In 2019, the New York City Council passed the Climate Mobilization Act, with Local Law 97 (LL97) as its centerpiece. The law requires most buildings over 25,000 square feet to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions limits starting in 2024, with even stricter limits in 2030.
The Co-op Dilemma
While commercial skyscrapers in Midtown have the capital to retrofit HVAC systems and wrap their facades in new glass, the residential co-ops of Queens, Brooklyn, and upper Manhattan are facing a crisis. A typical post-war brick building in Jackson Heights runs on a centralized boiler burning No. 2 heating oil or natural gas. Converting these buildings to electric heat pumps costs millions of dollars—money these buildings do not have.
The Penalty Math
The fine is $268 for every metric ton of CO2 equivalent above the building's limit. For a 100-unit co-op slightly over the 2024 limit, the fine might be $15,000 a year. But when the stricter 2030 limits hit, that same building faces fines exceeding $120,000 annually if they do not upgrade.
Special Assessments Incoming
To avoid the fines, co-op boards are levying massive special assessments on shareholders. A shareholder who bought a 1-bedroom apartment for $350,000 might suddenly face a $15,000 assessment payable over three years to fund a boiler replacement and window upgrades.
"We are being treated like we are Vornado or SL Green," said Maria Costas, a co-op board president in Forest Hills. "We are teachers and transit workers. We cannot afford to electrify a 1950s brick building."