One year later, these landlord groups are officially joining forces.
Exactly one year and one month ago, I reported that the Community Housing Improvement Program and the Rent Stabilization Association were in talks to merge.
Since then, the state attorney general’s office has reviewed and signed off on the merger. The paperwork has been submitted to the Department of State.
Former Assembly member Kenny Burgos has been tapped to run the combined organization, although that has not been announced.
Both groups have been operating for more than 50 years and have changed a lot in that time. For example, in its early days, the RSA was tasked with helping to create rules governing landlords and tenants. That authority was eventually transferred to the state’s housing regulator.
In the comparatively short nine years I’ve covered housing, the two groups have assumed similar roles in the real estate ecosystem, though with different approaches. RSA’s Joe Strasburg earned a reputation for having sharp elbows and, as he put it to TRD in 2019, “a disease called ‘I tell it like it is.’ I’m very clear about what I think.” CHIP’s Jay Martin has repeatedly urged the industry at large to adopt the social media–savvy, door-knocking strategies that have helped tenant advocates gather support for their priorities.
The RSA and CHIP have been quiet about the vision for the new supergroup, dubbed the New York Apartment Association, and whether it will take a different approach than its predecessors did.
It is an interesting time for trade groups, in general. On a national level, the policy changes around buyer agent compensation have raised questions about the National Association of Realtors’ future and even inspired the formation of a rival group.
These groups are facing the challenge of staying influential and relevant, as the industry grapples with existential threats. The New York Apartment Association is hoping to strengthen landlords’ position by putting on a united front.
What we’re thinking about: Vice President Kamala Harris pitched a 28 percent tax on capital gains for those earning $1 million or more. President Joe Biden had proposed to increase the rate to 39.6 percent. Send your thoughts on this and other tax policies relevant to the presidential race to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Great blue herons eat small amphibians, reptiles and mammals, Dr. Dustin Partridge, NYC Bird Alliance’s director of conservation and science, told the New York Post. Partridge was commenting on a video of a heron swallowing a rat in Central Park.
Elsewhere in New York…
— A middle school teacher in the Bronx was shot in his classroom on Wednesday while preparing for the first day of classes, Gothamist reports. The 33-year-old teacher’s right palm was grazed by a bullet, which police believe was shot from a “long distance away” and an “elevated surface.” The teacher was treated at St. Barnabas Hospital and discharged. Police are still looking for the shooter.
— Gov. Kathy Hochul says she called for the expulsion of Huang Ping, the Chinese consul general in New York, after the arrest of her former staffer Linda Sun on Tuesday. The consul general was not expelled, but actually left the office in August as part of scheduled rotation, a State Department spokesperson told Politico New York.
— The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York announced Tuesday that senior students will not have to pay tuition this year, the New York Times reports. The college has a plan to make tuition free again for all undergraduate students by 2028, but a $6 million gift from alumni allowed the school to provide the benefit to seniors.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Wednesday was $17.5 million for a penthouse unit at 126 East 86th Street. The 5,600 square-foot condo on the Upper East Side is a new construction unit. The Corcoran Group’s Beth Benalloul and Sammy Benalloul have the listing.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $6 million for a mixed-use building at 96-01 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights. The Queens building is 12 units across two stories.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $24.5 million for a condo unit at 111 West 57th Street. The Midtown Central condo is 4,500 square feet. Compass’s Jim St. André, Trevor Stephens and Michael Maniawski have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a seven-story, 15,634-square-foot residential building at 121 Mount Hope Place in the Bronx. Lester Katz of XPdite Group LLC was the applicant. — Joseph Jungermann