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After many years of litigation and accusations, the fight over the transformation of an 11,000 square-foot East 3rd Street 15-unit, rent-stabilized tenement into a single-use mansion has been settled, according to our sources. Earlier today, the two sides--the landlords, who want all 11,000 square feet for their family, and the tenants, may of whom lived there for decades--headed to court. The tenants believe the Economakis family will not use the space for themselves and will actually flip the building for millions or rent it out at market rates, but Alistair Economakis insists he just wants to "unify the space" for his family (see how it's not unified here). No word on what the remaining tenants settled for yet.
East Village Tenement-Mansion Dispute Settled
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No N/W trains between Queensboro and Ditmars as of 8:15.
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smells funny.
Its his building, he should be able to do what he wants with it, sucks to have to move but oh well this is new york city -- everything is temporary.
Louis
Let him make his family space and get rid of all the dead beat shits that live there and then let him sell the place. What's the problem here?
notably lacking from this article is the outcome (or lack thereof) of said court hearing.
whoops, misread.
The Economakis family is not welcome in our community.
"many of whom have lived there for years"..don't you mean "rented there for years"...
i refuse to believe that Alistair Economakis is not some character out of a Philip K. Dick novel.
A lot of landlord-loving newbies to the city need an attitude adjustment.
With the Dems in power in NYS, watch the tenant lobby get a boost in the arm. Landlords and their lackies on Gothamist are running scared.
I own, but I LOVE rent stabilization laws. Keeps the rich or the foolish frustrated at having to paying market rates.
He should buy that cool ass mansion in the Village that was a women's drawing/painting club or whatever.
If we don't support tenants rights where will the cops, firemen,EMT's, teachers, sanitation folks, bartenders and hookers live? Everyone wants services, but no one is willing to make a sacrifice to support these people and it's disgusting.
Where's that Nanny? I am always on the lookout for a mansion in the Village if it's reasonably priced.
Emily. Most cops, firemen, EMT's (not teachers and the rest of the list) live outside of the city. I bet the ratio is three out of five.
#9 THEFACTS, I have news for you. You're one of the rich!
@thefacts: I think I love you. Go Senate Dems!! Repeal the Urstadt law and return tenants' "home rule" to New York City. The Upstaters have no clue regarding our housing crunch (we've less than 1% vacancy).
ALL tenants deserve rights & access to affordable housing. The pioneers who MADE this a neighborhood; settled and stabilized it, also deserve some considerations. This is the HOME that they've made. A stable, less transient community is absolutely safer, better for local businesses, thus more desirable and real.
ALL tenants should have an opportunity for a lease renewal; and not be subject to arbitrary (15%-30%) annual rent hikes (who gets annual raises like this?!?). You should have more than 30 days to decide, and possibly pack, locate a place, and then move out & in. Rent stabilized tenants have 90 days; in this market, that's more fair. Plus (and this is weird): building ONLY luxury housing forces adults to require roommates. Why must Manhattan evolve into a village of full service dorms (not homes!)? It's a city, not a campus.
As emilydickinson wisely points out, on an island of only the very rich & the very poor (read: HUD housing), the service personnel is FORCED out. Why must they commute 2 hours for a (barely) livable wage? Why can't they live closer to their jobs & the communities that they serve? With our dwindling affordable housing stock (under 8% in all 5 boroughs!!), where's the social worker to live? The non-profit employee? The EMT? The teacher? The dancer? The cellist? Why must all the local color be forced only to the edges? How dull.
Perhaps, someday, there'll even be a reconsideration of the commercial real estate laws, too. As the Mom & Pops continue to disappear, priced out and replaced by chains, our city becomes no more than a shiny, super-crowded, vertical suburb. Real New Yorkers prefer a real New York.
those of you that believe the tenants are in the wrong..... I would like to beat you
Econo - what the fuck? Really? you can't write this shit.
Though you did.
smacky, you might have to come after me.
I'm not yet convinced that the current laws and tenant protections we have on the books are lawful. I don't believe in creating artificial communities and NYC does very well in part due to its good transportation systems. I don't see why someone needs to subsidize the cello player or the EMT or the teacher. They have all chosen what they wanted to do, just because it's a more "noble" profession than a dentist or jewelrey store owner in your eyes, does not afford them the right to be subsidized. It's a Joe the Plumber argument - instead of 'real' Americans, you're making up who 'real' New Yorkers are.
On the other hand, I support zoning wholeheartedly.
Yeah, Ecowhatshisname has the right to buy the building, kick 15 tenants/families out and build an entirely ostentatious mansion in Manhattan. But it still makes him a heartless asshole. How do these people sleep at night?
The building was sold-move out already...
Curbed has the numbers:
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/11/11/lengthy_tenement_battle_settled_as_residents_take_buyout.php
"Each tenant will receive $75,000, except for one elderly tenant who will get $175,000"
Oh, but I do have a question. Does anyone know if that $75,000 is taxed?
Of course it is.
if you want to make a big one family mansion, then you shouldn't be able to buy a rent stabilized or controlled building. Buy a regular building. You won't get it for 900,000 dollars, but oh well.