The City of New York seeks to encourage economic development by moving unused or underused city real estate holdings into private ownership to be put to more productive use, thereby generating jobs and increasing tax revenues. This purpose may be accomplished through traditional means, such as land sales and long-term leasing, but also by employing newer and less conventional real estate transactions to foster development. Among the tools employed are transferring unused development rights, making use of legislative initiatives and restrictive declarations, and selling or purchasing condominium units in which the city participates, a practice common in private development, but a new technique for the city.
These transactions, whether undertaken directly by the city or on behalf of the city by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), require the expertise of the 13 attorneys of the Law Department’s Economic Development Division, working with their colleagues at EDC, to draft and negotiate documents, develop strategies and propose solutions in complex transactions. This article will consider several of the city’s recent development transactions, and discuss the legal framework employed.
