The Week in Review
1. City Mulls Property Tax Hike: Faced with a $3.1 billion budget gap, the Bloomberg administration is mulling whether to roll back a 7% property tax cut and end a $400 million property tax rebate. The restoration of the tax would add an extra $1 billion in revenue to the city, and the rebate would save another $256 million.
2. Bank of America To Buy Countrywide:
Bank of America has agreed to pay about $4 billion in stock to acquire a lending company that foundered during this summer's subprime mortgage crisis. Bank of America agreed to value the company at $7.16 a share.
3. Foreclosures in City Fall 13%: The number of foreclosure filings in the city fell by 13% in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to the previous quarter, ending a run of increased foreclosure numbers, the Real Deal reported. The total of 605 foreclosures was still 71% higher than the final quarter of 2006.
4. Lawsuit Against Atlantic Yards Dismissed: A state Supreme Court justice dismissed one of two major lawsuits against the Atlantic Yards project, the New York Observer reported. The move clears one of the last obstacles preventing the $4 billion Brooklyn development from moving forward. Groups opposed to the project filed the suit in April, hoping the court would overturn an environmental impact statement created as the developer, Forest City Ratner, was using eminent domain to cobble together the footprint of the complex. The plaintiff, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, is planning to appeal the decision.
5. One Dead in Trump SoHo Accident: A construction worker died Monday in an accident at the site of the future Trump SoHo building, bringing work on the project to a halt while the city investigates whether a lapse in safety standards caused a wooden mold holding concrete to collapse and send Yuriy Vanchytsky falling to his death. The Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, previously subpoenaed the building's general contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, after two firefighters were killed at the former Deutsche Bank building.
6. Goldman Sachs Extends Lease: The lease on One New York Plaza will be extended through 2010, GlobeSt.com reported. The investment bank is awaiting completion of a new headquarters, set to open in 2009, in Battery Park City.
