Monday, October 14, 2024
Windy. High 67 degrees.
The temperature will begin to drop this week, with lower 40s expected during the next seven days.
Monday, October 14, is Columbus Day in New York. In many states, the holiday is now called Indigenous People’s Day. You can read about that split — HERE.
The Columbus Day Parade will take off at 11:30 a.m. on Monday from Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, making its way uptown on the East Side. Many businesses are closed on this day, so you’ll want to check before heading out.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Sider says that a local pizza shop’s wood-fired oven is making her life “Dickensian,” as first reported by Gothamist.
Multiple neighbors of Motorino Pizzeria at 510 Columbus Avenue, near West 85th Street, told Gothamist that they are not able to even crack their windows because of the black soot from the restaurant’s exhaust, which stems from the wood-fired pizza oven.
Mathieu Palombino, the owner of the UWS shop, explained to the publication that he has installed a pollution control system within the oven that complies with the city’s new emission rules. Additionally, he said he is in the process of switching the oven to natural gas.
“It is like living inside a Dickensian chimney,” Chantal Berman, who lives in the building next to Motorino with her one-year-old child, told Gothamist. “The thickness and oiliness of the soot and the smell that comes out of this chimney is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”
Another neighbor of the pizza place said she can only open her windows during the early morning hours when the shop is closed.
You can read the full story — HERE.
Longtime New York Post columnist Steve Cuozzo recently visited the new Salt & Straw ice cream shop on the Upper West Side, and he was not overly impressed with the pastrami-on-rye flavor.
While Cuozzo did enjoy the vanilla and caramel ribbon scoops from the shop at 360 Amsterdam Avenue, near West 77th Street, he did not find happiness in some of the more experimental flavors.
“…there was no joy in ‘pastrami on rye,’ where butterscotch ice cream is packed with pastrami sourced from the Carnegie Deli,” Cuozzo wrote. “The only discernible flavor I detected was mustard.”
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel is another flavor offered by the new Upper West Side shop.
Salt & Straw opened with long lines in the neighborhood on September 20. It is the popular Portland-based ice cream shop’s first location in New York City.
You can read Cuozzo’s full review — HERE.
The New York Times recently tackled the subject of renovating and personalizing a rental apartment — the different decisions that come with the process — and an example on the Upper West Side.
“You don’t give up a 1,400-square-foot Upper West Side apartment,” Tobi Wright told The Times. “Not for a relationship, not for anything.”
Wright took over a rent-stabilized lease from her mother 20 years ago, which is now $1,700 a month, and has gone about renovating the apartment in the decades since. That personalization of her living space in the West 100s included a simulated suburban backyard with AstroTurf flooring, a wood wall, and a mural of trees.
“To be the tenant of a radically cheap New York City apartment is to be a prisoner of fortune,” The Times wrote. “You are held captive by your golden lease. But renters like Ms. Wright show how one can customize a home for the comfortable long-haul, making it as personal as any place one would feel free to love and leave.”
You can check out the full article, which includes other ways renters go about personalizing living space they do not own — HERE.
Saul Zabar went to work over the weekend.
He is 96 years old.
Saul was born in 1929 and is the child of Zabar’s founders Louis and Lillian Zabar.
He is the current president and co-owner of the iconic Upper West Side grocery store.
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Regarding West Side news……any info about DOT’s plan to install ecommerce “micro hubs”?
Dedicated space for e-commerce unloading and cargo delivery bicycles ?
1. Ms. Wright has hideous taste. The article says she is an interior designer. To each his own.
2. Once again, this is what is wrong with rent stabilization. I am all for her mother being allowed to stay into her apartment into old age. But these rules of inheritance are ridiculous. If nothing else, landlords should be allowed a significant bump in rent when a new generation takes over. If her rent were say 25-50% higher, it would still be way below market (I’m guessing market is about 300% higher) but the landlord would be a bit closer to covering his costs. Which isn’t too much to ask.
3. I am eager to hear feedback from those who are constantly complaining about the lack of housing on the UWS, particularly for families. A single person living in a 1,400 square foot apartment is not an efficient use of space.
No, they are not. They are a protection for tenants against the insatiable greed of landlords. Hence, a comparable open-market apartment might be $4,000 a month or more. Your proscriptions for other people’s housing are totally out of line.
“Insatiable greed of landlords?” Really? I kind of like capitalism. As I noted, I am supportive of some programs to help others. But what this woman and others like her are doing is abusive and ruining things for everyone else. Landlords are allowed to make a profit.
I am not a landlord but I really have a problem with people who demonize all building owners as evil, selfish and money-hungry. And I have a problem with people who address me like a child and say I am “totally out of line.” I could generalize a lot about people with these opinions and who talk to others like this but then I would get censored (like you should have been for your rude comment) but you can guess what I think…
Typical ROI (return on investment) each year for NYC landlords is around 40%. Even for rent stabilized, it’s 20-50%. Compare that to what your bank is paying you. Greed? Yes.
By the way, you will almost never see an honest ROI figure published by landlords. The 40% figure comes from one who just didn’t care to hide it.
You lost me when you compared the ROI for a risky asset like real estate to the return on a riskless asset like a bank account. It’s a mindless exercise to think that landlords just rake in profit without any effort or risk.
Can you share your source for that 40% ROI number?
Can you please tell us where you got these numbers, because they are, in my opinion, unreliable.
At the end of 2023, JPMorgan reported that the average Cap Rate (an owner’s expected return based on property value) of multifamily properties in NYC was 4.9%.
Earlier in 2024, CBRE reported an increase to the average Cap Rate (based on a 10-year hold (i.e. owner owning the property for 10 years) to 5.25% and also a rate of return for investors (on average) from 7.0% to 7.5%.
This is a far cry from 20-50%. Also, many landlords have loans on their properties which are subject to financial testing by the banks/institutions holding these loans — are you implying that the landlords are “faking” the numbers they are presenting to their banks?
Didn’t think any adult could be that financially ignorant to think that inherited subsidized housing that is grossly below market rate is “insatiable greed”
Agree 100 percent.
Actually running a business out of apartment might be a violation of the lease.
Happy Birthday to Saul! We met 50 years ago, when we all were much younger. Stay healthy.
The whole inheritance thing of rent stabilization is unfair. There is a lot of abuse and everyone else pays for it. I have a friend who “inherited” a 3 bedroom apartment from her mother— daughter doesn’t even live in the country anymore but holds on to it. Another friend has a great rent-stabilized apartment. She is now worth about $15 million— but why would she give up such a deal? The “need” for ongoing subsidy is never addressed. Flawed system with no shame.
I continue to live in awe of the people who seem to believe that if rent stabilization ended, landlords would bring other rents down. How do you even get across the street in the morning without losing every dime you have to the local three-card monte operator? How many times a week does the wallet inspector walk away with your stuff? When was the last time you bought the Brooklyn Bridge?
It’s weird how the people who are most against rent stabilization are the ones who suffer the most from not being protected by it.
Your examples are interesting, if somewhat confusing: According to my understanding, rent-stabilized tenants must be in residence a certain number of days per year or they forfeit their right to the apartment. Your living-abroad friend must still meet that number to maintain her contract.
Isn’t an income-limit another requirement for rent-stabilized tenants? If your second friend is worth $15 million, perhaps her money is in a corporate trust or another financial instrument while her persona income stays below the capped requirement. It’s one thing to avail yourself to those instruments but another to use them for government credits: I’ve heard of wealthy people who receive health insurance credits from The New York State of Health or who were sent federal assistance checks during the pandemic because they exploited those financial instruments, which “allow” them modest personal incomes while their corporate incomes pay for a luxurious life. That IS shameful.
There is no income limit in rent stabilized housing (nor is there one to qualify for it, if you’re lucky enough to find a vacant unit and get it it doesn’t matter if you make a thousand a week or a thousand a day).
The 2019 law removes the incentive for a landlord to throw out a tenant who isn’t using their unit as a primary residence. Since it’s no longer legal to renovate a vacant unit and get lots more rent from a new tenant there’s no reason for the owner to enforce the primary residence rule.
rent stabilization laws have an income and rent cap. friends of mine had to move b/c they were making over the limit and their rent had reached the cap. also, a landlord may evict you if you are not in the apartment at least 50% of the year and if it isn’t your primary address.
The 2019 Tenant Protection Act removed income limits for rent stabilized apartments. So your friend might have had this happen pre-2019. Having an income restriction seems very reasonable to me – I’m not sure why they got rid of this.
https://hcr.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/08/rent-laws-overview-english-10-2019.pdf
“Inheritance” is now a separate issue from an apartment’s continuation under stabilization/control laws. As of 2019, these apartments are permanently rent capped. So even if the family members left or didn’t “inherit,” the apartments would not become market rate.
Of course, the law may change again. And landlords are finding loopholes to skirt the new laws. (Google Frankenstein apartments”)
And don’t forget those with rent-stabilized or controlled apartments who also have “country houses.”
Inheritance in rent stabilized apartments is absolutely out dated. Renovating is fine. When the laws change, and they will as affordable housing becomes scarcer and scarcer due to hogging of space by people who don’t pay their fair share, this will benefit the owners of the building. However, using Astro turf is a bane on the environment. It is plastic and as it deterioriates, it will admit toxic poisons, adding to climate upheaval. This should absolutely not be allowed.
May he live to 120!
Re. Motorino Pizza: How’s the pizza? I st worth a visit?
Pizza’s very good, if you like Neapolitan-style. Can’t blame the residents for being annoyed, though.
Not as good as Don Antonio on W 50th or Song’e Napule over on Amsterdam.
The pizza is absolutely the best on the UWS. I feel for the people who live there, but I hope they don’t convert to gas any time soon!!
Happy Columbus Day!
Mr. Zabar’s birthday is in early June. I’ve had a crush on him for years.
Mr. Saul Zabar — I was in the store a few months back – i saw him with an employee filling a basket – he had on a badge with his name on. Having a respect for seniors (being one myself) and liking Zabars – I said “Hello Mr. Zabar” – he passed me by but I heard him about 4-5 seconds later say “Hello” back. Good for him – still involved in the business and affable as well !
Saul we love you!
Earlier I neglected to mention I gifted Mr. Zabar some socks a couple of times, possibly for his birthday or another occasion. One pair in particular he liked very much and he wore them frequently. If he happened to see me in the store and he was wearing them, he would point this out to me. Such a modest gesture made him so happy.
Ms. Wright’s work as an interior decorator is exceptional. Her work can be seen in public venues and businesses offices as well as living spaces. People who work in the arts and design fields still have to pay rent to live in this very expensive city. That includes people who were born, raised and educated in this city. The folks who are able maintain the standard of living that is often waxed poetic on this site. The way aspersions are cast on people you don’t know, or their circumstances, continues to alienate a younger generation of residents to the upper west side.