Keeping the SoHo community up to date.
Dear SoHo —
Community Board 2 voted solidly Thursday to support Councilman Christopher Marte’s proposal to eliminate the conversion fee that the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning imposes on some residents seeking to change their certificate of occupancy from Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists use (JLWQA, aka AIR) to straight residential use.
Marte will now attempt to have his proposal included in Mayor Adams’ sweeping citywide rezoning initiative, the City of Yes.
Some fifty people braved the wintery weather to attend the meeting in person in Chinatown, while three dozen others submitted written testimony, with additional attendees on Zoom — all passionately requesting the board support Marte’s proposal. Most were neighborhood artists and pioneers, aging in place, facing the expenses of an uncertain future.
They bemoaned the fact that the monies from the so-called arts fund will likely not see a dime of it returning to the community that produced it. Instead, the rezoning merely suggests that any arts-fund money “should” be spent south of 14th Street, not “must”.
Additionally, the very mechanism for applying the fee is arbitrary and discriminatory.
Only those buildings that were developed, co-oped, and received a JLWQA certificate of occupancy before the Loft Law was enacted in 1982 are subject to the conversion fee should they sell to a non-artist.
However, due to a quirk in the state’s housing laws, buildings developed after 1982 — about half — are subject to the Interim Multiple Dwelling law which exempts them from all those requirements. Clearly this situation is unfair, capricious, and targets the pioneers of SoHo and its older artist residents. It has to go.
Assemblymember Deborah Glick personally appeared to express her support. Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who now represents NoHo, attended via Zoom, saying she came to “listen” to her constituents.
Tellingly, not a single person spoke out against the motion.
$1,200 or $250,000. What Would You Rather Pay?
When those SoHo/NoHo residents subject to the conversion fee decide to sell their units to a non-artist, the $100 per square-foot fee could kick in.
Those buyers, facing an average fee of about $250,000, will attempt to avoid the expense by seeking a reduction in the asking price. Indeed, we have heard reports of buyers employing this bargaining strategy to try to get a better deal.
However, it all may be a tempest in a teapot.
Since the artists certification requirement was enacted in 1971, not a single non-artist has ever been fined for non-compliance with their certificate of occupancy — let alone evicted.
There is no reason to believe that the city will start enforcing it now after ignoring it for six decades, especially since the money will not go into the city’s coffer, but to some local nebulous “arts fund” administered by a private non-profit.
So what happens if a non-artist resident moves into a space that requires a JLWQA certificate of occupancy?
Well…not much.
The citywide fine for violating a certificate of occupancy is $1,200. The violation is adjudicated not in the courts but by the Environmental Control Board, which handles simple violations, like fines for not picking up after your dog. The process can take a year to conclude, during which time further violations for the same offense are on hold.
Moreover, these violations are “complaint driven”. That is, only if a person informs the Buildings Department of the violation, will the city take any action. And why would anyone become an informant? It makes no sense.
In the past thirty years of fielding phone calls and emails from SoHo/NoHo residents, we have never heard of a single incident of anyone actually stooping to do this. People just don’t like snitching on their neighbors.
Furthermore, how would a Buildings Department inspector know if a person is not a certified artist?
Not very easily, since the agency that issues the certifications, the Department of Cultural Affairs, is underfunded, understaffed, and notoriously unresponsive. Building inspectors are rightfully more concerned about buildings collapsing than chasing down artists.
Thus, the actual chance of a non-artist being fined is, essentially, nil. At worst, the penalty would only be $1,200 maximum — a pittance compared to $250,000,
Of course, some buyers will try to argue contrariwise to benefit their pocketbook. But if sellers hold firm and explain the reality of a mere $1,200 fine, this whole rigamarole might easily be avoided.
Please pass this information along and apply it if your building is one of those liable for the conversion tax.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
Sincerely,
Sean Sweeney
Director
SoHo Alliance
A Volunteer Community Association
PO Box 429
New York, NY 10012
212-353-8466
SoHo Journal 