Artist in Residence certificates

Stay away from AIR buildings unless you can daily hurdle the requirements.

HI Matsonjones, Thanks for the response. What does "daily hurdle the requirements" mean?

Oy - 'easily hurdle the requirements'

Stupid f*ckin' autocorrect.

I am a board president in soho and on the steeriing committee to rezone Soho and Noho. i woul d be happy to chat with you on the phone. eschweninger@townrealestate.com

Can you tell me which building?

Miles -- you should speak to your lawyer to get the full details. AIR lofts generally sell at a lower price per square foot because of this caveat, but you should consult a legal professional who is familiar with these scenarios to get the full picture.

How do I find AIR lofts?

MR: there are many anecdotes out there about likelihood of A.I.R. enforcement (or not) and consequences. Search SE Discussions for "artist in residence" for a history on these boards, including this one: http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/19756-artist-in-residence-building-in-soho

Lorfisch: A.I.R. applies to residential space designated as Joint Live Work Quarters for Artists, which is essentially all buildings with M-1A or M-1B zoning in Soho (nearly all of Soho east of 6th Av, except for new developments on [former] parking lots) and Noho (spread around).

Miles,
don't even think about buying this until after you've had a lawyer (who specializes in the "Loft Law") give you a written analysis of the legal status of each unit & the building itself. Otherwise, you could wind up buying a zombie bld.

sorry, you just want to buy a unti, not the bld. Well, I still stand by my answer. Don't spend millions of $ w/o knowing the legal implications.

eschweninger: It would be really great if you could post a little summary or blurb on AIR & the rezoning of Soho and Noho. Thank you.

Dwell -- this may be **way* more than you are looking for, but I have been actively blogging about A.I.R. (and the different but related zoning issues) since the bombshell front-page NY Times article in Nov 2010 raised the visibility of A.I.R. enforcement to 11.

My first in the series reviewed that NYT article, the rules, the process, and some real world practical implications for different Soho loft stakeholders [ http://www.realtown.com/sandymattingly/blog/loft-neighborhoods-soho/did-the-ny-times-just-write-a-front-page-obituary-for-the-soho-real-estate-market/ ]

My Dec 17, 2010 post collected published real world examples of impact [ http://www.realtown.com/sandymattingly/blog/loft-neighborhoods-soho/did-the-ny-times-just-write-a-front-page-obituary-for-the-soho-real-estate-market/ ]

My June 8, 2011 post summarized a community meeting intended to organize around A.I.R. and zoning issues in Soho, at which many different viewpoints were stated (and summarized) [http://www.realtown.com/sandymattingly/blog/loft-neighborhoods-soho/political-response-to-soho-artist-or-zoning-problem/ ] Note that commenter ESchweninger is apparently involved in the organization that sponsored that meeting.

You will see in that last one links to other posts about the direction a potential solution might take (hint: *everyone* seems to agree that artists who rent deserve different protection, while people are very split about artist-owners) and offered a factual analysis of why (contra Janiney's comment) you really can't prove that A.I.R. depresses resale values.

Yes ... it's complicated

Figure it out and go for it. In 2003 i went to an open house in soho for a 2500sf white box for $1M. I was INexperienced in buying real estate at that time. I learned it was an AIR bldg and was intimidated by the process so didn't act fas. Figured I was a professional and no way would be approved. Some other professional guy like myself wasn't intimidated by the process. He bought the place for $1M. Moved in. Didn't change a thing. Put it on the market in '07 and sold it for $3M. The 2nd purchaser sat on it, didn't do a thing and resold it for $3.4M in '11.

Thanks SMattingly. No doubt, you are the Manhattan Loft Guy! Did a quick read, regs still seem like a mess, unnecessarily complicated and confusing. How's dealing with the Loft Board these days? In my experience, the LB made DHCR look like an efficient, quick & just regulatory agency.

The Loft Board's mandate is to determine whether loft buildings that are covered under the Loft Law are in compliance with Buildings Department codes. Artist Certification is a function of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The Loft Law refers once to "artists and others" living in lofts; subsequent references are to "tenants and occupants."
To get back the the beginning of this discussion----If a NoHo building does not have a certificate of occupancy, it is far more likely that the reason lies in an absence of sprinklers or other safety issue than in the occupations of the residents.

Thanks joandark. Makes more sense to have one agency deal with all loft matters like IMD & AIR. And, reading the Loft Board web site, sounds like it's still a mess.

all i can add (and I think it's a big one) is that I have heard that the building dept is now looking for the AIR certificate for the shareholder/tenant for construction permits. Which means that a lot of these bankers living in AIR soho/noho loft buildings can't do their million dollar renovations anymore! Does this make anyone else smile just a little?

Hmmmm, dmansfi, That's interesting. Can you share the address of the building or buildings where this happened? It would be really useful to know where in the DOB regs this is spelled out. Can you help?

Dwell: you're welcome. And no, I have not heard anything to make *me* worry about the Loft Board. My impression has always been that Loft Board has little role to play in a 'mature' loft area like Soho (unlike, say, Bushwick) and that DCA and DoB are the main bureaucratic players here. DCA acts like a Gatekeeper (who gets a certificate) while DoB can be an Executioner (what happens if you don't have one).

I, too, have heard *some* stories like dmansfi relates (I believe some are in the comments to one of my blog posts).

JoanDArk: not sure *if* there are DoB "regs" on point, except I have heard that there is a DoB checklist for reviewing permit applications. If you check the zoning box (M-1A or M-1B) the follow-up is something like "are certificates in place for all households?". Not every examiner follows this, or follows it every time, but that is the fear that I have heard. A "show me your papers" demand for the whole building.

Bet you a quarter that the "steering committee to rezone Soho and Noho" that ESchweninger is on (her comment, up thread) has been collecting these stories and details.

Loftguy and others, there are so many "ifs" and "I heards" here; I hope you are right that eschweniger has some documentation of this stuff. FWIW, as I understand it, there were originally about 900 interim multiple dwelling buildings in manhattan under Loft Board jurisdiction and at this point about 600 of them have obtained certificates of occupancy and the Loft Board is no longer involved.