Results tagged “rent”

In the market for an arch? Who isn't. And now the historic Seaman-Drake arch at 5035 Broadway in Inwood is for rent. The Manhattan Times reports that the marble arch has been partially buried behind storefronts, but it was once the gateway to a hilltop estate owned by the well-to-do Seaman then Drake families in the 19th Century. The Inwood Journal provides some more history:

In an apparent first, six women posed as victims of domestic violence in order to jump to the top of the wait-list for government subsidized apartments, officials say. Over 127,000 families are on the New York City Housing Authority’s waiting list for Section 8 vouchers, which can be worth thousands of dollars a year. Qualifying tenants who get the vouchers pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income toward the rent, and the government picks up the rest. And these women, who were all arrested over a period of four months, almost got away with it!

Hey, speaking of decreasing affordable housing stock: Rent-stabilized tenants in the recently re-branded Flatbush Gardens complex — a massive 59-building development in East Flatbush once known as the Vanderveer Estates — claim the owner of the property has intentionally shirked on repairs in an effort to push out long-time residents and replace them with market-rate renters. "You call, but they never come to fix anything," one tenant told the Daily News. "But when someone moves out, they renovate everything."

Mayor Bloomberg's $7.5 billion plan to build or preserve city-financed residences for low-, moderate-, and middle-income families has constructed and protected 94,000 units over the past seven years — but over the same period the city's richest man has been unable to prevent rents from skyrocketing on some 200,000 other "affordable" units.

Very recently Thor Equities' Joe Sitt shut down Dreamland, Coney Island’s biggest amusement park, after a rent dispute with the park’s operator Anthony Raffaelle. Sure, half a million dollars is nothing to scoff at, but the summering masses want their amusements! So Councilman Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. has stepped in, and his intervening has gotten the padlocks taken off the site. In a statement we received this afternoon, he says, “Dreamland provided jobs to the community and was a big attraction for visitors. After discussing the issue with Thor, they agreed to reopen for the Labor Day weekend. I would like to thank Thor recognizing the importance of Dreamland in Coney Island. Thor and the site’s operator have agreed to work out their rent issues in the coming weeks." Upon the closure, Raffaelle had told NY1, "First of all they came down here, they quadrupled everybody's rent in Coney Island. Nobody in Coney Island can pay their rent now."

The recent eviction of Pasang Sherpa—the hot dog vendor who was booted from outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art after refusing to pay the full $643,000 a year rent to the Parks Department—got us thinking: Why didn't we major in hot dog vending? The previous permit holder outside the museum paid $415,000 annually and didn't go under, so one imagines there's a tidy profit to be made there or other tourist magnets around town. But street vendor advocacy groups tell Slate that selling dogs isn't as glamorous as it might seem, and most food vendors make just $14,000 to $16,000 a year after they've paid for permits (and, inevitably, a few tickets). Vendors on city streets (not the ones at or near park areas) pay $200 a year for the permit, but the city caps the number of permits at 3,100, creating an extensive black market. Some unscrupulous companies buy up permits for dozens of carts and then lease them to individual vendors at highly inflated prices. And now there are these fancy new food trucks horning in! Kenny Lao, an owner of the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, says his life was threatened by other vendors he opened flast year, telling the Times, "The old vendors are edgy."

Despite a lawsuit from landlords and building owners, the NY Times reports, "New York City’s tenant antiharassment law, which gave renters the right to sue their landlords in Housing Court for using threats or other disruptive tactics to try to force them out, was upheld in a State Supreme Court ruling filed Wednesday." Tenants' groups said landlords in gentrifying neighborhoods would use harassment tactics to push tenants out, but landlords, in their lawsuit, claimed it was impossible for city inspectors to determine whether harassment occurred. And speaking of landlords, the city's New York City Housing Authority overcharged tenants—thanks to a computer error—and threatened them with eviction! The Legal Aid Society said of the city's oops, "This is a population that, if they’re evicted from the Housing Authority, will enter the shelter system. The Housing Authority should have systems in place to protect these families, rather than subjecting them to the risk of eviction and homelessness."

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to raise rents for rent-stabilized apartments: 3% for one-year leases and 6% for two-year leases. NY1 reports, "For tenants who have lived in their building for six or more years, the increase will be either $30 or $60, whichever is more."

Ugh, with the financial crisis totally shredding mommy and daddy's investment portfolio, many young adults in Hipsterland are being forced to find jobs. Times reporter Christine Haughney talked to some landlords and people in the real estate industry, who confirm the tragic trend: parents are cutting back on their contributions to rent and apartment down payments, in some cases eliminating their support entirely. Landlord Ernie DiGiacomo says that instead of getting checks from his tenants' parents, some of them are moving back in with their parents!

Owing $158,000 in back rent to a formidable landlord—Columbia University—independent book store Morningside Bookshop will close tomorrow. Owner Peter Soter, who opened the bookshop on Broadway & West 114th five years ago, told the Columbia Spectator earlier this month that while Columbia was "very supportive, and very helpful," he just couldn't make enough money to stay open. Soter put up a letter to the community in the window: "We wanted to be the little bookstore that could. We couldn't." The NY Times chronicles the farewells the bookshop has been receiving, plus some of the economic realities. Some residents feel Columbia could have done more, some have offered a total of $68,000 in "unsolicited donations" to keep the store open. One teacher said, "One of the reasons I lived on the Upper West Side is that it has a sense of being a vital neighborhood. A neighborhood bookstore becomes part of you. I love that bookstore. It’s not like losing a finger. It’s like losing an arm."

After the city recently started charging rent to the working homeless residing in shelters, questions and criticism soon followed. Now, the NY Times reports, "The Bloomberg administration has stopped charging rent to homeless people who have income and live in city shelters, temporarily suspending a state-mandated program that has been marked by mismanagement and the threat of a lawsuit." The city started collecting rent because of a 1997 state law that hadn't been enforced; recently, the state asked the city to enforce it and pay back $2.4 million in homeless aid. Apparently there were "technical issues" (some notices had errors in how much rent was owed, some notices weren't sent to other families) and the city still hopes to have some sort of rent program. Still, some homeless residents said they were being charged more than 50% of their income (which isn't allowed), they weren't even notified and that this prevents them for saving up to move out of the shelter one day. The Legal Aid Society, which threatened to sue, said, "We would hope that the entire concept would be re-evaluated."

Yesterday, the NY Times revealed that the "Bloomberg administration has quietly begun charging rent to homeless families who live in publicly run shelters but have income from jobs." The city was apparently starting to make good on a 1997 state law—and the state wants the city to pay back $2.4 million in homeless aid. If families do not pay, they could be forced out of shelters. However, advocates for the homeless (already critical of the city's efforts to stop giving homeless families priority for federal housing vouchers) suggest that the homeless and city would be better served if the homeless could save up towards getting a place of their own. One woman, told she needs to pay $336/month rent from her $840/month income told the Times, "I pay my baby sitter, I buy diapers, and I’m trying to save money so I can get out of here. I don’t want to be in the shelter forever." In response to the article, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Everybody else is doing it, and we're told we have to do it, so we're going to do it." Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said, "If this is a state requirement, New York City should be taking the lead in getting it changed."

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board met to discuss rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments. As expected, people protesting the hikes were also present. NY1 reports, "For one-year leases, the board is now looking at a hike of two percent to 4.5 percent. For two-year leases, the range is four percent to 7.5 percent." Last year, the board agreed on hikes of 4.5% for one-year leases and 8.5% for two-year leases. Landlords and building owners say that while those hikes seem big, they barely offset costs for heating oil and water. Still, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she would ask the board to freeze rents; one tenant organizer said, "This would be an appropriate year to do that. This is the worst recession we’ve seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

Yesterday the Times spotted a new trend: The rent party, which is when a deadbeat tenant refuses to accept that he's living beyond his means and won't move back in with his parents like a real man, so he decides to leech off his friends by inviting them to a "party" and charging them money for admission. Instead of sitting these moochers down and having a sober chat about their extravagant lifestyles, all the friends in the article play along and cough up—except for one brave woman who refused to be shaken down for the $6 charge to "party" in a New Jersey basement. But over in Williamsburg, destitute men's wear salesman Daniel Marks brags that his last rent party went so well ($400) that he'll throw one every month—at least until he bleeds everyone dry: "I don’t think I’ve tapped out my friends." If these parties really are the new craze—the concept dates back at least as far as 1920s Harlem—and this isn't just some manufactured trend article, you'll probably want to know how you can get a piece of the action. Here's an instructional video on how you can effectively make your party parasitical; it's not as easy as you think!

An elderly German architect; his 35-year-old Greek roommate; and a 6-foot-5-inch, 350-pound Dean & DeLuca security guard were indicted yesterday on charges of kidnapping and robbing the agent for a Manhattan property owner. Prosecutors say that some time last year the brawny Kakhaber Gogoladze, a Georgian national in the U.S. illegally, approached the unidentified property agent and told him to get in a car. He was driven to the apartment shared by 70-year-old Ekkehart Schwarz and Vasileios Giamagas, who were $267,000 behind on the rent for a lounge space at 68 West Third Street (pictured), where they'd failed to open a nightclub.

More than 27% of New Yorkers are now spending 50% or more of their income on rent, according to a new report issued by Representative Anthony Weiner. That percentage is up 13% since 2002, with 82,159 more NYC residents throwing more than half their income into the ravenous rent hole, as compared to seven years ago. The report, compiled from census data, reveals that Bronx residents have struggled the most, with more than 33% of residents spending half their cash on rent. For residents of Brooklyn and Queens, the number is roughly 28%.

The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, will hear arguments between Stuyvesant Town owner Tishman Speyer and Stuy Town tenants. The NY Times reports that Tishman and BlackRock Realty were given permission to appeal a ruling that said it wrongfully raised rents at the huge complex. Tishman bought the rent-regulated complex for $5.4 billion, hoping to profit on market-rate rents, but an appellate division found the rent increases shouldn't have happened since it was receiving tax breaks associated with rent-regulated properties. City Councilman Daniel Garodnick thinks the tenants will win in the end, "This is a landlord-tenant dispute that hinges on basic principles of fairness to taxpayers and fairness to tenants. We look forward to a speedy hearing and resolution by the state’s highest court." If the tenants succeed, Tishman will have to pay a rumored $200 million in back rent, and other landlords around the city who took advantage of the tax breaks may also have to pay back rent to their tenants.

For years now, tenant activists have dreamed of a State Senate controlled by Democrats, because then they'd finally get changes to the rent regulation laws that the Republican majority had so consistently blocked. But advocates for rent reform are now dismayed to find that Democratic Senators are as beholden to landlord campaign donations as the GOP. Albany watchdog group NYPIRG reports that since January 2007, Democratic lawmakers have accepted more than $1 million in donations from landlords, about $500,000 less than Republicans raked in.

Developer Tishman-Speyer was granted a stay that pauses a ruling which found it wrongfully raised rents at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Tishman bought the rent-regulated complex for $5.4 billion, hoping to profit on market-rate rents, but a state appeals courts found the rent increases shouldn't have happened since it was receiving tax breaks associated with rent-regulated properties. The Observer reports, "Rather than immediately re-regulate the 4,000-plus apartments in Stuyvesant Town that have been converted to market rents since 1993, as the appellate court’s decision would require, the stay calls for Tishman to calculate how much money it would owe in back rent to market-rate tenants and put that money in an escrow account." A lawyer for Stuy Town tenants says that Tishman could owe tenants $200 million and the ruling affects many other landlords who got tax breaks for property improvements and then deregulated apartment.

The new 20-story SVA dorm (that Curbed correctly notes looks like a maximum security prison) has been unveiled as it looks for temporary residents to move in before the students take over in August. How much would you pay to live at 101 Ludlow, which comes with a communal bathroom, a twin bed, and lots of amenities (free electric, internet, cable, laundry and security)? $1,600 a month? That's the going rate to relive your college years—to complete the dream, and to make it legal, you'll also be enrolled in a Continuing Ed class when they hand over the keys. We recommend Graphic Design for License Plates 101, to go along with the prison theme.

City Comptroller William Thompson issued a report stating that the Yankees owe the city millions in rent because they underpay! Well, the Yankees to pay their biggest payroll in the league somehow, right? In 1972, the Yankees and NYC agreed to a lease where the Yankees pay the city for using the stadium—but the Yankees can offset that rent by deducting costs of maintenance and upkeep. Thompson says, "The Yankees consistently overstate their rent deductions, effectively underpaying the City the proper rent due. The Yankees have understated the rent due to the City by more than $3.7 million over 33 quarters, which indicates a pattern that goes beyond an accounting error.” (Read the Comptroller's statement here.) So, does this mean the Yankees shave a little off the hundreds of millions in tax-exempt bonds they are getting from the city?

    

It looks like would-be Coney Island developer Joe Sitt has gone all Henry F. Potter this Christmas, sending workers out last night to put up "For Lease" signs on boardwalk properties owned by his company, Thor Equities. A commenter on the Coneyisland.com message board snapped some photos last night and this morning, depicting the signs above such indispensible boardwalk mainstays as Nathan's and scruffy dive bar Ruby's Bar & Grill.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development spent more than $4 million this year to maintain 113 buildings that have been all but abandoned by their landlords. These landlords are required to reimburse taxpayers for the work, but until then the city places a lien on the properties, most of which are located in Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Prospect Heights and East New York. Yet despite the emergency repairs, conditions at some of these residences are still utterly appalling. Angelica Jimenez of Bushwick tells the Daily News, "Every night, we have rats in my apartment—big ones! They walk all over the kitchen and that's not nice. I kill them. I have no choice, I can't afford to move." City Councilwoman Diana Reyna sees a pattern, and speculates that landlords in Bushwick are neglecting repairs to drive out low-income residents, thus enabling them to cash in on the neighborhood's proximity to trendy Williamsburg by renting to hipsters.

The DAily News reports that as foreclosures and evictions rise all over the city, many of the victims are renters--NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy counts 38,000 were affected. And in many cases, "renters have been given just weeks to find new digs, while unscrupulous landlords collect rents for homes they no longer own." In one case, some tenants told a judge they had no idea their landlord didn't own the building anymore--and after paying their September rent, the landlord "told them she would keep their security deposits as payment for October rent." Even the bank's lawyer believes they are innocent victims!

A new variation on the apartment rent in cash scam: The NY Post reports a woman was swindled out of $100,000 (meant for two apartments at 410 West 53rd Street) by the broker she met on Craigslist who "legitimately rented her a different Manhattan home two weeks before." Ah, the ol' reel them in and then scam them. The client says broker Leif Lopez showed her the apartments, which she planned to sublet to tourists. She signed contracts and paid in cash--because he said "he would give me a huge deal on the apartments"--but then Lopez never gave her the keys. Lopez, charged with grand larceny, is currently being held on $7,500 bail. The victim says, "I've been depressed since this happened to me. I lost all the money I had."

The Legal Aid Society and Legal Services of New York have filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court to overturn a controversial vote in June by the Rent Guidelines Board to add a supplemental rent hike for tenants who have lived in a rent-stabilized apartment for over six years and who pay $1,000 or less a month in rent. The lawsuit argues that requiring tenants to pay an extra $45 or $85 is a higher increase than what's allowed under this year’s RGB guidelines. A press release from Legal Services describes the hike as “a poor tax” against low-income tenants; at a press conference yesterday City Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared that "this unprecedented increase on longtime, low-income residents could very well drive some residents out of their homes. This rent hike proves once and for all that the RGB is completely out of touch and needs to be reformed.”

The Dow Jones industrial average lost over 500 points today, the biggest one-day decline for the Dow since Sept. 17, 2001, when the market reopened for trading after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "You have to throw out the history books because there's really nothing to compare this to," Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Advisors, tells CNN. Stephen Leeb, president at Leeb Capital Management, says, "People are panicked but it's not the end of capitalism. This may usher in something worse than what we've seen in terms of the economy, but the companies left standing at the end of this will be OK." Phew! The last half hour of trading saw heavy selling despite Governor Paterson's effort to calm investors by letting faltering insurance company A.I.G. borrow $20 billion from its subsidiaries. And a group of 10 banks have given up to $7 billion each to create a $70 billion lending pool to help smaller institutions.

In the first ten minutes of trading this morning, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 300 points, while the major European stock exchanges sank more than 4 percent, the Times is reporting. What color is your parachute? The nosedive is the unsurprising result of several days of increasingly bad news from investment bank Lehman Brothers, which announced its bankruptcy filing after 158 years in business. Today is the first day of trading since the announcement, which also comes with bad news from AIG and Washington Mutual. Since the first minutes of trading, the Dow had recovering slightly, with American stocks doing a bit better than those in Europe.

After twelve years, 5,124 performances and a haul of $280 million, Rent's Broadway run has come to an end. The musical closed yesterday after a final sold-out performance packed with diehard fans (the "Rentheads") and a smattering of celebrities (a couple Gossip Girl cast members). Just before the curtain came down for the final time, members of the show's original company joined the current cast on stage to "Seasons of Love," one of the show's most famous songs, the Associated Press reports.

A party was held Friday night at the Life Cafe in the East Village to celebrate the final weekend of production of Rent after 12 years on Broadway. Throughout most of the show's run, Life has avoided cashing in on its status as a setting for an epic scene in the first act of Rent. But with the play closing this year, the diner has begun selling memorabilia and displaying journals in which fans can memorialize how the play has touched them. The party Friday was held for die hard fans who won an online video contest with appearances made by some former cast members and Julie Larson, sister of Rent's late playwright, Jonathan Larson. The NY Times spoke to one fan there who has seen the show 119 times (in the front row every time), attributes it for his losing 150 pounds and told them, "Some people have religion. I have ‘Rent.’ ”