Industrial And Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP)

CAP legislation that expired on March 1, 2011 was extended on May 18, 2011 and remains in effect until March 1, 2015.

Please note: The Industrial and Commercial Exemption Program (ICIP) ended in 2008 and was replaced with ICAP. Previously approved ICIP benefits were not affected. Applicants that successfully submitted their preliminary application within the ICIP timeframe can use the combined Final ICIP/ICAP application which you can link to on this page.

Otherwise, all documents and information below are in reference to ICAP unless specifically noted.

ICAP provides abatements for real property taxes for varying periods up to 25 years. Eligible industrial and commercial buildings must be built, modernized, expanded, or otherwise physically improved.

One of the most important things to note regarding the application process for an ICAP benefit is that the final application must be filed no later than one year after the effective date of eligibility. The effective date of eligibility is the date of the first building permit that allowed construction to proceed, or if no permit is required, no later than one year from the date that construction started. Construction does not need to be complete to submit a final application, so there are no exceptions. If a final application is submitted after one year, the application will be automatically denied.

Source: NYC Finance

Westchester's Housing Efforts Faulted in Lawsuit

A New York City nonprofit housing group on Tuesday asked a district court in Manhattan to step in and enforce a 2009 consent decree that settled a lawsuit over Westchester County's alleged failure to enforce federal fair-housing laws.

The Anti-Discrimination Center—which as part of the 2009 settlement received $7.5 million from the county and was subsequently dismissed from overseeing the settlement's implementation—now wants to jump back in the fray.

It claims Westchester County is skirting its obligations to enforce fair-housing laws, pointing to missed deadlines and a failure to provide sufficient planning documents. (Read more...)

Budget Threatens 'Affordable' Goal

The Bloomberg administration is proposing to cut $285 million from its housing department's capital budget, raising questions over whether the city will be able to meet the goals of a signature program to create or preserve 165,000 "affordable" units by 2014.

The initiative has been one of the more ambitious and costly of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure. If the cut is finalized, the overall cost would be reduced to about $8.2 billion from $8.5 billion.

[ Read full story...]

Rent or Buy, a Matter of Lifestyle

Real estate agents across the country are aggressively making the case that now is a good time to buy a house. Mortgage rates are near record lows and will probably rise in coming years. Home prices may not be done falling, but they probably don’t have much further to go in most places either. Rents, on the other hand, seem set to increase, thanks to low vacancy rates.

“Renters beware,” warned a newsletter that I recently received from a real estate agents’ group.
Individually, each of these points is unobjectionable. But it’s important to remember the source. Real estate agents, like mortgage brokers and home builders, have a big financial stake in persuading people to buy homes. That’s why many agents are always pushing home buying, whatever the rationale of the moment happens to be. [Continue Reading]

Federal Retreat on Bigger Loans Rattles Housing

MONTEREY, Calif. — By summer’s end, buyers and sellers in some of the country’s most upscale housing markets are slated to lose one their biggest benefactors: the deep pockets of the federal government. In this seaside community of pricey homes, the dread of yet another housing shock is already spreading. [ Read More]

Life In A Landmark: Pioneering Public Housing Site Shows Its Age

First-generation New Yorkers are more likely to reside in rent-regulated housing than the rest of us. So as Albany weighs weakening or strengthening rent rules, some immigrants are raising their voices.

Read more...

Multigenerational Housing Is a Real Estate Growth Niche

Taylor Morrison, a housing developer based in Arizona, was set to break ground on a 304-unit condominium development in Sunnyvale, near San Jose, when the bottom fell out of the housing market in 2007.


The company went back to the drawing board, and last month it gained approval for a drastically different plan: a town house project aimed at extended families, where children, parents and grandparents can all live comfortably under one roof.

Such multigenerational housing is specifically aimed at the booming immigrant population in the Bay Area, and is emerging as one of the few growth niches in a moribund housing market.

(Full Story,,,,)