From City Limits: With 421-a Maneuver, Pacific Park Developer Could Save Buyers $50 Million More in Taxes

I have an article today in City Limits, With 421-a Maneuver, Pacific Park Developer Could Save Buyers $50 Million More in Taxes. It begins:

Developers of 550 Vanderbilt, the first condominium building in the long-gestating Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards) project, seem poised to turn a sweet deal into a bonanza, thanks to real-estate alchemy that super-sizes an already large tax break.

When Greenland Forest City Partners in 2015 prepared the Offering Plan for buyers at 550 Vanderbilt, the pending 421-a tax abatement meant an overall yearly tax bill of $1.2 million, a 69 percent discount off the annual property-tax hit that would have occurred without the tax break.

Now, however, owners at the 278-unit luxury building would collectively pay less than $123,000, a 97 percent discount.

But that $1.1 million increase in savings would be just the start. Since the new tax break would last 25 years, not 15 years like the initial one, plus remove an assessed value (AV) cap, owners could save a cumulative $86.5 million over the life of the tax benefit, by City Limits’ calculations. That would be $50 million more than in the earlier projection.

Go to City Limits for the rest of the article, but note the linking of the 550 Vanderbilt condo and the 535 Carlton affordable building in the photo and graphic below.

Public discussion

Also note public discussion of the issue at the 10/17/17 meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation; go to 136:38 of the video below.