Manocherian Brothers float resi conversion despite Midtown South carveout

February 12, 2026 / no comments

When the City Council approved the rezoning of 42 blocks in Midtown South, it excluded 37 properties in the Garment District from changes that would pave the way for more housing. Now the owner of one of those properties is considering zoning changes to allow residential space anyway. Manocherian Brothers signaled in a brief summary filed with the Department of City Planning that it wants to rezone 257 West 39th Street, a 16-story commercial building that is home to various fabric shops.  The owner filed a preliminary description of the project in December, calling for a partial conversion of the […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

New York City rents climb back toward record highs

February 12, 2026 / no comments

New year, same rental market.  That was the story for January rents in the city, where median rent for a brokered, market-rate lease in Manhattan was $4,695, the third-highest number on record, according to Miller Samuel’s monthly rental report for Douglas Elliman.  The median rent was up 8 percent from last year, and down just slightly from December’s numbers.  “We’re just in this mode of steadily rising rents and until we see more of a drop in mortgage rates,” said report author Jonathan Miller. “I think that trend is going to be sustained for a while.”   The luxury rental market […]

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Too big to fail: Mamdani, Albany wait for 485x to flop

February 12, 2026 / no comments

If your car’s warning lights start flashing, do you take it in for repairs or keep driving until the brakes fail? Leila Bozorg keeps driving. Bozorg, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s deputy mayor for housing, believes the state shouldn’t amend 485x unless the crucial multifamily development law remains broken for a while longer. Here’s what The City wrote last week: Bozorg doesn’t think the law needs any changes. “If you look at the history of 421a, there was slow uptake in early years and then it became a robust program that many used,” she said. “So I think it’s too early to […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

The Daily Dirt: Bad landlords and faster housing development 

February 12, 2026 / no comments

Yay Yimby, nay bad landlords.  On Tuesday, back-to-back announcements delivered those two messages. The Mamdani administration released the dates for the five “rental ripoff” hearings, and then appeared at a rally to celebrate Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “Let Them Build” agenda, to support her proposal to reform the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA.   During the press conference, Mamdani lamented the years that environmental review can tack onto a project’s timeline.  “Two years just to get through the environmental review on the project,” Mamdani said. “After that, you don’t even get to start building. That’s just when the actual approval […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.