Subsidy Alert: September 2012

In the public notices for September 2012: Asahi Realty LLC/Japanese Food Depot LLC, Foodfest Depot LLC, Food Kingdom Corp., GMDC Atlantic Avenue LLC, Maric Realty Group LLC, R Best Produce, Willets Point Public Scoping Meeting, New York City Housing Development Corporation/Atlantic Yards public hearing update.

To learn how the Board of Directors voted on these projects, see the agency "board books" here.

Willets Point Public Scoping Meeting

On Thursday, September 27 the New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development will hold a public hearing on the draft scope of work for the environmental review of the proposed redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens. Public hearing notice, scoping documents and environmental assessments are available from the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination and the Economic Development Corporation websites. The meeting will be held Thursday September 27th at 4:30pm at P.S. 19 Marinot Jeantet, 98-02 Roosevelt Avenue, Queens, NY.   

New York City Housing Development Corporation

As mentioned in the July 2012 Subsidy Alert, the New York City Housing Development Corporation held a public hearing regarding a proposed $92 million bond offering to finance the first residential component at the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards development project. GJNY provided testimony at the hearing, criticizing the HDC for providing bare minimum notice to the public (only a notice in the New York Post) and insufficient project materials for the public to weigh in on the proposal. This month, GJNY is pleased to acknowledge that the agency has updated its website with a new 'public meetings' page, that includes hearing notices, as well as archived agendas and meeting materials. GJNY's testimony as well as HDC project materials and links to more information on development at the Atlantic Yards can be found here. 

New York City Industrial Development Agency and BuildNYC

The next public hearing of the New York City Industrial Development Agency will be held at 10 am on Thursday September 13, 2012 at: 110 William Street, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10038 (Fulton St. subway stop).

We have provided summaries for both IDA and BuildNYC projects below and links to project materials and cost/benefit analyses for all projects expected to be presented. We encourage anyone with concerns or comments about these proposals to attend the hearing and provide input on particular projects to the members of the IDA board. Companies are often pulled from the docket at the last moment, so call to confirm that the company you are interested in will be presented. For more information, please email PublicHearings@nycedc.com or contact Fran Tufano at (212) 312-3596; Written testimony can be submitted to: New York City Industrial Development Agency, Attn: Ms. Frances Tufano, 110 William Street, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10038. If you plan to speak on any of these projects, please let GJNY know: 212.721.7996 or gjny (at) goodjobsfist.org.

Industrial Development Agency projects (download the original public hearing notice): 

• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for Asahi Realty LLC, an entity for the benefit of Japanese Food Depot LLC d/b/a Asahi Seafood USA, a wholesale distributor of fresh and frozen seafood, vegetables, dry goods and related non-food products, in connection with the acquisition, renovation, equipping and/or furnishing of two adjacent industrial facilities located at 31-45 Downing Street, Queens, New York 11354. The financial assistance proposed consists of payments in lieu of City real property taxes, exemption of City and State mortgage recording taxes and exemption from City and State sales and use taxes.
• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for the benefit of Foodfest Depot LLC, a wholesale food service distributor, in connection with a facility located at 550 East 132 Street, Bronx, New York 10454, Tax Block 2260, Lot 192. The financial assistance proposed will consist of payments in lieu of City real property taxes, exemption from City and State mortgage recording taxes and exemption from City and State sales and use taxes.
• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for the benefit of Food Kingdom Corp., a supermarket, in connection with (i) a 9,000 square foot facility located at 331 Port Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, New York 10302 and (ii) the acquisition and improvement of a parcel of land located at 332 Port Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, New York 10302. 
• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for the benefit of GMDC Atlantic Avenue LLC, a real estate developer that provides affordable space to industrial companies, in connection with a facility located at 1102 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11238 (Tax Block 1126, Lots 29, 75). 
• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for Maric Realty Group LLC, a real estate holding company, for the benefit of Maric Mechanical, Inc., a New York corporation and an HVAC contractor and fabricator of ducts, pipes, steel sheets and sheet metal products, in connection with a building located at 19-53 46th Street, Queens, New York 11105. The proposed project consists of renovating the existing building, and adding 6,000 square feet of additional space on a to-be-built second floor. The financial assistance proposed to be conferred by the Agency will consist of payments in lieu of City real property taxes, exemption from City and State mortgage recording taxes, and exemption from City and State sales and use taxes.
• Straight lease (Industrial Incentive Program) transaction for R Best Produce Inc., a wholesale produce distributor, and its affiliates, in connection with a facility located at 400 Walnut Avenue, Bronx, New York 10454 (Tax Block 2599, Lot 89). The financial assistance proposed to be conferred by the Agency would consist of payments in lieu of City real property taxes, exemption from City and State mortgage recording taxes and exemption from City and State sales and use taxes.

BuildNYC Resource Corporation (download the original public hearing notice)

• Approximately $5,000,000 tax-exempt revenue bonds for the benefit of The Center for Family Support, Inc. (the “Center”), a not-for-profit organization providing residential and community services to developmentally disabled individuals of all ages, chartered under the laws of the State of New York, and exempt from federal taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, as borrower. Proceeds from the bonds, together with other funds of the Center will be used to: (i) refinance taxable loans previously incurred by the Center, the proceeds of which were loaned to, and used by, the Center to finance the acquisition, renovation and furnishing of four sites located at 824 East 178th Street, Bronx, New York 10460 (currently outstanding in the approximate amount of $747,431), 826 East 178th Street, Bronx, New York 10460 (currently outstanding in the approximate amount of $747,431), 467 West 163rd Street, Unit 1B, New York, New York 10032 (currently outstanding in the approximate amount of $764,357) and 103 Hale Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11208 (currently outstanding in the approximate amount of $1,125,887); (ii) finance the acquisition, renovation, equipping and furnishing of a 3,720 square foot facility located at 94-19 127th Street, Richmond Hills, Queens, New York 11419 in the approximate amount of $675,000; and (iii) fund any required debt service funds and pay certain costs related to the issuance of the bonds. All of the facilities described herein are owned and operated by the Center as supervised independent residential group homes for the purpose of providing support services and programs for individuals living with developmental disabilities and the families that care for them. The financial assistance proposed to be conferred by the Corporation will be such tax-exempt bond financing and an exemption from City and State mortgage recording taxes.
• Approximately $21,000,000 tax-exempt refunding and revenue bond transaction for the benefit of Marymount School of New York (the “School”), a not-for-profit education corporation chartered under the laws of the State of New York and exempt from federal taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, as borrower. Proceeds from the bonds, together with other funds of the School, will be used by the School: (I) to refund the New York City Industrial Development Agency (“NYCIDA”) Civic Facility Revenue Bonds (Marymount School of New York Project), Series 2001 in the approximate amount currently outstanding of $13,500,000, the proceeds of which, together with other funds of the School, were used, among other things, (i) to refinance a taxable debt for the acquisition of the School’s approximately 15,325 square foot facility located at 2 East 82nd Street, New York, New York (the “Facility”) (Block 1493, Lot 68), and (ii) to finance the costs of renovating, furnishing and equipping of the Facility; (II) to finance or refinance the costs of acquiring an approximately 2,523 square foot vacant parcel of land located at 115 East 97th Street, New York, New York (Block 1625, Lot 7), in the approximate amount of $7,000,000, to be held for future use as the site for a to be constructed secondary school building; and (III) to finance certain costs of issuance for the bonds. All of the properties described herein are and will be owned and operated by the School. The financial assistance proposed to be conferred by the Corporation will consist of such tax-exempt financing and exemption from City and State mortgage recording taxes.