Mayor Oscar Goodman on Wednesday toned down his harsh words to developers with whom he is impatient, and the City Council granted two projects six more months of life on Wednesday.
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Club Renaissance and Sandhurst Development got the extensions on the approvals of their plans after telling the mayor they had no intention of "flipping" the land and were still searching for investors.
Club Renaissance is a 60-story, 950-unit project planned for Casino Center Boulevard at Bonneville Avenue.
Sandhurst Development has been saying that it will build a 35-story, 413-unit condominium tower on Iron Horse Court near Grand Central Parkway.
Goodman said he faced criticism after his harsher stance two weeks ago against continual postponements granted to those types of projects.
"I was criticized for sending the wrong message to developers, possibly scaring investors away," he said. "That's not what we're here for. It's to make sure projects are real."
Part of the land that Club Renaissance sits on is in foreclosure, Goodman said. But when one of the executives told him investors would stop talks if they thought entitlements were in jeopardy, Goodman granted him six months.
Sandhurst's "executive member," Michael Mirolla, blamed the delay on construction prices that jumped from $160 million to $200 million in two months. He said prices had leveled, in part because those who had been looking to flip land and make quick profits were getting out of the market, stabilizing construction costs.
