07/31/2025
INTERESTING!!!
New York homebuilder, sick of regulations, buys land in Tennessee
Marini Robert Marini Homes
New York's all-electric mandate prompts homebuilder Robert Marini Jr. to shift focus.
Marini purchases 12 lots in Knoxville, Tennessee, for new construction.
New York's ban on gas hookups starts December 31, 2025.
Robert Marini Jr. builds dozens of homes a year in Saratoga and Albany County, but New York's all-electric mandate is putting his homebuilding plans in upstate New York on hold.
Instead, he's shifting his focus to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he's purchased 12 lots. Construction is expected to start there in January.
Marini said he's getting ahead of what he says will be a massive building slowdown next year as New York will require new homes to be built all-electric, without gas stoves, gas fireplaces or gas-powered boilers.
"The goose is cooked. They sealed the fate of homebuilding companies in New York. You’ll see a lot of them go out of business," Marini said. "Why would a buyer come to Bob Marini or Pete Belmonte or Michaels Group or anyone else, sign up to buy a house that’s all-electric with no natural gas, and pay $15,000 more for the house than they would for a [resale] house with natural gas."
New York will require newly-constructed buildings be fully powered by electricity as a result of a vote last week that changed the state's building code.
The move bans natural gas hookups in new-construction single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings. The ban initially applies to buildings up to seven stories high where a "substantially complete building permit application" is submitted on or after December 31, 2025 (with certain exemptions).
The ban doesn't apply to existing buildings nor the repair, alteration, addition or change of occupancy or use of those buildings. It doesn't apply to equipment, such as gas stoves, in existing homes and commercial buildings.
The plan is part of the “all-electric” movement to stop development of buildings that consume fossil fuels, one of the causes of global warming, and promote cleaner electric power.
When Marini first heard of this plan several years ago, he started to look at other cities across the country that were similar to Albany, but with more favorable regulations.
"I knew what could happen if it was passed. My grandfather started building houses in 1947, I was not going to sit by and watch this whole [business] go up," Marini said. "I started looking around and decided Knoxville was good market."
Marini said Knoxville isn't dominated by national homebuilders. The Metropolitan Statistical Area is about the same as Albany. And Knoxville has the University of Tennessee and a lot of manufacturing jobs, so Marini said it's "recession proof."
"It's a destination market for retirees, there's been an influx of people looking to retire," Marini said. "Plans that work in Albany work in Knoxville, I don’t need new designs to build houses there."
He expects the development costs to be roughly the same, but the taxes are much more favorable in Tennessee, which has no state income tax and low property taxes — a $700,000 home costs roughly $2,000 in property taxes in Knoxville versus around $15,000 in annual taxes in Albany region.
"I'll continue to build apartments in New York, if they make sense, but they don’t pencil out well anymore because cost of construction and interest rates," he added.
Marini estimates that in 2026, about 75% of their business will be in New York, finishing homes in two neighborhoods, Pinebrook Hills and Summit Ridge in Halfmoon, where the average price is around $715,000. But by 2027, the majority of their home building business will likely be in Knoxville.
"I didn’t want to leave New York, it’s a place where we’ve done business for so long. I can't believe someone is going to buy a house for $700,000 that’s all electric. No gas fireplaces, no gas firepits, no gas stoves," Marini said. "By the middle of ’27 the game is going to change so drastically you'll see fewer homebuilders, fewer homes being built."
