Gov. Hochul’s executive order imposes a moratorium on permits and could reshape the land-use landscape. Key Points New York data center moratorium: An executive order suspended processing of discretionary permit applications for data centers consuming 50 MW or more while the Department of Public Service (DPS) prepares an environmental impact statement. Permitting, financing and litigation risks: The open-ended moratorium creates regulatory uncertainty for developers and lenders and adds to a growing wave of data center land-use litigation across multiple states. Community...

New York single-asset, single-borrower (SASB) loans account for 60% of private-label office commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan volume originated through August 4, 2026, while urban SASB loans carry substantially lower median debt yields than urban conduit loans. Private-label CMBS loans backed by office properties and originated from January 1, 2026, through August 4, 2026, totaled $18.3 billion across 91 whole loans. Among loans that remain outstanding and non-defeased, that volume was 25% higher than the comparable total for loans originated during...

What happened?  The New York City Council enacted Int. No. 972 on August 18, amending Section 11-1706 of the Administrative Code to reduce the Unincorporated Business Tax (UBT) credit available to city residents with taxable income of $1 million or more. Under the new provision, the credit phases down from 23% to 15% for city residents with taxable incomes between $1 million and $1.25 million, and is capped at 15% above $1.25 million. The law is retroactive to January 1, 2026. Why is...

Key Takeaways An appellate stay allows New York City to continue the pied-à-terre surcharge rollout while litigation over the implementation process remains unresolved. The surcharge targets qualifying non-primary residences, with exemption applications due Sept. 18, 2026, for owners who received city notices. Property owners and boards should preserve notices, document primary residence status and seek counsel when surcharge eligibility or property identification is uncertain. A New York State Supreme Court justice in Staten Island issued a temporary restraining order on...

New York’s New $40 Million Supercomputer Gives Researchers Across New York Access to World-Class AI Computing Power New York’s Empire AI Served as Model for New National Science Foundation To Build Out Regional AI Research Infrastructure. Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that Empire AI Beta is officially online, giving researchers at New York’s leading public and private universities access to the most powerful academic research computer in the country and marking a major milestone in New York’s effort to lead the...

As AI agents move from answering questions to executing purchases and arranging financing on their own—sometimes with limited real-time human oversight—the question of who is responsible when something goes wrong has started to draw regulatory attention. Speaking at the New York Federal Reserve's Innovation Conference on June 26, New York Department of Financial Services (the Department) acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow signaled that her agency is watching the rise of agentic commerce closely and is working through how its long-standing...