I don’t know if I’d go as far as real estate reporter Matt Chaban does in describing Aron Namenwirth of Williamsburg, who says the rezoning (and subsequent development and higher rents and taxes) of his neighborhood is forcing him out of his Williamsburg loft.
But Chaban does point to an under-reported angle in one of Bloomberg’s signature issues, the massive rezonings that have reshaped the city during his tenure:
Namenwirth’s taxes have more than doubled since 1998, according to the paper, from $12,000 to $26,000. The artist clearly wants to stay, and he places a good deal of blame on the Bloomberg administration, both for the rezoning and not allowing him to open a restaurant in the ground floor.
Yet, should he decide to sell, Namewirth will likely get many, many times what he paid for his redbrick box, which was a measily $48,000 according to city records, so how bummed can he really be? He’s gone from starving artist to real estate mogul.
