Halletts Point Project Stalled Over Affordable Housing: Report

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The Durst Organization is hitting pause on its Halletts Point mega-development under construction on the Astoria waterfront after butting heads with the city over the conditions of a $21.6 million financing package, according to a news report.

City officials offered Durst the financing package in 2015 to offset infrastructure costs at the seven-building, 2,002-unit rental complex, POLITICO New York reported Thursday.

Included in the financing was a state tax break, which has since started requiring recipients to enroll an additional five percent of units in the city's affordable housing program, according to POLITICO.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for the Durst Organization, told POLITICO the additional requirement would put them in the red, so the developer suggested a different financing mechanism that wouldn't mandate the additional affordable housing.

City officials turned it down. Now, Durst plans to put the project on hold until the next mayoral administration, the spokesperson told POLITICO.

“A project as large and complex as Halletts Point requires a partnership between the developer and the city,” Barowitz told the news outlet. “Unfortunately, we have never been able to forge this partnership, and without it, the project is impossible to build.”

The mayor's office says Durst is overstating the impact the additional affordable housing requirement would have on its finances.

“We will not cut special deals that result in more profit for developers and less affordable housing for New Yorkers,” City Hall spokesperson Jane Meyer wrote in an email to POLITICO.

Read the full story in POLITICO New York.