Delayed Closing On Roosevelt Island Hudson Related Riverwalk Building 8 Affordable Housing Development Deal Among Agenda Items For RIOC Real Estate Committee November 7 Meeting

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Real Estate Development Advisory Committee is meeting Wednesday, November 7. According to RIOC:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Real Estate Development Advisory Committee of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. at the RIOC Administrative Office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.
Agenda:

• 1. Closing on Southtown Building 8
• 2. Wayfinding Signage
• 3. Damage to Cherry Blossom Trees from Cornell Construction
• 4. Any Other Committee Business that May be Brought Before the Committee

Hudson Related is the developer of Southtown a/k/a Riverwalk building 8

 and 9.

According to RIOC, Buildings 8 & 9 will have:

High Level of Affordability - H/R proposes building the two final buildings of the Southtown
Development in a package that delivers:

• a greater level of affordability for middle income and low income residents than provided by any of the previous Southtown buildings;
• affordability sustained over a period of 30 years, and in some cases, longer; and
• approximately 641 units at a mix of 53% market rate and 47% affordable housing – more than the 40% affordable required in the Southtown Development Agreement.

According to the minutes of the RIOC September 7, 2017 Board Meeting discussion of proposed deal (Page 5-6):

... General Counsel Flug noted that the developer agreed to give priority to Roosevelt Island residents in applying for affordable units in the new building if such priority is deemed to be in accordance with the law...

During the September 7 RIOC Board meeting, several RIOC Directors opposed the deal because they said they did not have sufficient time to review the terms of the agreement. But RIOC's CFO at the time, Kimberly Quinones said, according to the minutes (Page 5):

... in accordance with the provisions of the Public Authorities Accountability Act (PAAA), RIOC is required to take certain proposed measures at least ninety days before the closing, which must occur in late December to qualify for the New York City affordability program in question. As such the vote could not be postponed by more than a week or so. Mr. David Kramer, Principal at Hudson Companies, further elaborated on the timeline....

The agreement was approved but the closing did not occur in December 2017 as scheduled and still has not.

Hopefully, we'll learn more tomorrow.