Comments on: City Council to Vote on Dock Street Dumbo Today (UPDATE: Approved)

By: Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn » Archive » DUMBO Neighborhood Foundation Launches Website (DumboNYC.com)

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:32:07 +0000

[...] housing, a 45,000 sq ft middle school space, and approximately 400 underground parking spaces. The City Council approved the rezoning of the development project filed by Two Trees Management Company in June [...]

By: Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn » Archive » New FOIL Docs from SCA Revel its Own Architect Didn’t Give Dock St. School a Passing Grade in 2007 (DumboNYC.com)

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:17:54 +0000

[...] to propose a middle school in the controversial development on Dock Street in Dumbo. Although the zoning change has already been approved, Mr. Yassky is showing further support that “what is also now clear, thanks to this [...]

By: Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn » Archive » Dumbo Then and Now: N Side of Front St at Dock St (DumboNYC.com)

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:11:08 +0000

[...] Zerega building (aka Nova Clutch building), which was demolished in June 2007 to make way for the highly publicized and controversial Dock Street Dumbo development that passed the rezoning process almost two years later in June [...]

By: dumbonyc

dumbonyc — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:34:36 +0000

@snifter, you won’t need to look for new parking for at least another year. see http://dumbonyc.com/2009/06/11/dockst-whatsnext/

By: dumbostreets

dumbostreets — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:21:23 +0000

Well, if the city is short on funds they cannot always open Prospect Park up for oil exploration.

By: Carlo Trigiani

Carlo Trigiani — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:57:09 +0000

Generally speaking, the DOE has the latitude to structure a sale-leaseback in whatever way best suits their financial needs. Term, rent, TI allowance, renewals, etc. can all be factored into the mix.

NYC currently has an S&P general obligation rating of AA, that’s pretty good.

You mention an 8% cap rate and annual rents of $2-3 million. Assuming annual rent of $2.5 million and an 8% cap rate, that’s $31,250,000 in proceeds.

It would be interesting to know what a market rent and cap rate would be for a public school lease. Perhaps somebody reading this who deals with these type leases could provide some guidance.

By: Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn » Archive » With Rezoning Passed, What’s Next For Dock Street Dumbo? (DumboNYC.com)

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:51:43 +0000

[...] you know, the decision by City Council to approve the rezoning of the Dock Street Dumbo development project filed by Two Trees Management [...]

By: SaveTheBridge

SaveTheBridge — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:23:36 +0000

If I had the resources, I’d start buying up land next to/under all sorts of landmarks and hire Fisher to do his thing for me.

This new precedent shows developers that rezonings to build huge, inappropriate buildings are for sale literally anywhere. Just pony up the price of raw school space ($10M) plus lobbyist fees and city council member payola ($2M).

$12M for the rights to build 300 luxury rental units 90 feet from and towering over the Brooklyn Bridge? That’s dirt cheap guys.

Developers with half a nose for profit will probably be flocking to this new model of how to cash out on city and national landmarks.

By: dumbostreets

dumbostreets — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:23:26 +0000

Yes, exactly… however they get that magically 40 million dollars it seems crazy for it to be tied up in some lease. Someone is going to end up paying a lot of money for a temporary situation.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:59:40 +0000

I think the city needs to own all schools or have super long term leases at token amounts. Otherwise what happens in 20 years…. The whole process starts all over again. It is the least the developers can do for the gift they are getting.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:52:24 +0000

Yes the school would have to own the space. So either 2Trees sells the DOE the school for a token amount or possibly (and I am not sure this is even legal to structure)…. 2Trees leases the school to the DOE for $1 per year for 25 or 50 years. Then the DOE signs a lease (with themselves) for a market rate and sells that stream of lease payments for an upfront lump sum.

By: dumbostreets

dumbostreets — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:38:57 +0000

Carlo,

In order for that to work doesn’t the DOE need to own the space first? My understanding of that sort of deal is the owner sells the space and then leases it back…

By: anon

anon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:38:35 +0000

How are they going to get someone to do a sale-leaseback worth $40m without signing a massive lease. They would have to be paying $2-$3 million a year lease for someone to buy that out at a number even close to $40 million. And that is assuming someone would do that deal at around an 8% cap, which in this environment does not seem likely. People in the RE space are looking for 12-15% returns (minimum) these days.

By: Carlo Trigiani

Carlo Trigiani — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:12:45 +0000

All due respect DumboStreets but the scenario you describe is not reasonable. The school will be built and the DOE will most probably raise the funds needed to build out the school by entering a sale-leaseback transaction. The $40 million – or whatever that number turns out to be, will be raised by the sale-leaseback.

Now that the vote is cast and the zoning variance approved, I hope everyone in the community will work together to build a school of which we can all be proud. Let’s work together to make this the best middle school in New York.

A great middle school at Dock Street is in everybody’s best interest.

Sincerely.

By: New Yorker

New Yorker — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:14:50 +0000

This is, hands down, one of the worst decisions that the city of the great state of New York could EVER make.

Not only will they be completely defacing one of our LAST National monuments but they are putting thousands of people at risk of terrorist attacks. This structure will be aimed at the Brooklyn Bridge people!!! What do you not get.

Also, for the record, Dumbo has about a dozen kids of age that will go to that “school”… That is the BIGGEST joke ever.

Pathetic… Time to move. Greedy bastards.