Andrea Gjini’s declare to fame is bittersweet: By his telling, he developed the primary 99-unit, 485x venture.
Why bittersweet? He’s happy with making the tax break work, however bristles on the distortions required to take action.
Gjini simply put up 166 items at 19 and 21 East 198th Road within the Fordham part of the Bronx, splitting the venture into two buildings to keep away from the 485x wage scale that kicks in at 100 items. State lawmakers included that provision on the request of development unions.
Requested what he would change first to enhance improvement in New York, he cited how 485x ends in inefficient, duplicative design.
“In the event that they push me to go chop my properties, they’re doubling the waste of time,” stated the 28-year-old Albanian immigrant, whose English phrasing has an endearing high quality. “It’s method simpler to construct one basis.”
The wage ground for bigger tasks begins at $40 an hour, which typically means hiring union contractors. At 150 items, the wage will be as excessive as $72, and the penalty for not complying can bankrupt a venture.
“If we construct 100 or extra items, you’re restricted to totally different contractors,” he stated. “If we go in that route, and pay these wages, the pencil just isn’t going to write down the best numbers and the deal goes to be liable to falling aside.”
Paying prevailing wage, he realized, wouldn’t work within the Bronx markets the place he builds. The rents that new buildings command are simply not excessive sufficient.
“I’m not saying to go in opposition to unions; they’re very skilled,” he stated. “I’d quite give a venture to them, however the Bronx can’t afford such massive bills.”
Shopping for on spec
The 28-year-old arrived from Albania simply eight years in the past and, coming from a household of builders, instantly set about turning into one himself. “To construct buildings is in my genetics,” he stated.
However fools rush in, because the saying goes, and Gjini made a seemingly reckless gamble in buying the East 198th Road web site in 2023, a yr earlier than 485x was created. With 421a having expired, no viable path existed for creating market-rate multifamily within the Bronx.
“We had been younger and dumb,” he laughed. “I’ve a lot vitality. I used to be 25. I purchased this property when there was no tax abatement in any respect. Everyone was considering that I’m loopy.”
The deal got here collectively by happenstance, as they generally do in New York. In 2022, Gjini was placing up two buildings on Crescent Avenue, one block away, when he was approached by certainly one of three Bangladeshi brothers who owned some single-family and two-family properties on East 198th Road.
The person stated they wished to promote 5 small buildings in a package deal deal. A 3rd proprietor was from Costa Rica, and a fourth was Albanian, like Gjini. It was a quintessential, mid-market New York actual property transaction. They agreed on a worth: $9.3 million.
Gjini was smarter than he lets on: He specified within the contract that the buildings needed to be vacant previous to closing. However he didn’t simply depend on the sellers to clear them out.
“It’s not simple to make 5 homes in a row,” Gjini stated. “It’s an actual problem nevertheless it was in my curiosity to work with them.”
The developer helped to relocate the tenants, discovering them new locations and even co-signing a few of their leases. “Some had credit score, some not,” he defined.
He made positive the relocated tenants, a mixture of younger households and senior residents, had been comfortable. “When you begin a journey with loads of hassle, that journey’s going to finish up in hassle,” he stated.
Pencils down
Gjini recalled when he broached the concept of constructing 99 items, pushing the no-wage-scale model of 485x to the restrict. It wasn’t initially clear that side-by-side buildings can be counted as separate tasks underneath the regulation, and development union leaders are nonetheless pushing for the wage ground to use to such tasks.
Gjini recalled, “My tax man was like, ‘Are you able to please say 98 [units]? As a result of when you say 99, they’ll ask questions.’”
Nobody asks questions any extra: The 99-unit venture has grow to be the go-to for multifamily builders.
A report launched Monday by the Actual Property Board of New York discovered 19 extra 99-unit tasks filed within the second quarter, and solely 9 bigger ones. These with 100 or extra are typically sponsored inexpensive housing developments that don’t require 485x to pencil out.
The July 2025 model of REBNY’s report documented the start of the 99-unit era, with 28 such buildings filed within the earlier 4 quarters — greater than twice as many as within the earlier 16 years mixed.
Gjini might need ushered within the 99-unit period, however the concept didn’t start with him. It had been predicted by the trade when state lawmakers authorized 485x, aka Reasonably priced Neighborhoods for New Yorkers, in April 2024, to exchange 421a, which expired in June 2022.
It’s one factor to make predictions. It’s one other to convey them to actuality, as Gjini did on East 198th Road. He favored the situation, with a grocery store throughout the road and Fordham College and the Bronx Zoo close by. He put in a completely automated laundromat on the bottom ground as a comfort for tenants and the group and to herald further income.
Twenty % of his flats are inexpensive at 80 % of the realm median earnings, and he expects rental vouchers to contribute loads of the constructing’s earnings. Funding got here from Kearny Financial institution and Northeast Neighborhood Financial institution.
He makes use of an in-house normal contractor, architect and property supervisor to maintain prices down, which he estimates saves 10 % to 12 %. One glitch was a month-long delay getting utilities linked; Gjini stated that price him $200,000.
His subsequent steps are to lease up the remaining market-rate items and refinance. Demand from renters thus far has been good.
“I’m fairly assured,” Gjini stated.
Learn extra
The developer bucking New York’s 99-unit trend
How 485x is distorting development and raising rents
The Daily Dirt: We got 99 problems with 485x
