"Developers have been engineering projects to land at 99 units for a simple reason: New York's 485-x tax abatement gets a lot stricter once a building hits 100 apartments. Cross that threshold and higher construction wage floors and different affordability requirements kick in. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development spells out when those wage floors apply and how many income-restricted units are required."
"On large parcels, splitting a project into several smaller buildings can sidestep the priciest wage mandates, even if it means repeating lobbies, roofs and mechanical systems again and again."
"The filings with the city's Department of Buildings list each tower at 99 units and spell out the combined totals for the complex, according to The Real Deal. The outlet reports that Bistricer confirmed he is behind the plans but would not elaborate, and characterizes the seven-building layout as one of the clearest examples yet of developers carving big sites into sub-100-unit chunks."
David Bistricer's Clipper Equity acquired a long-stalled East Harlem site at 1800 Park Avenue from the Durst Organization for approximately $50 million. The developer filed plans to construct seven separate residential buildings, each capped at 99 units, totaling roughly 693 apartments and 628,000 square feet. This configuration deliberately stays below the 100-unit threshold that triggers stricter New York tax abatement rules, higher construction wage requirements, and enhanced affordability mandates. The strategy exemplifies how developers increasingly subdivide large parcels into smaller buildings to circumvent costly labor regulations, despite duplicating infrastructure like lobbies, roofs, and mechanical systems.
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