limits on self storage

From Crains:

A City Council committee provided a key approval for legislation to restrict the development of self-storage facilities in industrial business zones Thursday, despite biting criticism of the bill by one of its members.

The measure, which is likely to be approved by the full council Dec. 19, would require a special permit to build self-storage projects in most of the 21 IBZs, which account for around half of the city's manufacturing space. Obtaining this permission would require going through a nearly yearlong public review process that culminates in a council vote.

The new requirement would not apply in two zones in the Bronx and another pair in Staten Island, along with part of a zone in Jamaica, Queens. But self-storage companies would still need to set aside space for industrial square-footage in any project they build, according to the bill. Existing facilities would be grandfathered. (In the IBZs that opted out, self-storage facilities up to 50,000 square feet will be allowed as-of-right. Only buildings above that size will be required to set aside 25% of the space for industrial use.)

The council and Mayor Bill de Blasio have long wanted to restrict the proliferation of certain uses—such as hotels, offices or strip clubs—in areas that are supposed to be home to manufacturing and industrial jobs. Nonindustrial uses, the argument goes, can pay more for rent or land and thus tend to squeeze out manufacturing companies that provide higher-paying jobs.

Too much self-storage?

From the NY Times:

For many New Yorkers, a storage unit or two (or three) is the only solution to living small. It is the spare closet or extra room that they don’t have, or can’t otherwise afford in a crowded city with ever shrinking and more expensive living quarters, including so-called micro-apartments that are barely larger than storage units themselves. It is a temporary holding place for those in between jobs, moves, marriages and divorces, and an extension of the workplace for small businesses.

But as self-storage buildings have multiplied across the city, they are drawing increased scrutiny from city officials and community groups who say they take up space that could be used for something more productive. Now the city is proposing to restrict the development of new self-storage buildings in some industrial areas in the boroughs outside Manhattan, as part of a broader strategy to save more land for manufacturing and industry.

New York joins a small but growing number of communities, including San Francisco, Miami and Charleston, S.C., that have moved to restrict or curb the spread of self-storage buildings, seeking to strike a balance between the demands for more storage with the needs of communities for other things such as jobs, housing and grocery stores.

Self-storage resistant to de Blasio legislation

From Crains:

More than a year ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a 10-point plan to spur the city's manufacturing sector. Point No. 2 was to limit the number of hotels and self-storage facilities in designated industrial business zones (IBZs).

The plan has made few headlines since, largely because the administration is still working on a bill that insiders expected months ago. But self-storage operators have been gearing up for a fight, and for good reason: City Hall is backed by manufacturers and advocates who frown on self-storage because, they say, it occupies large buildings on key sites, creates few jobs and pays low wages. Moreover, the industry is growing.

Owners of storage businesses argue that they have become scapegoats for a manufacturing exodus that will continue regardless.

The mayor's legislation is likely to require self-storage facilities to obtain special permits to open in IBZs, a costly and time-consuming obstacle intended to preserve sites for manufacturers.

DeBlasio & City Council will no longer support housing in IBZs

From Crains:

Rising rents and property values aren’t just squeezing out mom-and-pop stores and longtime New Yorkers. Manufacturers are also feeling the pinch, and on Tuesday Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a long-awaited plan to come to their aid.

The heart of the plan calls for protecting the city's 20 industrial business zones, or IBZs, from hotel and residential development while investing $442 million over 10 years in city-owned manufacturing havens such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Hunts Point in the Bronx. Protection for land zoned for light manufacturing/residential use will be proposed later, after an ongoing study is completed; the expectation is that a portion of projects in so-called Mx zones would have to be set aside for light-industrial use, which has recently been frozen out by the hot residential market.

The mayor's proposal was developed in cooperation with City Council leaders and with input from advocates for manufacturers, which should ease its passage.

One component of the plan is to end as-of-right construction of hotels and self-storage facilities in IBZs, which are zoned for heavy manufacturing. Hotels are seen as not just taking space that could go to manufacturers but as driving up land values around them, making it too expensive for industrial businesses from buying their space or expanding. Self-storage has been under fire because it provides few jobs and low wages. Hotel and self-storage projects would require a special permit, meaning they would require City Council approval.

The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, which had been lobbying the mayor to protect industrial businesses, described the changes as "the right step in reforming decades-old land use policy to include provisions that reflect the realities of the 21st century."

But the group did not get new restrictions on big-box stores, night clubs and other uses it considers incompatible with industry. Big-box stores currently require a special permit to open in manufacturing zones.

From Capital New York:

In an effort to bolster New York City's manufacturing sector, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he will not allow homes to be built during his tenure in zones designated for industrial businesses.

Proposals for rezoning land require approval from the City Council and mayoral administrations, giving them the authority to essentially declare a blanket ban such as this.

Asked what specific mechanism would be used for this, the mayor said, "We're not accepting private applications any longer. It's a fundamentally different approach."

Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for housing and economic development, expanded on that.

"What we are saying is that we will no longer look with any favorable, any favor on a private developer coming in and saying, 'we would like to convert this site to residential use,'" she added. "And so, again, it's not a banning. It's a signal to the market that the policy of the City of New York is that these are precious resources and we have a very aggressive plan to appropriately densify neighborhoods where we think housing should be built."

Big Glendale property sold

From the Observer:

A 94,000-square-foot property in the Glendale section of Queens has sold for $9.18 million to two different buyers, according to Avison Young, the brokerage firm that represented the seller and one of the buyers.

The property at 79-40 Cooper Avenue includes eight lots, a 50,000-square-foot industrial building, two attached residential buildings, two parking lots and vacant land spread over two acres.

The seller of the property was Hansel ‘n Gretel Brand, a deli processor that had been in business for 140 years that has since closed. Hansel ‘n Gretel Brand occupied the industrial building until last year.

Carye & Sons Acquisitions, a family-owned real estate company, bought the majority of the property, including all of the holdings along Cooper Avenue, for around $7 million. This included four lots, a vacant piece of land and the industrial building. Carye & Sons plans to redevelop the industrial property on the site into an 80,000-square-foot self-storage and retail building.

The remaining piece of the property, including a parking lot and two residential dwellings, was sold to an adjacent landowner for $2.2 million. Right Time Realty’s Joe Ibrahim represented the buyer on this transaction. Mr. Ibrahim could not immediately be reached for comment.

Tack on another $1500 per person to homeless cost

From the NY Post:

The city has shelled out more than $200,000 to store a homeless woman’s belongings — enough to have set her up in a swanky Manhattan apartment for years.

Andrea Logan’s possessions have been locked up — at taxpayer expense — since she lost her Upper East Side apartment in 2006 after a debilitating stroke, court records reveal.

And the city has picked up the tab, following a state law that requires it to cover storage expenses for homeless people.

In the years since Logan became homeless, the cost to taxpayers for providing such storage to homeless people has soared from a total $6.8 million in fiscal year 2006 to $14.6 million in fiscal year 2014.

The average cost per case also rose, from $1,333 a month to $1,549.

State law mandates that the city pay for storing furniture and personal belongings for homeless people “so long as eligibility for public assistance continues and so long as the circumstances necessitating the storage continue to exist.”

Vibrant and diverse crew busted for counterfeiting

From Bayside Patch:

Residents from Oakland Gardens, Bellerose and Great Neck were among 19 people arrested in a trademark counterfeit ring bust, the Queens district attorney said.

Police dismantled four organized trademark counterfeit rings based in Queens on Wednesday and the defendants were arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter.

The groups allegedly imported and sold counterfeit brand name apparel and other items from China to wholesale buyers throughout the United States and the Virgin Islands, Queens DA Richard Brown said. A total 19 defendants are currently in custody.

Among the defendants was Oakland Gardens’ Suk B. Yi, 18, who was charged with enterprise corruption and trademark counterfeiting. His ball was set at $100,000 and he was forced to surrender his passport. He will return to court on Jan. 28.

Bellerose’s Bobak Ahouraie, 23, was charged with trademark counterfeiting. He will return to court on Nov. 21.

And Great Neck’s Jan Sanandaji, 37, an alleged wholesale buyer, was charged with trademark counterfeiting and will return to court on Jan. 29.

Other Queens defendants included Flushing’s Jian Zhong Jian, 43, and Xiu Wei Ye, 43 and Woodhaven’s Samantha Defreitas, 26.

The alleged bosses of the operation include Brooklyn’s Izak Chaloh, 28, Yosif Mamrout, 33, and Yu Zhen Cao, 39.

Other Brooklyn defendants included Laureano Lopez, 29, Wei Feng Cao, 45, and Zhi Wei Liang, 53. Staten Island’s Xiu Yin Jin, 34, was also arrested.

The DA said the groups allegedly operated from self-storage facilities in Queens and Brooklyn, generating approximately $10 million in combined gross annual revenue.

Just when you thought Robert Scarano couldn't outdo himself...

He does!



Yes, Robert Scarano has indeed left his mark on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood. Here's what the site looked like under construction, and here's what it looked like soon after Karl Ehmer closed.


Now the new building is as tall as - if not taller than - the old Oasis movie theater next door. God only knows what will end up moving into that now that CVS moved down the street.

Scarano leaving his mark on Fresh Pond Road

Back in June, we visited the Karl Ehmer site and discovered that it would be converted into a Scarano nightmare. Above is the work in progress. Very contextual...