Court upholds city’s fee for converting Soho artists’ units

January 13, 2026 / no comments

New York’s highest court on Tuesday upheld the city’s ability to charge owners a fee when converting apartments reserved for artists, reversing a lower court’s ruling that the practice was unconstitutional.  The New York Court of Appeals, in a 6-1 decision, found that a state Appellate Court wrongfully concluded that a portion of the 2021 Soho and Noho rezoning violated the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause.  As part of the rezoning, new rules were applied to so-called Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists, which are reserved for artists certified by the city. Owners of such units must pay $100 per square foot […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

Gary Barnett claps back at SL Green, RFR over ‘sham’ auction claim

January 13, 2026 / no comments

Gary Barnett is firing back against claims that a foreclosure auction tied to Worldwide Plaza is a rigged attempt from SL Green and RXR to wrest control of the property. An entity tied to Barnett’s Extell Development filed court papers on Monday calling the lawsuit by the rival landlords meritless and accusing the firms of a last-minute scheme to block a UCC sale they’ve known about for months. The legal fight centers on a planned January 15 foreclosure auction for the controlling entity of 825 Eighth Avenue, the 1.8 million-square-foot Midtown office complex owned by SL Green and RXR. The […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.