5 | CLEANUP TARGET JULY 11, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 28
15 | MID-YEAR OFFICE MARKET
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THE FINE FACTOR DEVELOPER GIVES WORKFORCE HOUSING AN UPMARKET SPIN
BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com
A
steady stream of construction workers approached developer Peter Fine to shake hands at a June 30 topping out ceremony in Mount Vernon. They thanked him for the jobs he created by building La Porte Apartments, a $60 million, 14-floor affordable workforce housing project at 203 Gramatan Ave. The path to those jobs, and more to come with two pending projects, has been a tortuous, nineyear process of securing government support and financing. “Sometimes I think I’m not in the housing business, I’m in public works,” Fine said. “But I’m OK with that.”
Fine grew up in governmentsubsidized housing in Queens. He earned a master’s degree in sociology from New York University in 1986 and became a social worker. He shifted to housing development in 1995, co-founding Atlantic Development Group and becoming one of the most prolific builders of affordable housing in the region. La Porte, he said, “is by far the nicest workforce housing I’ve ever built.” Unlike typical housing projects, the 159 apartments will have washers and dryers and tenantcontrolled heating and air conditioning. There will be a gym, children’s playroom, media room with a 12-foot screen and a lounge with a full pantry on the roof, surrounded » LA PORTE, page 6
Developer Peter Fine atop La Porte Apartments in Mount Vernon. Photograph by Bill Heltzel.
Report: Start-Up NY job growth slow statewide TWB Loan Decision Banner Ad 6” w x 1.5” h 2-23-16
BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com
IN ITS FIRST TWO YEARS, START-UP NY has created more tax-free zones than it has actual jobs, according to a report released July 1. The program has created 408 new jobs: 76 in 2014 and 332 in 2015, according to the report from Empire State Development Corp., the state agency that oversees the
program. Start-Up NY offers a 10-year reprieve from state and local taxes to new or growing businesses in the state if they locate in specific locations in New York partnered with public and private college campuses. While 441 locations and more than 5 million square feet in the state have been designated as Start-Up NY space, according
to the report, job growth hasn’t exactly matched up. In the MidHudson region — which includes Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan, Ulster and Putnam counties — five jobs were created in 2015, all in Kingston, according to the report. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has touted the program since its start, calling it one of the most ambitious economic development initia-
tives in the state in decades. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent in advertising, catching the eye of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. DiNapoli released an audit of Cuomo’s economic development initiatives as a whole in 2015 that said Empire State Development had spent $211 million in advertising with “no tangible results.” Far from being advertised, the
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latest report on Start-Up NY was unceremoniously posted on the Empire State Development website late in the afternoon on a Friday before a holiday weekend. The report by law was due March 31. The actual job numbers can be found only in a footnote on the tenth page of the report. Instead, the report highlights other numbers, such as the 159 » START-UP NY, page 6
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