If there's anything we learned from American Horror Story, it's that someone else's nightmare may just be your dream come true (actually we're too scared to watch the show—but that house looks really pretty!). After being shuttered for a while following a raid and a liquor license snafu, Coco66 is for rent. About that liquor license—back in July it was noted that the bar's owner, David Kelleran, had been operating without one, and one promoter familiar with the place declared, "They'll never get a liquor license there again. [Kelleran's] family owns the building, so no one is going to buy it from him and get a license. It's majorly screwed, for many years at least." more ›

Caffe Vivaldi on Jones Street is a throwback to a retro era in New York dining—the Italian-leaning restaurant serves live jazz with its ravioli, and has played host to a myriad of artistic Village boho types over the past 30 years. It looks like it has been and will be around forever, but it won't be, if new landlord Steve Croman gets what he wants—unless the restaurant fights its way back. more ›

After a whirlwind month of back-and-forthing with Cooper Union, the St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village has been granted a rent reduction from the university, after all! more ›

Yesterday, the disheartening news came down that Cooper Union has decided NOT to grant St. Mark's Bookshop's request for a rent reduction. Friends of the Bookshop, like the Cooper Square Committee, said they would find other ways to support the store should it be forced out of business, and today, the first of those efforts arises: another petition, albeit a slightly preemptive one. more ›

The long, sad saga of the St. Mark's Bookshop vs. Cooper Union has come to an end today, as Cooper Union hands down its final word: there shall be no rent reduction. more ›

Supporters of the St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village have tried everything from petitioning to sing-a-longs to save the beloved indie bookstore, but the final word has always rested with owner Cooper Union, who is mulling the decision to reduce the store's rent from $20,000 to $15,000. Today, Bookshop champions The Cooper Square Committee is urging residents and readers for one final push, since Cooper Union is apparently set to vote on a decision very, very soon. more ›

Ever since word got out earlier this summer that much-loved neighborhood store St. Mark's Bookshop was struggling to stay afloat in the world of Kindles and iPads, lit-lovers have been rallying to save the independent bookstore...and it might actually be working. more ›

Did you guys know that Williamsburg isn't as cheap as it used to be? Were those high-class infant apparel stores that opened up on the waterfront any indication? No? Oh, okay, well, maybe this will help put things into perspective: now even the artists are being priced out. more ›

Life Cafe, the East Village restaurant that will be forever associated with RENT, has closed up shop after 30 years in business. No day but... yesterday, apparently. more ›

When Jimmy McMillan, the founding (and thus far only) member of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, first Smurfed his way into our lives, there was only one thing to talk about, and it came in mantra-form: the rent is too damn high. And though that message has somewhat expanded since then, that has always been McMillan's central theme. But now, McMillan claims that his East Village landlords are trying to evict him: "The landlord is trying to get me out for more money. I'm a disabled vet, and he's messing with the wrong guy," McMillan told us this morning. more ›

The rent remains too damn high for tenants of rent-regulated apartments—while the rent is too damn low for landlords and building owners—after last night's final vote to approve rent hikes of 3.75% for one-year leases and 7.25% for two-year leases, which is the biggest hike in three years. more ›

Breaking bagel news! The Wall Street Journal is reporting that H & H Bagels, beloved Upper West Side carboloading institution, is closing—for good—tomorrow! more ›

In five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes (all figures approximate), Rent—the musical about a group of '90s-era "new bohemians" living, loving, and dying of AIDS in the East Village—will be revived Off-Broadway. There's no escaping the past! more ›

Remember those pesky Artist-in-Resident laws down in Soho? You know, the ones that say only "artists," as defined by the Department of Cultural Affairs, can live in the 200 or so buildings that were converted from commercial to residential use? The laws have been hampering real estate deals for some time, and now a group of concerned neighbors wants to abolish the AiR laws forever. more ›

In order to get big tax breaks and permission to build bigger residential towers, two big condos on the Williamsburg waterfront agreed to throw the rabble a bone by building "affordable" rental units for low-income residents. Those who won the lottery for the units built by Northside Piers and The Edge pay as little as $398 a month, while the condo owners bought their apartments for anywhere between $385,000 to $2.9 million. And with that price tag comes amenities that the low-income renters don't have access to. Now some of the renters are becoming bitter! more ›

Last month we said it was time to talk about rent control, and now things are starting to get serious. Sheldon Silver and the Assembly Democrats yesterday fired the first shot in what could be an epic battle for the fate of rent control in New York State. The current rent regulations expire on June 15. more ›

The NY State Court of Appeals has decided on the years-lond dispute between landlords and their rent-stabilized tenants—the ones who pay less than $1,000/month for their apartments—over how much rents can be increased. And the court found in favor for the landlords, which means that 300,000 tenants may need to pay a lot in retroactive rent increases. more ›

After emerging from a closed door meeting with Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos sounded optimistic that a budget agreement could be announced tomorrow. But New Yorkers demanding changes to the rent regulation rules are bound to be disappointed, as are those who think the state's budget crisis should be solved, in part, by an income tax surcharge on New Yorkers making more than $200,000. "It’s off the table, it’s gone, it’s done, it’s dead," Skelos told reporters, referring to the so-called "millionaire's tax." more ›

At the start of the year, the white two-piece suit which John Lennon wore on the cover of Abbey Road was auctioned off by Connecticut-based Braswell Galleries, and sold for $48,000. But it later turned out that the man who sold the suit owes a lot of back rent for his former Manhattan apartment. And yesterday, a judge ruled that the gallery had to pay more than $21,000 to the landlord of that apartment. "Now he's the one screaming, 'Help, I need somebody,'" the landlord's lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey quipped painfully. more ›

Recently more of John Lennon's material items were sold off at auction—this time around his famous white suit (as seen on the cover of Abbey Road), and his green 1972 Chrysler station wagon (as seen on the streets of Manhattan). There's just one problem: the man who sold these items owes a lot of back rent for his former Manhattan apartment, and the landlord has come knockin'. According to the AP, the seller's former landlord has sued the gallery that auctioned the suit (for $46K) and wants the proceeds to satisfy a rent debt. more ›

The recession is over! And because of that it's even more expensive to live in Manhattan. Compared to 2009, 2010 rents jumped 6.2% for studios, 7.2% for one bedrooms and 5.2% for two bedrooms. And because of the economic bounceback, real estate brokers and landlords aren't offering things like one month free rent or waived broker fees like they were when the economy was bad worse. However, the Manhattan vacancy rate was 1.34% in December, up from 0.88% in July. Not that brokers would lower prices; we wouldn't want any riff raff moving in. more ›

Via a tipster on Gothamist Contribute, here's an amusing ad on Craigslist titled "Wanted: Old Insane Person To Rent To Me." Why insane? Well, there's this request, "Rent should be reasonable - even better if it's low or zero." Here's more:

Thinking about relocating from Detroit to New York to LIVE THE DREAM. My dream is to have an old, insane person rent a reasonably priced apartment to me and my husband and our FIVE PETS. I think that an old, insane person would be the perfect landlord for our unique situation because we have FIVE PETS and that seems like a lot of pets no matter where you live, but it's definitely a lot of pets if you live in New York - an old, insane person may not think it's a problem though... more ›

Doesn't it seem like just yesterday that businesses were moving to Williamsburg after rents in Manhattan got too high? Well, now Williamsburg proprietors are being priced out of the Brooklyn neighborhood; according to the Brooklyn Paper, Mike Al-Humaidi was forced to shut down his Deli Mart on Bedford and North 7th after 25 years in business. The problem? The building owner claims Al-Humaidi was evicted after not paying rent for the past two months, but other sources claim the landlord wanted a $25,000/month lease, when earlier this year it was just $12,000. Anyway, that spot looks ideal for a Duane Reade—after all, that other one is a long three blocks away. more ›

The election may be a half-remembered fever dream at this point, but that doesn't make Jimmy McMillan any less hilarious. So the Daily News put together this article, proving that if you give New Yorkers a venue to bitch about their rent, they will take a mile. And though we learned that rent is too high everywhere back in April, that doesn't mean it's any less true now! One person paying $900 a month for a one-bedroom in Flatbush said, "One bedroom used to cost $300; now it's $900. The landlords don't make any repairs. They ask for Manhattan prices and give you a ghetto treatment." more ›

That long lost time when artists lived in Soho is a relic that still lingers in the depths of New York's memory, right next to dirty Times Square and industrial Dumbo, burrowing closer and closer to "things to tell the grandkids" status with each new rent increase. Buried with it, it seems, was the law that required those SoHo lofts to be rented only to certified artists. Until now! Turns out, that law still technically applies, and for reasons unbeknownst to the Times, the city has begun to care. Which could really suck for people like Kelly Ripa. more ›

Jimmy McMillan, the darling of last week's NY gubernatorial debate, made another appearance on MSNBC's The Last Word. After showing the SNL skit spoofing the Vietnam veteran-turned-affordable housing advocate/politician, host Lawrence O'Donnell wanted to get to the bottom of how much McMillan actually pays for his one bedroom in Brooklyn. But McMillan sorta dodged the question, saying his movement is not about him. more ›