Scott to Blaz: Answer me on landlord deal
Controller Scott Stringer and Mayor de Blasio’s war of words over a city plan to plunk down $173 million for homeless housing is heating up.
The two political heavyweights squared off last week after Stringer demanded City Hall provide him with “all appraisals” tied to the city’s plan to purchase homeless apartments it intends to convert to permanent, affordable housing. Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks responded to Stringer’s March 25 broadside three days later with his own defense of the deal.
On Monday, Stringer upped the ante.
“Your letter raises more questions than it answers,” he said in the Monday missive.
If City Hall does not comply with his request and turn over the documents, Stringer vowed that he would force it to happen.
“I remind you that my office has the power to subpoena these documents if necessary,” he wrote.
At the crux of their dispute is a $143 million city-commissioned appraisal estimate the city is using to justify purchasing 17 buildings in the Bronx and Brooklyn for $173 million. Another city appraisal, produced by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in 2017, valued the land at a much lower price point: $49 million.
The buildings are owned by the notorious Jay and Stuart Podolsky, brothers with substantial real estate holdings throughout the city who pleaded guilty to more than two dozen crimes in 1986 related to properties they owned at the time.
In Stringer’s latest letter — obtained Wednesday by the Daily News — he charges Banks “does not actually explain how the city determined that it would spend $174 million instead of $143.1 million.”
“The city should not have a policy of spending significantly more than the estimated value of the property simply because it is fearful that someone ‘could’ make them pay more,” he continued.
In Banks’ letter, the Social Services commissioner argued that “a court could order the city to pay a higher value as well as attorney and expert fees.”
“In addition, the city would have to pay interest on any award, which would be substantial,” Banks added.
Stringer also called out Banks’ assertion that the city will be shelling out $237,000 per unit, which Banks described as “consistent with” the median price for rent-stabilized units in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
“This is an imprecise and unreliable metric for valuation purposes,” Stringer charged. “To put it simply, a rent stabilized building purchased in Bay Ridge, Crown Heights, Park Slope and Brownsville will each likely have different comparables and purchase prices per unit.”
On Wednesday, Banks’ press spokesman Isaac McGinn shot back: “Commissioner Banks and the Law Department look forward to discussing the transaction and the appraisal with the comptroller as well as our plans to provide permanent affordable housing for 2,000 people.”