"The fees stem from a 2021 city rezoning plan, which, in its current form, requires just over 1,600 loft residents to obtain a city permit to turn their artist live-work spaces into residential apartments if they want to sell or pass them down to family. However, it attaches an $100 per square foot fee, to be paid into a city Arts Fund, to those permits."
"Ben-Heim said he bought his loft for about $40,000, obtaining the money for a down payment by selling a large work of art to the SoHo Hotel, then turned the space from a run-down factory to a livable home, putting up walls and installing electrical wiring and flooring himself."
"We put all our energy, our blood into these lofts, Ben-Heim said. Then, when we finally achieve something the city grabs it back again from the artist."
A 2021 rezoning plan requires just over 1,600 SoHo and NoHo loft residents to obtain city permits to convert artist live-work spaces into residential apartments when selling or passing units to family. The permit carries a $100 per square foot fee payable into a city Arts Fund, producing charges that exceed $250,000 for many large lofts. Longtime residents who converted industrial spaces into homes using their own labor say the fees create significant financial barriers to selling or relocating. Current loft market values range from $1.5 million to $4 million, but transfer and renovation costs threaten owners' ability to move or keep their properties.
Read at www.amny.com
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