Neighbors ask NY Supreme Court to block Irondequoit apartment project:
https://rbj.net/2024/01/04/neighbors...tment-project/
"Residents of an Irondequoit neighborhood are attempting to block the creation of upscale apartments, less than a month after developer 43 North thought the final regulatory hurdle had been cleared for renovation of the St. Thomas Catholic School.
A group named Friends of St. Thomas the Apostle, along with 14 residents from neighborhood near the school, filed a petition in state Supreme Court in Monroe County on Wednesday, asking that a ruling by the town of Irondequoit Zoning Board of Appeals be overturned.
The lawsuit contends that the zoning board of appeals violated law and procedure when it voted on Dec. 11 to allow a variance for a multifamily dwelling in an area around St. Paul Boulevard and Colebrook Drive. The area had been zoned only for single-family residential, schools and churches.
The petition, filed by Mindy and Jacob Zoghlin of The Zoghlin Group PLLC, contends the variance “must be annulled and vacated because it was affected by errors of law, was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and unsupported by the administrative record.”
The dispute involves plans by developer Joel Barrett of 43 North Real Estate to buy St. Thomas School and convert it into a maximum of 25 “luxury, market-rate apartments” along with limited mixed-used commercial space.
The Kateri Tekakwitha Parish closed the school in 1992 because of declining enrollment. The facility was leased by Stepping Stones Learning Center between 1994 and 2014, when the business closed.
Since then the building has fallen into disrepair, both from abandonment neglect and vandalism. Church leaders said repairs would be cost prohibitive.
But Friends of St. Thomas alleges in its petition that the church’s decision to turn off heat in the building as a cost-saving measure contributed to many of the issues. The group contends that self-inflicted damage shouldn’t provide the basis for a zoning variance.
“The property owner caused the property to fall into a state of disrepair and cannot benefit from its own malfeasance or negligence,” the petition states.
The petitioners also allege that no “unnecessary hardship” exists for the property owner if a variance is not granted. Proving hardship is another requirement if a variance is to be granted.
But Barrett, in his written application to the zoning board, said that allowing conversion of the property to a multifamily apartment building “is the minimum relief necessary to make the property financially feasible for redevelopment,” and that in doing so, “the project will preserve and protect the character of the neighborhood.”
The petitioners, however, allege the issues with the building existed before 43 North entered into a contract to buy the property, and that the church caused those issues by turning off utilities.
Those matters were pointed out at the zoning board meeting, the petition says, but that board members “voted to excuse the applicant from meeting its legal obligation to establish that any hardship was not self-created, which is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion as a matter of law.”
The petition asks the court to annul the variance and award legal costs.
43 North specializes in adaptive reuse. Among the firm’s projects: Conversion of the old Rochester City Hall building at the corner of West Broad Street and Fitzhugh Street into The Rockford, a mix of residential and commercial spaces; and turning a former optics manufacturing site in Fairport into the Banks of Roselawn West, featuring residential and commercial spaces."
Li-Cycle says it will ‘cure deficiency’ after warning from NYSE:
https://rbj.net/2024/01/02/li-cycle-...ing-from-nyse/
"Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., the financially troubled lithium-ion battery resource recovery company, has been placed on notice for non-compliance with listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange.
A written notice from the NYSE was issued after the average closing price of Li-Cycle’s stock fell below $1.00 over a consecutive 30-day trading period.
In response, Li-Cycle “has advised the NYSE of its intention to cure the deficiency and is considering all available options in this regard,” the Toronto-based company said in a news release.
Li-Cycle’s stock plummeted to all-time lows over the past two months, following the Oct. 23 announcement that construction on the Rochester Hub was being halted due to a doubling of the project cost. The initial price tag of $485 million price rose to $560 million over the summer, but now has ballooned to between $850 million and $1 billion, the company said.
The Rochester Hub is a major component of Li-Cycle’s business model but is now on hold until global investment bank Moelis & Co. LLC completes its evaluation of the Toronto-based company and provides advice on financing and strategic alternatives.
After closing at $6.03 on July 31, the stock price began a steady decline over the next three months. When the construction pause was announced, the price fell from $2.27 to $1.23, hasn’t been above $0.88 since Nov. 14 and closed 2023 at $0.58, matching its lowest price ever.
Under NYSE rules, Li-Cycle has six months to bring its average closing share price to at least $1 over the prior 30-day trading period or the stock may be removed from listing.
First listed on the NYSE in November of 2020, Li-Cycle stock reached a high-water mark of $13.84 on Nov. 19, 2021. Several national law firms have joined a class action suit by investors, who allege company management made misleading statements regarding construction of the Rochester Hub and the company’s operations.
In a news release, the company said the notice “has no immediate effect on the listing of the company’s common shares on the NYSE, subject to the company’s compliance with the NYSE’s other continued listing requirements, and does not affect Li-Cycle’s ongoing business operations or its reporting obligations under the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Ontario Securities Commission.”
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