Mayor Eric Adams speaks often about the need to make city government friendlier to businesses. A key zoning initiative set to enter the formal approval process later this year is one way his administration plans to do that.

The proposal aims to reform a raft of outdated rules that hinder business growth. As officials have conducted public engagement around the plan in recent weeks, they’ve shed light on some of the obscure provisions in the 1960s-era zoning code they’re looking to correct, and the types of businesses that would benefit from the changes.

“A lot of what we’ve heard is, let’s face it, New York City can be a challenging place to run a business, and dealing with government regulation is oftentimes frustrating, slow, confusing or simply illogical,” Matt Waskiewicz, a senior planner at the Department of City Planning, said at a public meeting last week. “All of this red tape makes investing in businesses hard…having fewer people able to start their business, having one more vacant storefront, having one more business having to leave their neighborhood.”

As one example, the plan would tweak an arcane rule that currently prohibits certain businesses like dance studios and clothing rental shops from operating on the ground floor in some commercial areas. Officials are also looking to amend restrictions on musical entertainment and dancing, and permit small-scale manufacturing uses and indoor amusements like arcades and trampoline parks in more parts of the city.

The plan aims to support specific industries like life sciences by tweaking outdated zoning language governing laboratory space. It may also address any zoning changes needed to permit casinos in the five boroughs.

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MASSIVE DROP COMING FOR OFFICE VALUES — Bloomberg’s Ellie Harmsworth: “Remote work risks wiping $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major cities, highlighting the potential losses that landlords are facing from post-pandemic changes in employment trends. Covid-19’s push toward hybrid work has driven the need for office space down with vacancy rates rising, McKinsey Global Institute said Thursday in a report that modeled the impact on valuations by 2030 in nine cities globally.

“The estimate for $800 billion in valuation losses represents a 26% decline compared to levels in 2019, with the blow at risk of deepening to as much as 42%, the consultancy firm said.”

COUNCIL OVERRIDES MAYOR’S VOUCHER VETO — POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha: The City Council voted Thursday to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of a suite of bills to reform the rental voucher system — a significant loss for the mayor, who staunchly opposed the package. It’s the first Council override since the Bloomberg administration, but the fight between both sides of City Hall may continue in court.

The Council approved the package of four bills in May to expand eligibility for a rental assistance program known as CityFHEPS and eliminate a longstanding requirement that people be in homeless shelters for 90 days before they can qualify for a voucher.

NYCHA CAPITAL NEEDS SEE SHARP INCREASE — POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha: The cost of capital repairs at the troubled New York City Housing Authority has now grown to $78.3 billion over the next 20 years — up 73 percent from 2017.

The startling sum released Wednesday underscores the immense scale of disrepair across public housing properties, and the rapid pace at which NYCHA’s housing stock is continuing to deteriorate. More than half of the total 20-year need — $42.1 billion — concerns boilers, elevators, pipes and other assets that need to be replaced immediately or within the next year. About 39 percent of NYCHA apartments have more than $500,000 in physical needs per unit.

MSG PERMIT MOVES FORWARD — POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha: Madison Square Garden should be granted a new permit to continue operating atop Penn Station, but only if it cooperates with plans to revamp the transit hub, the Department of City Planning said Monday. The agency’s recommendations would allow MSG to continue operating at its current location for another 10 years, with a requirement that the Garden return to City Planning when plans to redesign Penn Station are 30 percent complete and show that it is compatible with the rebuild.

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MSG COULD GET $500M UNDER ASTM PLAN — New York Post’s Nolan Hicks: “The Italian firm pitching a controversial plan as part of Penn Station’s reconstruction netted assistance from the owners of Madison Square Garden, which could score MSG a half-billion dollar payout, records show….

“The plan offered by ASTM Group, a major player in global infrastructure, would require buying MSG’s Hulu Theater from the complex’s owner, James Dolan, before demolishing it to make room for the firm’s proposed new grand train hall on 8th Avenue. ASTM expects roughly $500 million to purchase the theater from the billionaire owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers, according to briefing materials provided to reporters.”

THREE SPECULATORS, 57 LLCS — The City’s George Joseph and Samantha Maldonado: “...To provide public information about these speculators’ home purchase and eviction efforts to heirs, tenants and other affected residents, THE CITY is disclosing numerous LLC names that the investors have used since 2018. This list is not definitive, and the investors may deploy other company names in the future. Residents who would like to learn more about the LLCs on this list can search the city’s deed database, ACRIS, by these business names to learn more about their transaction histories.”

IS REMOTE WORK HURTING SENIOR HOUSING? — The Wall Street Journal’s Will Parker: “Remote work stung the office market. Some analysts wonder if it is hurting senior housing, too. The occupancy rate for senior-housing facilities was 83.7% in the second quarter of 2023. That is up from the pandemic bottom but still below the 87.1% rate in the first quarter of 2020, said the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, despite growth in the senior population and the easing of Covid-19 protocols that once made visiting family at these properties more difficult.”

— Manhattan’s retail market is seeing a steady uptick in rents.

— Residential rents in Manhattan dropped slightly in June.

— Microsoft has moved into new offices in the Flatiron District following a $100 million redevelopment.