An affordable housing organization that has been a staple of the Lower East Side for more than 40 years is bringing a new residential project to the neighborhood.
The nonprofit Grand Street Guild recently filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a project at 145 Broome St. that will span about 167,000 square feet with 191 units, all of which will be affordable. It will stand 16 stories and 190 feet tall with space for a community facility on the ground floor.
A representative for Grand Street Guild did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Grand Street Guild formed as part of an effort by the federal government in the late 1960s to provide more affordable housing through the construction of taller residential buildings, according to the organization's website. The nonprofit houses more than 1,500 residents across 600 apartments in three 26-story Lower East Side towers at 410 Grand St., 460 Grand St. and 131 Broome St. The buildings were completed in 1973 and underwent $65 million worth of renovations starting in 2009.
Grand Street Guild also filed plans in 2019 for a new building at 165 Broome St. that would stand 15 stories tall with 232 residential units. Construction on that project is ongoing, according to the group's website.
Plans for large, new multifamily buildings in Manhattan have been few and far between lately, although a few other developers are planning projects with more than 100 units in the borough. These include Douglaston Development, which hopes to build a 125-unit high-rise at 1448 Third Ave. on the Upper East Side, and Chess Builders, which hopes to build a 188-unit project at 622 11th Ave. in Hell's Kitchen. Many components of the housing deal in the recently passed state budget are meant to help boost housing production in the city.
Architect Annabelle Selldorf’s first residential tower, One Domino Square, features a striking iridescent porcelain tile facade that shifts the appearance of the skyscraper, allowing it to simultaneously stand out and blend in with its Williamsburg surroundings, depending on the light. Following the launch of sales for the building’s 160 condos last month, new images provide [...]
The post Iconic bridge views and remarkable light: Inside Annabelle Selldorf’s condo One Domino Square first appeared on 6sqft.
Op-ed: Fixing zoning is not enough. We must proactively create affordable space for small businesses
This spring, the City Council will vote on Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Economic Opportunity proposal – an important step for solving the myriad real estate challenges that small businesses face in a changing economy. It brings about long overdue changes to zoning created over 60 years ago by city planners who could not have conceived of how – and where – our city’s economy operates today. As the Department of City Planning describes it, this proposal will “allow more types of businesses in more places” and remove barriers to growth.
It’s remarkable how outdated New York City’s zoning is. For example: Zoning dictates where haberdasheries (purveyors of men’s clothing) and millineries (women’s hat makers) can locate yet contains no mention of 3D printing.
Zoning also prescribes what types of stores can be located in destination commercial corridors or local retail streets. But technology has dramatically shifted how we shop, driving up brick-and-mortar retail vacancy in some neighborhoods. Prescriptive zoning makes it more difficult to adapt to a rapidly changing, unpredictable retail environment.
Zoning separates even relatively clean manufacturing uses from others, a vestige of a “smokestack economy.” Today, breweries, bespoke apparel manufacturers, and ceramics studios are not currently permitted on retail corridors, even though they depend on customer foot traffic.
Zoning in most manufacturing districts assumes all workers will drive to work, requiring so many parking spaces that it essentially makes constructing new buildings infeasible.
The City of Yes for Economic Opportunity proposal makes common sense changes to these outdated rules. It will allow more emerging uses like life science and urban agriculture, more types of businesses on commercial streets, and more multi-story loft buildings in manufacturing districts without onerous parking requirements near transit.
But the City needs to do more than update outdated regulations – it must proactively create affordable space for small businesses in a growing city with a finite amount of real estate.
Take one iconic neighborhood, Manhattan’s Chinatown. Chinatown has a unique historic significance to New York City and its identity is deeply tied to its legacy businesses, but those businesses face significant displacement pressures. In a study released by Welcome to Chinatown, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting the neighborhood’s small businesses, between 2010 to 2019, rents increased by 39% and property taxes by 110% in Chinatown; in a survey, 60% of Chinatown businesses said rent costs were one of their top three challenges. While rent, labor, and supply costs are rising, many Chinatown businesses feel pressure to keep prices low: visitors expect Chinatown to be affordable, and many businesses also serve a low-income clientele.
To prevent displacement of businesses – and to reduce barriers to entry to new AAPI-owned businesses – the City must pilot bold strategies for creating affordable commercial space. This could include providing low-interest loans, tax credits, and/or capital to private or not-for-profit property owners who agree to limit rents. Vacant spaces could be repurposed as pop-up incubators that offer low-cost, short-term leases to allow new businesses to test the market. Larger spaces could become multi-tenant markets for both existing and new businesses – similar to the City-managed Essex Market on the Lower East Side, which has dedicated affordable space for legacy businesses. City-owned buildings could also be leveraged to offer affordable space.
City of Yes for Economic Opportunity is an important step towards updating archaic zoning to create greater flexibility for a changing economy, but it is just a first step. To become a national leader in promoting equitable entrepreneurship, the City should build on this momentum by piloting approaches to affordable space for small businesses, with a focus on communities of color such as Chinatown.
Sulin Carling is a Principal at HR&A Advisors, an economic development and public policy consulting company. As Senior Economic Development Planner at the Department of City Planning during the de Blasio administration, she developed zoning strategies that are being implemented in the City of Yes for Economic Opportunity proposal.
Peloton Interactive said Chief Executive Barry McCarthy is stepping down as the company undergoes a major restructuring that will reduce its global workforce by 15% in an effort to slash costs.
The board will conduct a search to name a replacement, the fitness company said in a statement Thursday. Board Chair Karen Boone and director Chris Bruzzo will serve as interim co-CEOs.
Peloton shares were up about 13% in early trading.
McCarthy — a veteran of Spotify Technology and Netflix — took over from co-founder John Foley in early 2022 and set about overhauling the company. That’s included thousands of layoffs, management shake-ups and outsourcing business functions. He’s also tried to make Peloton more of a services company — with its mobile app at the heart of the business — rather than just a seller of expensive bikes and treadmills.
The executive also forged new partnerships, including one this week with Hyatt Hotels to bring Peloton bikes to the hotel chain in an attempt to boost sales.
But McCarthy acknowledged in recent months that the company continued to struggle with growing “at scale” and warned in February that revenue may not start increasing again until the fourth quarter.
The Hudson Yards-based company was a highflier during the early days of the pandemic, when lockdowns sent consumers scrambling for its stationary bikes and fitness classes. But as people returned to gyms and left the bikes to gather dust, paying subscribers declined, leaving the company with a glut of inventory. A series of product recalls over safety issues only added to the company’s image problem and led to lower sales and profits. The shares have tumbled over the past three years, erasing more than 90% from its valuation.
On Thursday, the company announced a new restructuring program to reduce annual expenses by more than $200 million. As part of that plan, the company will continue to pare its retail showroom footprint and eliminate about 400 jobs.
“The objective of the cost reductions is to align our cost structure with the current size of our business and position Peloton to generate sustained and meaningful positive free cash flow, which is a top priority for us” the company said in a statement. Peloton said it’s working closely with its banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group, on a refinancing strategy.
“We are mindful of the timing of our debt maturities, which consist of convertible notes and a term loan, and we know this is also on the minds of our shareholders,” the company said in a letter to shareholders.
Achieving positive sustained free cash flow will make Peloton “a more attractive investment for debt holders,” the company said.
Peloton narrowed its guidance for revenue for this fiscal year, and the new range came in lower than analysts anticipated. The company now predicts sales of $2.68 billion to $2.70 billion for the full year. It also is anticipating 2.96 million to 2.98 million connected fitness subscribers, lower than a previous forecast for as much as 3.01 million. The forecast reflects Peloton’s “updated outlook for hardware sales based on current demand trends and expectations for seasonally lower demand,” the company said.
In the fiscal third quarter, revenue was $717.7 million, coming up short of analysts’ estimates for $719.2 million. Connected fitness subscribers were 3.06 million, less than analysts’ estimated and virtually unchanged from a year earlier.
Peloton said it’s revamping its approach to international markets to be more “targeted and efficient.” The company said it has no plans to “exit any of our existing international markets, we will leverage global strategies and capabilities where we can.”