WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

Hits: 0

WPCNR THE HOME FRONT. August 11, 2008: Furniture Sharehouse, Westchester’s Furniture Bank, an all-volunteer organization, is asking the community to donate gently used furniture to help families in need in Westchester county.  Over 320 families have been served by Furniture Sharehouse since it opened in April 2007 and its furniture inventory is always in need of replenishment.

Kate Bialo, Director of Furniture Sharehouse, second from left, and Marie Graham, Interior Decorator help a young woman and her mother select furniture from Sharehouse’s donated inventory.

One such family benefiting from this organization’s efforts visited Furniture Sharehouse with her case manager on August 7.  The young woman and her mother  from Peekskill, NY, called the opportunity to choose furniture from the aisles of Westchester’s furniture bank “a blessing” as she prepares to move herself and her three young children from a shelter into an apartment. 

The client was able to select a kitchen table, four chairs, a two-piece sectional sofa, coffee table, two dressers, and an assortment of smaller “bonus” items.  In addition, she qualified to receive three brand-new twin mattress sets for her children from Furniture Sharehouse’s “Mattresses for Moms” fund, for which the family was especially grateful, since they had been sleeping on cardboard boxes before they were approved to make a trip to Furniture Sharehouse.  

 “It’s nice to know that people are willing to help those who need help in this way especially now when times are tough,” the mother said, clearly relieved that her daughter and grandchildren were moving to a better place complete with furniture. 

Marie Graham, an interior decorator, who volunteers her time and talents to assist clients with their furniture selections, and Kate Bialo,  Director of Furniture Sharehouse.  Ms. Graham read about Furniture Sharehouse in an article and recently began volunteering at the warehouse.  “As a decorator, I have always believed in the power of one’s living space to transform one’s life.  I love working at Furniture Sharehouse because I can make a difference in a family’s life every time I volunteer,” says Graham.

Ms. Bialo is encouraging the public to donate their good-quality used furniture to Furniture Sharehouse.  “Unlike other organizations that accept used furniture, we give the furniture free of charge directly to those who need it the most, instead of selling it at prices our clients could never afford,” she says.

“We are especially in need of kitchen tables and very good-condition used mattresses and box springs (no stains please!) – we never have enough of these items,” Bialo says. “We also accept monetary donations to our “Mattresses for Moms” fund to help some of our neediest clients who are literally sleeping on the floor,” she added.

For information about how to make furniture or monetary donations, or how to volunteer in areas including client assistance, raising community awareness and fundraising, go to http://www.furnituresharehouse.org.  

Hits: 0

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL-CHRONICLE EXAMINER. August 8, 2008: Mayor Joseph Delfino’s office issued a statement to WPCNR on Friday morning’s 6-0 vote to approve the LCOR Phase I and Phase II 566-unit development plan which effectively keeps the 55 Bank Street project alive, saves the $5 Million June 30th payment for the Bank Street commuter parking lot (site of the just-approved project), and eliminates  the prosect of having to fill a $5 Million hole in the 2007-2008 budget, which would have had to be made up some way if LCOR pulled out of the project.

Mayor Joseph Delfino of White Plains.

The Mayor states:

“I’m very pleased that the council voted today to move this very important project. I believe it sends a positive message to our private partners that we are willing to be flexible in good times and bad to work together to keep White Plains moving forward and thriving. This project achieves two important objectives: it generates property taxes from a vacant lot that currently doesn’t and creates more affordable housing which is very much needed. 

Hits: 0

Hits: 0

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. August 8, 2008 UPDATED 10:05 PM EDT: The Common Council at a special meeting  lasting over two hours today from 8 A.M., approved the 55 Bank Street LCOR 80-20 Affordable Housing apartment Phase I and Phase II construction and financial plan today 6-0, with Councilman Benjamin Boykin absent. The first look at a new site plan is expected in 12 weeks or so, Councilman Glen Hockley said, who proved correct in handicapping the sentiments of the Council last night.

Councilman Glen Hockley speaking to WPCNR today said “It was touch and go for awhile. Two councilpersons wanted to table it, but after a while all questions were answered and we are moving forward.”

He told WPCNR that the Fisher Hill and Battle Hill Associations were not in favor of the 13 story parking garage, and neither was he. He said an amendment was added to the agreement approved today separating the parking garage site plan from the site plan for the residential/retail part of the complex so the two site plans would be considered separately.

Hockley said LCOR would pay the $5 Million it owes the city for the land towards the middle or the end of September, which it has withheld from the city since June 30, holding it in escrow.

Hockley said he had introduced Caral Greenblatt of the Fisher Hill Association to Peter Gilpatric of LCORE, and said it was important that LCOR work closely with both neighborhoods on the design of the garage and the apartment complex and consider their concerns. “They don’t want to be walled in,” Hockley said.

PILOT for Hotel Might Come Up, Not Ruled Out.

Hockley said LCOR revealed they were in talks with a hotel which they were going to see today, but had postponed it until next week. During the meeting, Hockley said the fact came out that the Ritz Carlton hotel was 100% occupied, and LCOR took this to mean hotel business is good in White Plains and the project was viable. Hockley said, “It (the hotel possibility) sounds a lot more solid than it did.”

LCOR has promised  before to build a  mythical hotel on the original Bank Street Commons for about eight years, frequently saying they were in talks.  Some of the Council this morning, according to Jim Benerofe reporting on WHITE PLAINS WEEK today questioned how real the $28,000,000 in property taxes the long-promised hotel is in figuring the return on the project to the city in light of the $50 Million in tax abatement over 24 years of the project.

The Ritz-Carlton figure of 100% occupancy was given out at the meeting, Benerofe also said.

Asked if LCOR indicated they would require a PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) on any hotel project from the city in addition to the $50 Million (over the next 24 years) they received as of this morning’s vote, Hockley said “The indication I got was only that the hotel is on. I imagine that (a PILOT agreement) will come up.”

Paul Wood, the Mayor’s Executive Officer told WPCNR Friday evening that this would not happen because hotels in New York are not permitted to receive Payments In Lieu of Taxes arrangements.

“I’m very pleased  we were able to move this along,” Hockley said.

Hits: 0

WPCNR THE DEVELOPER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. August 7, 2008 UPDATED 9 PM EDT: City Hall explained today that the LCOR $50.5 Million tax abatement the Council is going to consider giving LCOR Friday morning as the compensation for the $27 Million cost of building 107 affordable housing units, saying the abatement gives LCOR a return over 24 years equivalent what they could earn on the money if they invested that $27 Million sum elsewhere today over  24 years.  A councilman tonight predicted the council would move to approve Friday morning at the 8 AM meeting.

Meanwhile, unlike City Hall which was sent questions by WPCNR, five of six councilpersons did not answer or respond to WPCNR e-mails  sent at midday, querying whether they felt they had enough information to make the decision, whether they would vote Friday morning, and whether the contract they were voting on would reflect the numbers exactly as described in the financials.  Glen Hockley, the only councilperson who did, expects swift passage of the PILOT agreement

Councilman Glen Hockley at Common Council last Monday evening when “financials” were Introduced.

 Councilman Glen Hockley told WPCNR tonight he expected the council would pass the LDA agreement tomorrow morning because “we need the $5 Million,” and  said he’d be voting for it because the affordable housing was needed, and the developer had come up with a  workable solution to a bad market situation, and in his opinion was not using the $5 Million payment as leverage.

“It’s one of the incentives to have this development take place (the $ 5 Million payment).”

Hockley said he had concerns about the project moving forward: “Number 1 the parking. I think there’s some concerns about the 13 story parking lot and that’s going to be scaled back a bit. It can’t be built that high. I’ve heard enough from the neighborhoods to say they don’t want to be walled in that way. The parking is needed. A 13-story garage is not needed. The rest of the project is certainly necessary, lower income housing is involved. The city’s portion of the money is needed…plus the jobs that come from it.”

Asked if LCOR had given the city any reason why they did not pay the $5 Million on time, Hockley said, “I think they didn’t have the money available at that time.  They did not get the financing they needed.They looked to push it (the $5 Million payment) off.”

Commissioner of Planning, Susan Habel — at the Council meeting last Monday night.

 The $50.5 million in tax abatement, the Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel explained,  is the equivalent of a 4.5 % return on the $27 Million to build the affordable units, at present value over the 24 years, on an inflation rate of 4.2% for each of those years.

The bottom line remains the same:  the city, school and county do not collect $50.5 Million in  gradually inflated dollars over 24 years, although the city school and county do collect $27 Million, $52 Million and $16 Million respectively over the 24 year journey to full tax payments.

Ms. Habel said part of the tax model for figuring the taxes on the as-yet undesigned 55 Bank Street two phase project was $4,100 a unit based on the $4,200 a unit now being paid in taxes by Avalon on Church and Barker  now in the final stages of completion, which by WPCNR calculations works out to $2,251,200 in full taxes for the two phases at this time if they were completed.

The full tax payment when 55 Bank Street  Phase I and Phase II properties are completed by 2033 is $9.3 Million a year according to the PILOT agreement. She said the tax rate increase was figured as 6.6% a year.

Not more, just more units explanation for Abatement

The Commissioner of Planning noted that WPCNR’s observation that the Phase I Phase II “new deal” was more than the previous abatement on the same number units was mistaken because the previous project numbers were computed using a number of units assuming only 75 units of affordable housing which computed to $42.8 Million in revenue.

Asked why the 107 unit 24 year project which has been in the works since May of 2007 would use as its basis a 75 unit, 18 year projection, Ms. Habel explained that at the time the city and LCOR were attempting to figure how many  affordable units could fit on the site and they were trying various combinations. Habel also said the construction cost of affordable units had risen.

Ms. Habel questioned WPCNR’s computation that the new units were costing $421,000 a unit to construct taking into account the cost of the abatement. WPCNR pointed out that if you go on the cost of the abatement of $50,000 that’s what it costs the city. Ms. Habel said that was not the way to look at it, explaining:

 She pointed out that the Kensico Terrace project is paying  $264 a unit (42) in taxes today and the Hortons Mill project was paying a $536 a unit (17 units) in taxes today.

She recalled  “Analysis was based on 75 units, we were going back over different deals, what would the deal be, what number would we work with, so we worked on 75 (affordable units). It wasn’t 107 unit approved until the LDA (Land Distribution Agreement) was approved by the Council in June. It was not fixed (at 107). I made the assumptions based on working with LCOR and we did 75. We weren’t sure how many we were talking because we didn’t know how many units we could fit on the site. So we had a theoretical number which thought we would get to and we ultimately did get to. The council was happy, they wanted more affordable units. 75 was 20% the number we could make work on the site at the time 375 units. At that time we were talking bigger office on the site. A lot of things were being thrown around.”

She noted the reason for the $50 Million tax abatement:

“They (LCOR) have to build the units with current dollars. The benefit they get is over 24 years. They are not getting the benefit of the cost of what they put into this until way out in the future. Do you know what a dollar is worth 24 years from now? About 7 or 8 cents. What we have to do is a net present value of that stream of tax relief that they get in the future. We did it on the 4.5, anticipated annual inflation a year over a 24 year period.  That was determined a year ago.

“What could they do? If they invested that money in a reasonable return on a real estate investment which would be 4.5. Over 50 years they would earn $50 Million dollars. So you discount the abatement back. That’s what the 80-20 program is all about. It’s saying, they’re building all these affordable units what does it cost them and how do we encourage them to do this to accept this cost that will never give them a positive return because they’re rent restricted. You give them an abatement allowing them to get a return on that investment over a long period of time. They don’t get a full return until 24 years out. It has a value to them as if we wrote a check to them for $27 Million now.

Why are they willing to wait to get a return? I know dollars are going to be hugely more expensive. They want to know when they go to a lender, and he says My God you’re throwing 26 million into this project that will not give you a return while this project is operating. Do you think  a lender is going to lend you money? The only reason the lender is willing to give you money is that you say I’m getting a tax abatement over time so the cost of doing that will be compensated.”

“We’re getting taxes of over $50 Million and the value of that abatement is approximately equal to the cost of them to build the rent-restricted affordable units. “

Affordable Housing is Expensive.

 She pointed out that the Kensico Terrace project is paying  $264 a unit (42) in taxes today and the Hortons Mill project  — two totally affordable housing developments recently opened — were paying a $532 a unit (17 units) in taxes today.

“You are absolutely right. You have just hit on an absolute truth.  It is very expensive to build affordable housing. John Saracino is coming back for more help from the city for the cost of Horton’s Mill. Bill Brown it took him seven years.”

Ms. Habel is right.

According to the taxes paid by Kensico Terrace ($11,088) it will take Kensico 77 years to pay back the $848,497 the city gave them out of housing funds to help finance the projec t.

On the Horton’s Mill project paying $9044 in taxes a year, it will take them 36 years to pay back the $327,420 the city gave them to help finance the project

 More abatement to come?

The LCOR project as an 80-20 project (20% affordable housing) could apply to the New York State Housing Finance Agency for further tax credits on the project, allowing federally tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance qualified residential rental projects.