For 1st time in 14 years, numbers of permits for new construction could drop below 1,000 mark

The number of new building permits in the borough fell by 44 percent through November, the sharpest drop in 14 years and the biggest decline citywide, according to Buildings Department figures.

For the first time since 1992, the number of permits issued for new buildings here is expected to hover below the 1,000 mark for the year.

Permits from January through November stood at 754; December figures are not yet available. Last year, 1,345 new building permits were issued during the same time period. For all of 2005, the number of new building permits topped out at 1,441.

“It’s the most significant drop of any of the boroughs,” said Buildings Department spokeswoman Jennifer Givner, who attributed the decline to a downturn in the real estate market, zoning changes and beefed-up enforcement by Buildings.

Mike Diaz, president of the Staten Island Board of Realtors, agreed with that assessment but said there are other reasons for the decline, including the loss of an eight-year tax abatement program for newly constructed one- and two-family houses. The City Council did away with the abatement last June but is now considering bringing it back in a revised form.

Builders are also finding they can build fewer houses on the same piece of land because of zone changes, added Diaz. He said his office recently sold a 100-by-100-square-foot lot for $525,000. In the past, the same vacant lot would have fetched about $750,000. He said the builder can build two detached homes there instead of four semi-attached homes he would have been able to build before downzoning.

“Builders stopped paying some of these crazy prices for land,” said Diaz, who expects the market to adjust to the new conditions and pick up by the end of the first quarter next year.

Declines in other boroughs were not quite so dramatic.

In Brooklyn, new building permits fell by about 20 percent, from 1,740 to 1,378. Queens experienced a tiny 1.5 percent decrease in permits, from 2,479 to 2,441.

Building on Staten Island last surged from 2003 to 2004, when the Census Bureau said the borough was the fastest-growing of 62 counties in the state.

At the time, real estate and housing experts speculated that the surge was brought on by developers rushing to build projects before sweeping new zoning changes, drafted by both the mayor’s growth management task force and the borough president’s office, kicked in.

A fall followed in 2005, when the borough dropped to sixth place on the same Census ranking.

New Dorp Central Civic Association president Joseph Markowski, who served on the mayor’s growth management task force in 2003 and 2004, said he doesn’t think zoning changes drafted by the task force stifled building. Instead, he said, the new rules gave Islanders feeling stressed-out by years of fast-paced development some breathing room.

He notes that the changes — which included doubling parking requirements for new one- and two-family homes, requiring mandatory 30-foot backyards and more open space in new developments — took effect just as the housing market was beginning a nationwide slowdown.

“In the neighborhoods, we are not hearing as many complaints as we used to about tear-downs…. I don’t hear the outcry about buildings going up,” said Markowski. “I think, overall, most people are happy with the changes.”

He said many people are now focused on the next hot-button issue — traffic.

In fact, more new buildings went up in the borough in the late 1990s and in 2000 and 2001 than in the years that followed.

Allen Cappelli, an attorney and consultant to the Island-based Building Industry Association of New York City, believes the current slowdown is temporary, with developers holding off on making land purchases and capital investments until they see which way the market goes.

Cappelli believes it’s back on its way up.

“We are beginning to see some signs of an uptick, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see next year things move back up dramatically,” he said.

Karen O’Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at oshea@siadvance.com.

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