The New York State Assembly passed a bill Tuesday that would stop ground rent costs from climbing for lower and middle income residents of Battery Park City, sending the measure to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk after the State Senate signed off in April. If she signs it, thousands of downtown households would freeze one of the fastest growing pieces of their housing bill, as first reported by The Broadsheet.
In Battery Park City, landlords and developers do not own the ground under their buildings. They lease it, currently through June 2069, from the Battery Park City Authority, a state agency, and pay the authority yearly ground rent in return. Those payments get bundled into common charges for condo owners and folded into monthly rent for tenants. The bill would require the authority to rebate the portion of housing costs that comes from increases in that ground rent. Because the authority is a state entity, the whole thing runs through Albany rather than City Hall.
The relief is means tested. It covers renters in units designated as affordable and condo owners who earn less than 150 percent of area median income, a federal benchmark set each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Right now that ceiling is $170,100 for a one-person household and runs up to $262,500 for a household of as many as five people.
The Broadsheet’s analysis of U.S. Census data put real numbers on who that reaches. In the 10280 zip code in southern Battery Park City, 38 percent of condo units and 35 percent of rental households fall below that 150 percent line, which works out to a little more than 500 condos and roughly 1,000 rental households. In the 10282 zip code to the north, about 240 condos and slightly more than 400 rental units would potentially qualify.
The bill does not cut anyone’s current ground rent. It freezes the eligible residents’ exposure to future increases, not the bill they already pay.
Assembly member Charles Fall, who represents Battery Park City and part of the Financial District and serves as the chamber’s Deputy Majority Leader, was the lead sponsor in the lower house. “For years, Battery Park City residents have raised legitimate concerns about the burden of rising ground rents and the impact those costs have on families, seniors, and working New Yorkers,” Fall said. “At a time when affordability remains one of the greatest challenges facing our city, we have a responsibility to pursue solutions that help people stay in the communities they call home.”
“This bill is about providing meaningful relief to homeowners and renters who have faced growing financial pressure despite years of investment in their neighborhood,” he continued. “For many residents, this is about stability, security, and the ability to remain in the community they love.”
Assembly member Grace Lee, who co-sponsored the Assembly version, framed it as a hedge against displacement. “As costs continue to rise across New York City, we need to do everything we can to keep people in the neighborhoods they call home,” Lee said. “This legislation will help protect affordability in Battery Park City and ensure that families, seniors, and longtime residents aren’t priced out of their community.”
State Senator Brian Kavanagh carried the measure in the Senate, where he had passed it twice before only to watch it die in the Assembly. This time he credited Fall and Lee with “playing a huge role in persuading their colleagues and the leadership in the Assembly to get this done. Their collaboration made all the difference.”
“The principle here is that when lower and middle income people are living on land owned by the State, it is not unreasonable for government to decline to collect the full value of market-rate increases,” Kavanagh said. “So the intent of this law is effectively to freeze the contribution of eligible residents on the portion of their housing costs that is attributable to ground rent.”
The cost to the authority, by Kavanagh’s account, is small next to its balance sheet. The Battery Park City Authority collected more than $58 million in ground rent in 2025 on overall revenue of $389 million. Kavanagh predicted the protection “will be a modest cost” and projected that “within several years, the protection offered by this bill is likely to total about $1 million for all eligible residents, and then keep growing from there.”
The Battery Park City Homeowner’s Coalition pushed all three legislators to move the bill. Its president, Justine Cuccia, called the vote a partial win worth banking. “This bill is a small but significant step in the right direction. It won’t help everybody, but it will help many, and the people it helps will be those who need it most,” Cuccia said. “After years of trying, Brian Kavanagh, Charles Fall, and Grace Lee have succeeded in getting this bill to the Governor’s desk. But the work isn’t done. We need Governor Hochul to hear from every resident in Battery Park City that she must sign this bill.”
Kavanagh made the same pitch. “People should organize, and residents should contact the Governor’s office to voice their support,” he said. Hochul’s office can be reached at 518-474-8390.
