Results tagged “stuytown”

Yesterday one ebullient Stuyvesant Town tenant said he expected his market-rate apartment to revert back to rent-regulated rent levels "immediately," now that the state's highest court has ruled that property owner Tishman Speyer improperly raised rents while also receiving tax breaks from the city. But tenants are almost definitely in store for more legal foot-dragging from Tishman Speyer, which could be liable for some $200 million in damages. After fighting off the tenants' lawsuit for years, Tishman Speyer isn't just going to roll over, especially since the company is at high risk of default on some $4.4 billion in loans. Every million counts!

Yesterday the state's highest court ruled that it was illegal for Tishman Speyer to raise rents at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village beyond certain set levels while also receiving tax breaks from the city for major renovations. Now landlords are afraid the ruling will impact their ability to flip rent-regulated apartments into luxury units. Ed Kalikow, whose family owns 2,000 apartments in town, tells the Times, "It's terrible for the industry. A lot of people bought property with the thought that they would get the rents up. People made decisions on that. Banks made loans. This decision is another nail in the coffin." There is not a violin on Earth tiny enough to play at that funeral!

Today's Times exposé on the financial woes gripping the owners of StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village is filled with insider analysis that makes our eyes glaze over, such as, "At Stuyvesant Town, there is a $3 billion first mortgage, or commercial mortgage-backed security, and a $1.4 billion second loan, known as “mezzanine debt” held by SL Green, the government of Singapore and others." But the bottom line is easy enough to grasp; as one analyst puts it, "I’d say their equity has been wiped out, given the decline in apartment values."

A sodden young man in Stuy Town recently took the adage about not shitting where you eat quite literally, and decided to do his business in one of the stairwells. The incident, described vividly by a commenter on StuyTown Lux Living, highlights the roiling tension between longtime rent-stabilized tenants and rowdy arrivistes who've moved in since landlord Tishman-Speyer pushed out some of the old-timers and raised rents.

Never ones to shy away from a wild night out, The Thermals had three in town over the past week. The Portland band returned to their three-piece roots this time through, hitting up Bowery Ballroom on Friday and Saturday and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday. The band consistently brings out some of the best crowds the city has to offer and encourages them to let loose. The crowd banged around to a rapid fire set of songs from their latest, Now We Can See, as well as what has become quite an impressive back catalog of tunes. Friday night's Bowery crowd started getting so rowdy (there was nearly a fistfight in the mosh pit) that bass player Kathy Foster had to check in that everyone was all right and threatened, "Don't make us go Fugazi on you guys." While Foster played the show barefoot, singer Hutch Harris showed the dapper side of pop-punk, sweating through the sets in a full suit (before treating fans to some shirts-off time in the encore). It's nice to see a band that revels in the intimacy of a small room to stretch out a run like this, rather than settling for one, big, impersonal gig.

As landlords and tenants await what happens next regarding the ruling that found Stuyvesant Town rents were wrongfully raised while its owner received tax breaks, the NY Times looks at how the real estate industry is nervous. The J-51 tax break program was "meant to encourage building renovations," and after significant renovations, landlords "are allowed to pass along a portion of the renovation costs to the tenants’ rent. As a result, landlords can raise rents that exceed or approach the $2,000 deregulation threshold." In the case of Stuyvesant Town, it's argued rents went up too much (the Observer has some examples). Right now, the ruling has been stayed, but a court must decide whether to let Stuy Town owner Tishman Speyer appeal; if upheld, the Times reports, "Industry officials say the decision could affect as many as 80,000 apartments in the city, trigger widespread defaults on loans, eliminate construction jobs and reduce property tax revenues for the city." Tenants' advocates, though, say the real estate industry is exaggerating.

After 21 years in business, beloved David's Bagels on 1st Avenue and 14th Street closed at the end of August. According to Vanishing New York, the landlord opened a Hot & Crusty franchise next door and refused to renew David's lease. In retaliation, a group of devastated neighbors have banded together to hit the Crusty where it hurts, with a weblog BLAZING WITH CAPS: "It is TERRIBLE and a downright SHAME...It hurts that they are gone because of your corny EYESORE of a “Hot and Crusty” that doesn’t even serve a decent bagel nor an “OK” pizza. In addition, it is NAUSEATING to walk by your pizzeria to see your Spanish guys leave half-made UNCOOKED pizzas to linger in the sun for long periods of time. Leaving the uncooked pizza dough in the sun while the chintzy layer of sauce dries up, is plainly NOT HEALTHY, UNSAFE and UNBELIEVABLY UNAPPETIZING." But what really burns is that David's lovers must now traverse five blocks to the owner's other location.

Fleet Foxes came to town this week, riding a wave of slightly understated buzz into a sold-out Bowery Ballroom. The band was excellent, playing jams off their critically acclaimed record and constantly thanking the crowd for showing them so much love. Those in attendance were remarkably supportive of the act, especially considering the often indifferent attitude our local crowds often take. Between songs, they hooted and hollered from the first note, while staying deathly silent during -- letting the band's complicated harmonies and mellow sounds shine through. While frontman Robin Pecknold was a little under the weather, with a brutal cough during breaks, you could never tell from listening to them. It was about as close to perfect as a show at Bowery could be. A great first impression for a stunning new band.

TREE LIGHTING: Earlier this year, New Yorkers Fountains of Wayne transformed Demetri Martin into a lonely suit living in Brooklyn in this video. Tonight the band will be rockin' around the Stuy Town Christmas tree. A reader writes in:I just happened to see this flyer hanging up for the annual christmas tree lighting. And what the hell is this...7:30-8:00pm, FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE. Seems like it's top secret, but there are flyers everywhere.Random! But if you're...

With the $5.4 billion purchase of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment complex by Tishman-Speyer, some longtime rent-stabilized tenants have been worried about whether they will be able to stay. Well, now tenants are complaining that Tishman-Speyer has been spying on them.

New York City's budget surplus just got a little bigger. The previously projected surplus of $3.9 billion has been upped to a projected $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Despite the additional projected surplus, Mayor Bloomberg is being prudent with the extra money.

It looks like some advances in technology are causing some problems at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The $5.4 billion complex of buildings is replacing all its regular old keys with fancy electronic key-cards - in the case of Peter Cooper Village, the cards are already being used. The Post reports that Stuy Town residents could be using the new key system as early as next week. This is somewhat of an issue for Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath and religious holidays because they are forbidden to use the key technology during those days. One Stuy Town resident told The Post, "They are making us prisoners in our own homes. What do they want us to do? It's not like we can go somewhere else. It's our home." Well, what they obviously want you to do is move out so they can charge more rent to the next tenant.

When you shell out $5.4 billion for thousands of apartments in Manhattan, some of them rent-regulated, clearly the next course of action is to oot out the illegal subletters. The NY Sun reports that private detective Fred Knapp has been hired by Tishman-Speyer to find out if tenants are violating rent stabilization rules.

We got this email:

I was just curious if you guys heard anything about the noise coming from the Con Ed plant at 14th Street and D last night. I live in Stuy Town, on 14th between B and C (well, I'm actually inside a bit, but between those blocks). Last night a little before 11 there was a ridiculously loud roaring sound coming from the plant. It seemed to be controlled because it would be on for like 5 seconds, then off for 30, then repeat. Seemed to go on for at least 20 minutes. Something like this has happened before, but it is usually for only a few seconds and never so late at night. I wasn't that concerned, but after watching a suitcase nuke go off on 24 last night, I was a little jumpy. I called 311, who connected me to Con Ed, who connected me to 911, who connected me to the fire department. By the time I was able to explain myself, I was disconnected, but was able to over hear "another explosion complaint at 14th and D," so apparently I wasn't the only one that thought something may be wrong.

With the record setting $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer last year, many residents suspected that the new owners would shake things up. But we doubt few tenants would have anticipated the rent increases sent in lease renewal papers. The NY Times speaks with some tenants about their sticker shock. The verdict? A lot of people are moving out. Check out these rents and the increases:

Sometimes people just don't like dogs, and one of those people is Jeanne Farley. Farley is suing her apartment's management company to, as she tells the Daily News, "get rid of the dogs and play by the rules." Sixty-four year old Farley has a fear of dogs (cynophobia) points out that the rules at Penn South does have a ban on dogs and her lease says "no animals of any kind" (!!) are not allowed. She says, "I can't go in the elevator if there's a dog in there, and I'm afraid to go in some of the hallways. I've never been bitten, but the growling, the teeth and the jumping just scares me."

Midtown Subway Monkey by |Shrued.

It's not a deal of Stuy Town proportions, but the sale of the Apthorp building on Broadway between West 78th and 79ths Streets on the Upper West Side is still a big deal. According to the NY Times, Maurice Mann agreed to pay more than $425 million for the building that takes up the entire block (Broadway to West End, 78th to 79th). Mann called it "the greatest trophy building on the Upper West Side." What about the Ansonia? Or all the buildings on Central Park West? Anyway, Mann intends to keep it as a "very high-end rental and to keep it exactly the way it is." The building currently has monthly rental prices of $8,000-$20,000. With prices like that, it's no wonder celebrities and media executives are popular tenants.

+ The Sky Mirror is leaving! Which makes us wonder if Tishman Speyer will put public art installations in at Stuy Town when they officially own it.

What an embrace of Long Island City! The city announced that it will buy waterfront property in Long Island City to build up to 5,000 units of affordable housing for families. The city is paying the Port Authority a total of $146 million for the 24 acres - $100 million for the property and $46 million for "remaining obligations" to the site. From the press relase:

Mayor Bloomberg: "Middle-income families are facing housing affordability challenges as a result of New York's success, and we have to make strategic, long-term investments to ensure that New Yorkers of all incomes can work and live in our City. This development will build on New York's grand tradition of major middle-income communities, but updated for the 21st century. We will work quickly to turn this into homes for thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and other moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers. I want to thank the Port Authority for its continued collaboration and support."

Continue reading "LIC: From Olympic Village to Affordable City Housing"

There may be some high-flying developers and investors interested in buying Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, but the underdog bidders to capture the public's heart of the sale might just be the tenants of STPCV themselves. Really: The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association reports that tenants are interested in forming an investor group to make a bid. A tenants-investor group would try to preserve stability for tenants - both market rate and rent-stabilized. Now, how a group of tenants will get billions ready for a bid is another question, but it'll be interesting to see how the tenants fight the sale of the complex. City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who lives in Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village, is working with the tenants' association (he even tried to visit all 100 buildings in the complex during his election run last year!).

As news of what could be the biggest real estate deal in history spread, residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village - and the rest of New York City - wondered what this could mean for the real estate market. Though selling the 110 building complex and changing over ownership of all the units would probably take years, questions about what Mayor Bloomberg will do about the city's housing policy arose, as well as what this will mean for the middle class residents who live there as a large swath of housing is taken away. The Tenants Political Action Committee tells the NY Sun, "This sale is the perfect illustration of the hole in the bottom of the bucket of the Bloomberg housing plan. The plan deals only with production. They will never build as much as we're losing."

As usual, Thursday morning finds us trolling the Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association bulletin boards, looking for tasty morsels of real estate gossip. Today's find was a doozy-- one of the tenants posted a note asking for people to anonymously post their rents, and a frenzy of revelation ensued: