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DeBlasio Touts Commercial Rent Control as City Council Passes Measure

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Mayor Bill de Blasio seems thrilled to tout the benefits of an underrated aspect of the controversial rezoning of Inwood, which cleared at the City Council on Wednesday. The mayor described it as a form of rent control for commercial leasing in Upper Manhattan.

For decades the City Council has worked, in vain, to pass a comprehensive commercial rent control measure. The new agreement reached between the de Blasio administration and local Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez is set to give small businesses a small break. As reported by Crain’s NY, all new mixed-use developments in the rezoned area of Inwood, receiving $2 million or more from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, will be mandated to grant commercial tenants with leases for 10 years or more “with limited rental increases.” “This was a really interesting new element to say, we’re going to create affordable small-business space in the new developments,” de Blasio said during his weekly “Ask the Mayor” segment on WNYC. “If for some reason they need a space, or they need to move, they have a space that is at an affordable level.” The mayor also committed to “work with knowledgeable community stakeholders” in deciding which businesses will get these leases.

The controversial compromise, which took three years in making, excludes from the rezoning “Commercial U”, which holds the neighborhood’s main commercial areas, including Broadway, Dyckman Street, and West 207th Street. De Blasio and Rodriguez both hailed the program as a first of its kind for NYC’s commercial spaces. “It’s the first time that I know that it’s being done in this fashion,” said de Blasio. “It’s something we might be able to do a lot more of in other rezonings.”

The Mayor is confident that the arrangement will provide a place for small businesses to thrive without worrying about rising rent, and hopes the approach can be mirrored in other neighborhoods. Critics, including local residents, however, insist that the approach is government meddling and inhibits healthy evolution of commercial strips. They argue that if unsuccessful stores stay afloat only because of below-market rent, consumers as well as free markets would suffer the consequences. Opponents also suggest that such long-term arrangements would limit the supply of office space available for new businesses, and make landlords more lax about upgrading their buildings.

Councilman Rodriguez expressed optimism after the negotiations, saying that the Inwood rezoning is “an opportunity to bring many of the resources we currently lack in our neighborhood”. “We have secured over $200 million in public funds for new commitments in our community. In the next five years, we will create, preserve and protect over 5,000 affordable housing units.

We will bring over $50 million in STEM and robotics programming and capital, and a new P-Tech school at George Washington Educational Campus. We are building 100% affordable housing development at critical public sites, including the DOT Bridge Repair Facility at 205th Street. We are bringing to our district a first-in-the nation Immigrant Research Center and Performing Arts space to be run by the New York Public Library and leading community-based organizations,” said Rodriguez.

By: Hellen Zaboulani

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