Major Developments:
The Mayor's veto overturns the Council's decision, allowing Bally's to pursue the necessary zoning amendments for a casino license. The request for zoning changes aims to convert part of the city-owned golf course at Bally’s Golf Links into a $4 billion casino complex. Bally’s relies on the zoning approval to move forward with the casino competition. The zoning change is a crucial step for their casino license bid.Cirrus and LCOR will redevelop the former Flushing Airport. The plan calls for 3,000 housing units and around 60 acres of open space. Part of the site is deed-restricted and will likely be home to a new NYPD police station. The project will need to go through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards recommended approval of the Long Island City rezoning, which could pave the way for 14,700 residential units to be built over the next decade. The proposal awaits review by the City Planning Commission and City Council.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards indicated that an announcement about the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center will be made in a few weeks. The state wants to build 2,800 homes on 58 acres of the state-owned property in eastern Queens. The state is expected to issue requests for proposals seeking developers to build the housing in phases.
REBNY seeks a federal appeals court suspension of NYC's new broker fee rules, arguing the FARE Act causes "irreparable harm" to brokers and landlords daily. They filed a brief with the Second Circuit for a preliminary injunction.
Watermark Capital Group is planning a 44-unit rental property at 101 Seventh Avenue, the former Barney’s, utilizing the 467m conversion program requiring 25% affordable units. The 57,000-square-foot vacant retail condo has as-of-right residential zoning and suitable floor plates. A developer behind a Columbus Circle hotel-to-apartment conversion narrowly avoided foreclosure in April, now facing a lender lawsuit alleging construction mismanagement.
Parkview Financial claims that the cofounders of CSC, Alberto and Salomon Smeke Saba, failed to address issues with the city that would allow work to move forward. CSC said it has already begun fixing the problems with the relevant city agency, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
City Council kills Bally’s casino dreams at the 11th hour. The City Council voted against the company’s request for zoning changes needed to turn a portion of the city-owned golf course at Bally’s Golf Links into a $4 billion casino complex, which would have included a 500-room hotel and a 2,000-seat entertainment facility.
Developer Ami Weinstock plans to construct six 99-unit buildings on 165th Street, specifically from 89-01 to 89-53, between 89th Avenue and Jamaica Avenue. This development is encouraged by the 485x tax abatement program, which supports affordable rental properties.
New York City's hotel market overachieved in the first half of 2025, outperforming the national average. The city's weekly occupancy rate was 82%, 20 points higher than the national average, and revenue per available room averaged $238.93, far exceeding the national average of under $100. Strong tourism, approaching record numbers in 2024 and expected to continue in 2025, along with projected growth in business travel.
Extell and Beyer Blinder Belle's proposed 74-story, 1,162-foot mixed-use skyscraper at 655 Madison Avenue, featuring condos, offices, and retail across 764,698 square feet, has new zoning diagrams revealing two supertall designs. Extell seeks City Planning Commission (CPC) approval. Demolition of the current building began this spring and could finish by early 2026. The first design, awaiting CPC approval, is a largely monolithic 1,162-foot rectangular building with three setbacks, including one at 408 feet to create an air gap from 520 Park Avenue. It prioritizes residential use, with 13 office and four retail floors, and has separate East 60th Street entrances.
If CPC approval is denied, Extell can opt for an as-of-right alternative. This design, standing at 1,279 feet, would be directly abut 520 Park Avenue but include a more varied massing and a slimmer upper tower. It would feature 17 office floors on the lower levels with multiple setbacks.
Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities is developing a 55-unit project in Woodside, costing about $51.5 million, or roughly $936,000 per unit.
CPC, partnering with Related Fund Management and Neighborhood Restore, acquired a $5.8 billion stake in distressed rent-stabilized building debt from the failed Signature Bank. CPC will primarily conduct loan modifications (70% of distress, up from 54% in Feb 2024), with 25% in payment default, exacerbated by inflation, high interest rates, and new statewide laws.
The Charter Revision Commission drafted ballot questions for November, aiming to accelerate housing development and lessen the City Council's zoning power. Five land-use questions and one to align local and presidential elections for higher turnout are proposed. If approved, the City Council's influence on major land-use decisions could significantly weaken. A new domestic policy bill expanded LIHTC, increasing 9% credits and reducing the 50% test for 4% credits to 25%, potentially financing over a million rentals. However, President Trump proposes a 42% cut to HUD's FY2026 budget, including rental assistance and Section 8.
Deference Demise: A proposal aims to end "member deference" in City Council land use votes, suggesting a land use appeals board (mayor, borough president, City Council speaker) replace the mayor’s ULURP veto for single-borough decisions. Two of three officials must agree to reverse City Council modifications, which then go to the City Planning Commission. This could empower developers with mayoral and borough president support, thereby increasing the borough president's role.
New “Fast Tracks” Effective 2027, a "builder’s remedy" offers an affordable housing fast track in the 12 community districts with the lowest affordable housing construction rates over five years, if they meet Mandatory Inclusionary Housing requirements. These projects would have condensed ULURP reviews: a borough president review during the 60-day community board period, and a 30-day (from 60) City Planning Commission review and final vote. Publicly funded affordable housing projects (Housing Development Fund Companies) could receive zoning waivers from the Board of Standards and Appeals via a "fast track zoning action."
RXR was hit with a foreclosure action in the New York State Supreme Court after RXR allegedly defaulted on a $670 million mortgage. The vacancy rate at 230 Park Avenue has risen to 44%. 230 Park generates less than half the cash needed for the mortgage. The property’s loan exposure was $690 million after RXR was required to borrow to pay property taxes and insurance.
The Rent Guidelines Board approved a 3% rent increase for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases in rent-stabilized units, displeasing both landlord and tenant representatives.
The City Council approved a $115.9 billion fiscal year 2026 budget. This includes $4 billion from "City of Yes for Housing Opportunity" negotiations for housing and infrastructure, spread over five years.
The Council approved Related Companies' use of surplus PILOTs for a $2 billion platform at Hudson Yards' Western Rail Yard, pending an anchor tenant and mayoral approval of public benefit, including 625 affordable units out of up to 4,000 total. Despite initial Council pushback, the resolution passed. Additionally, the Council delayed a natural gas detector mandate to January 1, 2027, and approved a demapping for Thor Equities' Coney Island casino.
100 West 57th Street's co-op board and retail space owner are fighting a substantial ground rent hike. Arbitration begins Monday after attempts to delay it through litigation and a state bill failed. The board seeks to disqualify a neutral umpire, alleging "impropriety, bias, and partiality," as landowner attorneys (Cammeby’s International Group and David Werner Real Estate) offered the umpire an unrelated appraisal job.
Landowners' attorney Stephen Meister stated in a letter to the court that Nixon Peabody, co-counsel on the case, contacted the umpire about the other site.
City Council approved Bruce Teitelbaum’s One45, a three-building housing project featuring 1,000 housing units.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested $200 million at 625 Madison Avenue and is partnering with Related Companies on a planned 1,200-foot Manhattan skyscraper. The PIF's final contribution is under negotiation, with the project's overall cost expected to exceed $1 billion. Related initially planned a mixed-use project but now aims for an office building.
Last quarter, new building permit applications surged by 43% year-over-year to 424, nearly doubling proposed square footage. Residential filings were even more dramatic, with 6,943 proposed units, 58% above the quarterly average since 2008.
Shimshon Grunstein files plans for 88-unit Harlem church conversion.
Brooklyn developer to convert 442 East 119th Street into six-story residences. Shimshon Grunstein filed plans to convert a former Roman Catholic church in East Harlem into an 88-unit residential building.
Sharif El-Gamal's 45 Park Place condo tower in Tribeca remains unfinished, a symbol of stalled construction since 2019 due to legal battles. Despite foreclosure attempts by Malayan Bank Berhad (2020) and later MSD Partners (2022), El-Gamal has avoided losing control, leaving the project in limbo.
The Brooklyn Marine Terminal task force unanimously postponed its vote on the Economic Development Corporation’s $3.7 billion project for the fifth time. The latest proposal includes 6,000 housing units (40% affordable) and a 60-acre modernized port.
In the first half of 2025, there has been roughly one foreign buyer for every two foreign sellers, the lowest ratio that has been since the first half of 2020. The ratio peaked in 2023, when there were 3.6 international sellers for every buyer.
Compared to last year, international buyers have doubled in sales volume. New York’s luxury market remains strong. In June, homes asking over $4 million signed 153 contracts, the third-highest total since the report started tracking the market nearly two decades ago.
GFP plans a 382-unit residential conversion at 40 Exchange Place A, a 240,000-square-foot office building to be converted into a mixed-use development. The 19th-century building is currently used as offices.
SLG Opportunistic Debt Fund, SL Green. Surpassed its $1 billion fundraising goal. Major investors include Israel’s Menora Mivtachim, Taiwan’s CDIB Capital Group, and Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, which committed $250 million.
A nonprofit loan servicer has filed for foreclosure on two Washington Heights buildings owned by Olshan Properties, located at 385 and 395 Fort Washington Avenue. Olshan and Mill House Properties bought the buildings in 2017 for $40.1 million, mortgaging them with Signature Bank. In February 2023, the loans were modified to a $16.1 million prime mortgage and a $7.4 million subordinate loan.
The Park Lane Hotel, a site of past global fraud, is finally undergoing redevelopment. The Qatar Investment Authority plans to transform the property at 36 Central Park South into a five-star hotel, hotel condos, and residences. Technical consultants and architects are currently evaluating options. This redevelopment follows over a decade of plans to convert the Billionaires’ Row building into condos, after Qatar's sovereign wealth fund acquired the hotel in 2023 for nearly $623 million.