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One month's free rent! Pets allowed! These are some of the new strategies from Tishman Speyer for its market-rate rentals at Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex. Which is a far cry from its past as a complex where building workers would be rewarded with $150 gift certificates if they narced on pet-owning tenants.
The Post reports Tishman Speyer, which bought the development for $5.4 billion in 2006, is facing 5-10% vacancy rates, while the average Manhattan vacancy is 2%. Tenants association head Alvin Doyle said, "They were trying to rent market-rate apartments for whatever the market would bear, and this is what they thought it was, and apparently it isn't there right now." However, a spokesman claims the vacancy rate was higher because some units were being renovated.
Still, Doyle tells the Post market-rate tenants have left because of double-digits rent increases. We spoke to a market-rate tenant whose one-bedroom rent went up $500 last year (a 15+% increase); she feels Tishman Speyer is "spending on silly stuff, like branding, and not enough on the facilities themselves." Well, those model apartments' decorations need to be paid somehow.
And the new pet policy allows tenants to bring in dogs under 90 pounds and cats for a $250 one-time fee - a steal in the scheme of things.
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Every landlord in Manhattan tries to charge the same "market" price for their apartments with little to no regard for differences in square footage, apartment condition, or building amenities. The only thing they do tend to consider is number of rooms. I'd like to see these recent renovations to see if they are anything more than another coat of paint on the walls and varnish on the floor.
huge surprise-- few people want to pay luxury rents ($3000+) for apartments in a middle class project. and even less people want to pay those rates when every blog in NYC has been publicizing tishman's 15-20% yearly rent increases.
the bigger story here is the lack of affordable middle income housing. all of those empty apartments could have and should have been rented for less.
To jake:
Exactly. Those apartments should've been rented as affordable middle-class housing. THE EXACT REASON WHY STUY-TOWN WAS CREATED.
note to potential renters...they are also offering a $500 referral bonus (amex gc card) if you know someone who lives in there already. it takes 4-6 weeks so i hope i get mine soon. The person who refers you too also gets a $500 amex gift cert. card.
They look exceedingly unglamorous. It's too bad cause if they weren't bought buy TS they would have probably remained one of the last middle class neighborhoods in Manhattan.
Jake and Papercutninja pretty much already nailed it. Stuy Town isn't brand new luxury property, it's decent affordable housing. Cut the price down to a reasonable amount and they won't have this problem.
Whoop-de-damn-do. $2,750 for a 1 bedroom apartment is nothing special. Spending that much on rent if you're middle class is absolutely moronic.
Does the average income in this city make $2,750 for a 1 BR an affordable rent, or do people just like throwing their money away?
Yeah I think the people who could afford $2750 for a one bedroom probably don't want to live there in not the loveliest of nabes and not that close to any trains.
For $3000 a month I'm going to live in Manhattan, or a nicer part of Brooklyn for half that much for as much space. $3000 a month is more than Williamsburg rent.
Still, Doyle tells the Post market-rate tenants have left because of double-digits rent increases.
Well, whadya know. Some greedy bastard thought that owning Manhattan real estate was like having a license to print money. He thought that people would pay any damn rent he wanted to charge.
He thought wrong.
Awesome! I hope this is a sign of better things to come.
Hey rcltrh - Stuyvesant Town is in Manhattan. Why do you think the world needs to hear your opinion about where you would prefer to live when you obviously haven't been here long enough to know much of anything?
ha- that $500 bonus will evaporate Like That! after your first market-rate rent increase, and you will pay and pay and pay after that.
A recent NY Times article claims maybe up to 30% of all coop apartments in Manhattan are second or third homes for very affluent people. The very high demand and extremely limited supply dooms Manhattan middle-class housing.
It's not greed; it's economics. Deal with it.
"spokesman claims the vacancy rate was higher because some units were being renovated"
Ha! According to this market rate poster (hoffj79) at the ST-PCV tenants association website, "his/her April 2007 rent in PCV was raised to $3125/mo for a 1 year lease. (It was$3350/mo for a 2 year.) Link: http://www.stpcvta.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=847
We live in ST. Our market rate neighbor is moving out with her 2 kids after having lived here for 7 years because TS wouldn't negotiate down her 15% rent increase ($4200/mo for a 1 year lease) that she told them she couldn't afford. TSD recommended that she look into a 1 bedroom.
The vacancy rate is due to overly high rent increases. Our landlord does not appear familiar with the laws of supply and demand.
Hureharehure, I think rcltrh was responding to the suggestion that one should look into living in Williamsburg for that amount of money.
It's amazing to me that because of jackholes like this TS character - the middle-class are one rent increase away from either being homeless or being forced to move out of the freaking city/state. 15-20% rent increase? "...market-rate rentals..." - is that a joke? Its abhorrent.
I can only hope that the vacancy rate in Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex increases - as well as any other buildings whose owners are pushing out, what it really comes down to, is the heart of NYC, the "character(s) of NYC - replacing them with the ever changing trendy psuedo-everything, character-deprived pukes whose parents can actually afford that kind of obnoxious rent.
perhaps this will make politicians take notice,
this place should of stayed middle income housing the way it was intended like JD noted.
Ummm, NO, JMH, rcltrh was really rather clear. They OBVIOUSLY think that StuyTown is in Bed Stuy ("For $3000 a month I'm going to live in Manhattan, or a nicer part of Brooklyn for half that much for as much space. $3000 a month is more than Williamsburg rent.") Sheesh. Learn how to read people!!
Also, in the "learn how to read" category, @GENTRIFIER, Al Doyle, whom you scold for being greedy, etc., is the head of the Tenant's Association. READ MORE CAREFULLY!!! It's Tishman who's hemorrhaging tenants due to their voracious myopia. It's TISHMAN who you thought could "print money." Al Doyle is a middle class working guy who volunteers enormous amounts of his time to protect and encourage middle class housing. Before everyone rushes to judge based on their 5th grade reading comprehension skills, try slowing down... sound the words out carefully... there... finally--COMPREHENSION!!! Whadda difference. (/rant)
Basically, this simply means that they are sick of going to court over pets. The NY Pet Laws are fairly clear that if oine has lived openly & notoriously with (said) pet, for 90 days that (said) pet gets grandfathered in (aka: a pass). This is THE LAW for rent stabilized housing. Previously, Met Life counted on intimidating most of the pet owners by the threat of $$$ spent and losing their homes. If folks didn't back down (or give away their pet) they usually won!! TS obviously doesn't want to piss away $$$ only to lose in court. I say tough noogies to them!!
I hope, only, that the newly liberated pet owners are clean and responsible. Repeat poopers should be subject to the CITY LAWS, not the haphazard, clueless and inconsistent penalties likely to be meted out by TS. Scofflaws (of the poop-variety) make the city nasty for EVERYONE!! THis is NOT just (going to be) a StuyTown phenomena.
It's Tishman who's hemorrhaging tenants due to their voracious myopia. It's TISHMAN who you thought could "print money."
Yes, I understand that. I was, in fact, referring to Tishman, not Doyle.
Sorry if I didn't make that clear to you.
Yeah, I used to live there in PCV. It was nice enough for the fairly cheap rent when we first moved in. It was a big 1-bed with a gorgeous ESB view. The next year they jacked us up $500 a month, but rents were so expensive everywhere we just stuck it out. Then a new condo went up across the street, destroying the view. A few months later, they raised our rent another $500 a month (or $700 a month if we signed a 2-year lease!) and we were outta there so fast TS didn't know what hit 'em. Our former neighbor informs us our apartment is still empty. That would be because nobody is desperate enough to pay $3500 for a 1-bed on 1st ave in Stuy Town anymore.
I think this is just a brilliant plan by TS to make most of the buildings EMPTY. Why? In order to tear them down.
I hope they succeed! Hell, I'm lower middle class (I only make $75k before taxes) and I do fine without having to live in ugly buildings and not being on rent control and rent stabliziation.
The place looks like the upscale projects. The people who can afford $2750 a month are definitely NOT living in Peter Cooper Village.
lots of apts in there are rented to NYU students
the average annual rent increase in nyc, not just ST, is out of control. for those who can no longer afford their current place, having to pay a broker thousands of dollars for printing out a few listings is absolutely ridiculous. it's getting harder and harder to justify living in the city for the middle class. i agree no property should be charging more than $3000 for a non-luxury 1br. but the harsh reality is that it's happening. and TS wants a piece of the action.
i just moved into ST at the end of december. having looked at everything on the market below 23rd st, it seemed like the most logical choice. for the size and new apps/kitchen/bath, the rent is sadly a bargain compared to all the shitholes and 400-sf luxury studios in the $3000 range. this isn't a shill, as i find the ST projects horrific and soulless. i doubt i'll stay if they jack up the rent even by 5%. brooklyn, here i come. i hear it's still somewhat affordable for the hard-working middle class.
36k a year. on rent. what a joke. my college tuition wasn't that much.
The joint will always look like "alphaville" or
some large state mental institution of the 1950's.
What you reap is what you sow ,but they do have a
gym now for the younger in debt tenants of
Gen X.
I like my walk up where the tenants all
know each other and the smell of the food cooking
tells yah what someone is eating ,the same folks
that you chatted with on the stoop earlier that
afternoon.
Yah, rent is more like 4,000 for a one bedroom. Check out http://stuytownluxliving.com for fun commentary on living in stuytown. Seems like they are having a lot of issues. I hope they start realizing how ridiculous they are with their rent.