Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to create more “affordable” housing by converting unused office spaces into apartments hinges on the temporary renewal and/or ultimate replacement of a controversial tax incentive for developers that lawmakers let expire last year, he said Monday.
After taking a tour of 160 Water Street — a Lower Manhattan building currently being converted from offices to 588 units of market rate housing — Adams, during a news conference, said that, in order for office-to-residential conversions to yield affordable housing, state lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul need to implement either 421-a or a similar program. He called for including those items, as well as several others related to his housing agenda, in the final state budget, which must be approved by April 1.
