'DRIVES' UP RENT
Latest NY amenity: Outside toll zone
Real-estate agents in the Big Apple’s cut-throat housing market are citing the controversy over congestion pricing in their pitch for apartments in Manhattan outside zones where the toll will be imposed.
Glenn Barnett of Nest Seekers sends out listings with the heading “Avoid Congestion Pricing.”
“I do get a better response. People are curious,” Barnett said in a recent interview with The Post. “There are a million listings that say, ‘Great Views.’ Let’s do something different. It can’t hurt.”
He recently marketed a onebedroom pad at 340 E. 93rd St. near First Avenue with the “Avoid Congestion Pricing” pitch.
The upcoming expected $15 toll will be charged to motorists entering the Midtown congestion zone south of 60th Street.
Only residents who live in the congestion zone and make less than $50,000 annually will be able to rebate their toll bill against their income tax, leaving out many apartment-hunters in Manhattan’s notoriously costly real-estate market.
“If you’re in the housing market, it will give you food for thought,” Barnett said of the new toll. “Life here is expensive enough.
“People are concerned. They want to know what congestion pricing is about. It’s very hard to drive in Manhattan right now.”
Barnett’s email blasts typically make their way to key real-estate sites such as Zillow and Street Easy.
The MTA’s rollout of the $15 toll is slated to kick off in mid-June after facing years of delays and a slew of lawsuits.
Transit officials predict that the toll could raise $1 billion per year, which would fund major upgrades to the MTA’s subway, commuter railroad and bus systems while getting people out of their cars and onto mass transit to curb traffic and air pollution.
But the toll — the nation’s first congestion pricing fee system — has provoked a furious backlash.
Lawsuit plaintiffs include New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, the city teachers union and New York politicians including Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella.
Even former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who approved the law allowing congestion pricing in 2019, has flipped against it, citing changing circumstances in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Hochul, who backs the tolling plan, even got an earful from New Jersey resident Whoopi Goldberg during an appearance last week on ABC’s “The View.”
MTA Communications Director Tim Minton said in an e-mailed statement Sunday to The Post, “The listing boasts the apartment is ‘close to all trains,’ and since 90% of commuters use mass transit it’s no surprise a broker would highlight that. So yes, take those trains and avoid congestion pricing.”