Shark Bites is an occasional Curbed feature in which our friends from property research hub PropertyShark drop by to share the love from their wealth of maps.

As per this NYT article from a month back, the city is planning to put serious pressure on slumlords to fix up their buildings. According to the article, there are about 1,000 buildings that will be subject to this pressure.

However, the NYT missed the real estate investor angle. It's unlikely that the owners of the current buildings will clean them up. More likely, the city's pressure will cause the current owners to sell to investors with the capital, experience, and mindset to renovate them. This is a classic kind of property for an investor to buy very cheaply and then to clean up and resell. So this list of approximately 1,000 properties should be pretty valuable, in the right hands. Above, a portion of a new PropertyShark map showing buildings with a high number of violations in Harlem and uptown Manhattan; after the jump, a look at the Bushwick/Bed-Stuy vortex of violations.
· Building Violations Map [PropertyShark]
· City to Seek Broader Power Over Buildings [NYTimes]

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Shark Bites is an occassional Curbed feature in which our friends from property research hub Property Shark drop by to offer analysis from their broad array of maps. Without further ado, let's turn it over to them.

[Map showing increases in city assessors' property value. The darkest red areas show sections of the city where city real estate assessments tripled or more.]

According to city officials, market values jumped 19% in 2006. Even more surprisingly, the NYTimes printed this "fact", stating, "The data comes from the most authoritative snapshot of city property: the annual assessment roll". Move over, Jonathan Miller! (And someone tell the rest of us in the real estate industry who mistakenly thought that values were flat or slightly down all year long.)

The real story is that the city finally got serious about correcting their estimates of market value, which for vast sections of the city had been a decade or two out of date. Last year the city thought my brownstone in Harlem was worth around $80K (for that price I'll buy two more!), and that was higher than a lot of neighbors who enjoyed property taxes calculated on values as low as $29K (I'll take three!) PropertyShark sample property 104 W. 113th Street went from $72K to $1.02M. (Todd Stevens of Elliman sold it for $1.8M in August of 2004.)

So for those of us in Harlem and Bed-Stuy who enjoyed property taxes more suitable for a double-wide in the Poconos, the party is over. Kind of. The state limits the rate at which property taxes can rise. For 1-4 family units, the increase limit is 20% every five years. So this year, if you're paying just $2,124 on your $1.8 million Harlem investment, you might pay just $2,294 next year.

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For this week's HoodWatch focus on Northern Tribeca, we asked our friends from property research hub Property Shark to dig into their cache of maps. They were kind enough to oblige.

Here's a look at lots in Northern Tribeca that have applied for and received construction permits within the past two years. It's relatively broadly-dispersed lot.

After the jump: a look at Northern Tribeca's FAR map, and—wait for it—the parking garages and lots of the neighborhood.

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It's been a while since we've had our friends from PropertyShark around to parse their trove of digital maps for our edification. So without further ado, let's turn it back over to them.

Here's a map of garages and parking lots in midtown Manhattan. We all (even those of us who don't own cars) know how crazy parking is in New York. And it's fairly obvious why developers like buying parking lots and garages for their condo projects -- no pesky residential tenants to evict, no long term commercial leases to buy out.

But why are there so many parking lots in the first place? The answer has a lot to do with how property taxes are set. NYC's property tax system seems to encourage real estate speculators to buy up underutilized properties and then to sit on them (unimproved) for years or decades. This is because commercial property is taxed mainly on its income potential and not on what it would sell for in the open market. Vacant lots have very little income potential, so their taxes are very low. Holding a vacant lot is cheap. Sure, you might as well pave it over and get get a little income, but that's a minor consideration.

Of course, as real estate values escalate in particular neighborhoods, that matrix evolves, and lots become construction sites. Scant comfort, we know, for people soon to live near The Pencil, but so goes life.
· PropertyShark Maps [PropertyShark]

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PropertyShark's regular feature for Curbed, Shark Bites, makes a special Eater appearance today investigating the challenges churches and schools in Harlem and East Harlem might pose to expansion of Harlem's burgeoning restaurant scene (the upshot: all areas in light blue above are within 200 feet of a school or church, and thus technically unable to get a liquor license). Read the whole thing, as they say.

Meantime, we've been getting a few emails of this nature recently: "Property Shark has suddenly stopped providing the Ownership Summary--the juiciest part of a property profile! I find it hard to believe that Curbed hasn’t already covered this topic. It couldn’t be that Curbed has a relationship with said site, could it?" Oh ho—conspiracy theories! Alas, the truth is much less juicy. After the jump, PropertyShark explains.

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[Apropos of nothing, it's a special Thursday bonus installment of Shark Bites. As on Tuesdays, our friends from PropertyShark drop by to offer analysis from their trove of NYC maps. N.B. this is a follow-up to a previous installment concerning views—and the potential loss thereof. Caveat, caveat.]

Last weekend I went out shopping for an loft apartment in the East Village and ran across two tragic examples of beautiful, sun-filled lofts that will almost certainly lose their views and become dark caves staring directly into the backside of another building. The apartments were both lofts in the rear of 718 Broadway (units 6B and 8B, see arrow #1 for approximate position). They both overlooked a parking lot (arrow #2), giving them wide open sunny eastern exposures.

On the elevator on the way up someone mentioned that the views would never be blocked because "they could only build five stories in the parking lot." With the units being on the sixth and eighth floors, the implication was that the view would never be blocked. I asked the broker about this:

Me: I heard someone say that they can't build more than five stories on the parking lot. Why is that?
Broker: It's in the zoning.
Me: What zoning rule limits them to five stories?
Broker: It's an F-A-R of 5.
Me: And that means they can't build more than five stories?
Broker: Yes, I've talked to lawyers and architects about it many times.

First off, let me point out that there is nothing in the standard legal or architectural curriculum that trains or qualifies one to read the New York City zoning code. It's written in plain English and a patient person will be able to locate and read the relevant parts in a few hours. (It's available online.)

FAR, or Floor Area Ratio, is merely a limit on the square footage that can be built and is unrelated to height limits. To determine the height limit I first look on PropertyShark and see that the parking lot is zoned M1-5B (manufacturing). Then I look in Article IV of the zoning code, "Manufacturing District Regulations" under the section titled "Height and Setback Regulations" (see, plain English!). I find a simple chart (helpfully titled "Maximum Height of Front Wall and Required Front Setbacks") that sets out the limits: a setback of 15' to 20' from the curb (depending on the width of the street), a front facade soaring to 85 feet, and then a setback of 1 foot for each additional 2.7 or 5.6 feet of height (again depending on street width). In other words, it can be much higher than six or eight stories.
· PropertyShark Maps [PropertyShark]
· Shark Bites: View to a Kill [Curbed]

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[Every other Tuesday, the fine folks from property research hub PropertyShark drop by Curbed to share some analysis distilled from their acres of NYC-specific maps. Join us, please, in another edition of Shark Bites...]

"Will I lose my view?" A couple of readers thinking of buying apartments have asked this question. If you're buying a coop or condo unit with great views, you need to think about whether or not you could lose your views to a towering condo development. The answer comes in three parts.

Short term you need to look at existing zoning. PropertyShark's Air Rights map can show you the surrounding neighborhoods and which buildings have the potential to become much, much taller. The darker the red, the more the potential (arrow #1). (Disclaimer: PShark's maps are for entertainment purposes only, no guarantees are made, you need to verify all data with an architect or lawyer.)

You may be saved if your view overlooks a landmark district. Some people think landmark status (arrow #2) is sort of like garlic to ward off evil blood-sucking developers. But other people claim to have seen developers blow right through the Landmarks Commission with a few well-placed political contributions and a pretentious architect nattering on about contextual green design. You'll have to make your own judgement call on that.

Looking five to 10 years out, you should investigate whether any zoning changes are in the works. NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate has put together a web site that is really the definitive source; go to www.plannyc.org and check out your location. Long term, anything is possible. Could some mayor in the future decide to push through rezonings of vast swaths of the city? Hey, it could happen.
· PropertyShark Maps [PropertyShark]
· Ask Curbed: Who's Got My View? [Curbed]

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[It's the time again when we turn to the fine folks at NYC property research site PropertyShark to dissect one of their many maps. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Matthew Haines...]

When I arrived in Harlem five years ago, there were large wasteland of empty lots and abandoned shells. At the time you could be a five story, 25x80 shell for $300-400K. Cheap, but who in their right mind would invest on a block like that?

But now as I walk along Eighth Avenue between 116th and 122nd (or along Madison Avenue in the same range) all I see is new developments, completed or nearing completion. And with new developments come new commercial spaces and stores like CVS, the UPS Store, and full-size groceries. Looking back I see that these areas are the ones that have turned around the most.

I bought on a solidly residential block. I paid more, but it seemed like the safer investment. What I didn't realize is that the big developers need uninterrupted, clear space. They can't plow money into a block full of run-down brownstones. Now when I hear about the South Bronx, Long Island City, Bushwick, and all of the other "next new things," I always ask myself: is there room for the big developers to move in and really change things?
· PropertyShark Maps [PropertyShark]

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This isn't one of PropertyShark's weeks to drop by Curbed and share map goodness, but this can't wait. In partnership with Toxics Targeting, they've just released one of their most interesting maps yet: an illustrated guide to "more than 12,000 toxic dumps, leaking tanks and pollution discharges throughout New York's five boroughs." We've zoomed in on the Gowanus Canal area—if you want to know what the symbols mean (and, frankly, maybe you don't), click through to Property Shark and make sure "Toxic Sites" is checked in the right column.
· Toxic Sites Map [PropertyShark]

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[Every two weeks, our pals at real estate research website PropertyShark drop by to share some of the wealth from their data-filled maps of New York City. From air rights to FEMA flood zones, Shark Bites examines familiar neighborhoods in unfamiliar ways. Previous installments here and here; chewy new goodness below...]

In last week's discussion of housing prices, a Curbed reader brought up the possible impact of end-of-year Wall Street bonuses. Well, I can tell you the impact my end-of-year Wall Street bonus will have: none. So for the rest of us it's a choice between a "spacious" Manhattan studio and, well, possibly a house with a yard and maybe even one or two rental apartments to help with the mortgage. Here's a map of the up-and-coming area of Brooklyn beyond Park Slope, showing 1-3 family homes that sold since Jan 1, 2001 for less than $1 million. Lower prices are colored in darker shades. (Click through to see the map for all of NYC.) Happy hunting—there's a lot out there.
· Cheap 1-3 Family Homes [Property Shark]

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[Every two weeks, our friends at real estate research hotbed PropertyShark drop by to share some of the wealth from their data-filled maps of New York City. From air rights to FEMA flood zones, Shark Bites examines familiar neighborhoods in unfamiliar ways. Missed the first Shark Bites two weeks back? Read up, then dig in...]

The Year Built Map, which shows construction dates for buildings across NYC neighborhoods, offers plenty of avenues for analysis, but I thought I'd highlight Bed-Stuy for a couple of reasons. First, I've looked at a lot of brownstones there and have always been struck by how beautiful they are inside and out. From facade detail to woodwork, it's all there. They really built them nice back then. And it's striking to see that Bed-Stuy has a much larger and denser collection of pre-1900 buildings than anywhere else in NYC, even larger than Park Slope, Harlem, or the West Village.

But I also notice that only a teeny portion (just a couple of blocks) is protected by landmark designation. Compare this to the West Village, which is protected practically in its entirety. Last year Massey Knakal sold about 30 vacant lots in Bed-Stuy, and from Curbed we know that developers are popping up condo-plexes all over the neighborhood. Bed-Stuy may soon be enjoying diversity of a whole different kind: architectural styles.
· Year Built Map [Property Shark]

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[Hey, it's another new Curbed feature! Every two weeks, our friends at PropertyShark will drop by to share some of the wealth from their data-filled maps of New York City. From air rights to FEMA flood zones, Shark Bites will examine familiar neighborhoods in unfamiliar ways. Away we go...]

This map shows the effect of the 2001 zoning change in Long Island City (which, by the way, is officially called the "Long Island City Mixed-Use District," or LIC-MUD). The dark red areas show lots on which zoning now allows a developer to build additional square footage equal to about four times the square footage of the lot. (So, if you had a 25x100 lot, you could add 4 x 25 x 100 = 10,000 square feet to your existing building.) This map shows two things very clearly:

1) Why there are development opportunities in LIC as opposed to other places. (Why? Because the city massively upzoned it.)
2) People run around reassuring themselves that land is a safe investment "because they aren't making any more of it." Well, the City Council makes more of it in vast swaths—they just stack it.

With Bloomberg having won re-election, we predict that next year large swathes of Brooklyn and Manhattan are going to turn solid red on the PropertyShark Air Rights Map, just like happened in LIC.
· New York City Air Rights Map [PropertyShark]

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