After a Monday article about how the middle-class Harlem housing complex Riverton Houses' owners might default on their loan, the NY Times now looks other big real estate deal that might go sour. Like the Riverton Houses, Stuyvesant Town was bought by a big real estate company who hoped to convert more rent-stabilized units to market rates and make a profit (but it's been slow-going so far). And there are other possible victims, like Harlem's......

The NY Times reports analysis of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village finances shows revenues for the huge complex dropped last year. And that's in spite of Stuyvesant Town owner Tishman Speyer converting 560 rent-regulated units into market-rate units! Or maybe it's because of the conversion. When Tishman Speyer paid $5.4 billion for the complex, its plan was to increase profitability by increasing the number of market-rate units. However, there have been legal costs associated with trying......

While the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular was definitely spectacular (see the photos), the show's organizers moved the displays further south, closer to the Williamsburg Bridge, in order for more of the NYC skyline to be seen in the TV broadcast. Not only did NBC broadcast from Brooklyn, but NBC also added a chyron (graphic) noting that the fireworks were taking place near Stuyvesant Town at least seven times during the half-hour show.......

Aw, there's a NY Times real estate "The Hunt" feature about Curbed editor Joey Arak's, his girlfriend's and their dog's transition to Stuyvesant Town. After deciding to pay more to stay in the East Village, they opted for a market rate apartment in Stuy Town at $2,850/month (steep, but a tenement nearby was charging $2,600). Even though he's read many horror stories about the complex, Arak said, "I love living here...I never thought I would......

Photograph of Stuyvesant Town by Marianne O'Leary on Flickr The turmoil at Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village continues, as behemoth real estate developer Tishman Speyer Properties, is flushing out rent-stabilized tenants who it believes do not live in Stuy Town-Peter Cooper anymore. It's an old refrain: Tishman claims many tenants are subletting their apartments and abusing the system, while tenants say the developer is harassing them in order to lease the apartments to market-rate tenants--average......

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......

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......

Kingswood: Aussie owner of Nolita's Ruby's takes the leap from sandwich shop to sit-down restaurant. With the feel of an indoor garden, Kingswood serves up dishes like cured duck breast with fig chutney, a roasted peach salad with crispy prosciutto and white balsamic or a rack of lamb with tomato orzo. In late October, the space will expand to include a downstairs lounge. 121 West 10th Street between Greenwich and Sixth Avenues. (212) 645-0044. The......

Sure, there are many subway stations with chipped and peeling paint. And the MTA even has the money to start repainting them. But the MTA can't figure out a plan to get started! The Daily News reported that the NYC Transit's plan to paint stations is in limbo; NYCT told them, "It will go forward, but I don't know when or what the plan is." Then the News told MTA non-voting board member Andrew Albert......

The New York Times looks at the man behind the Mayor's deliberate non-run for the Presidency. Kevin Sheekey is a 41-year-old political consultant, who defers to his boss, but is taking a good amount of the credit for putting the billionaire's dollars to good use in an unofficial campaign for President. As the Times describes it, Bloomberg is criss-crossing the country attempting to gain support and not campaigning in public. In private, Sheekey has been......

Yesterday, it was announced Tishman-Speyer, the real estate firm that bought Stuyvesant Town for $5.4 billion, along with Lehman Brothers would buy real estate investment trust Archstone Smith in a $22.2 billion deal; the Observer calls it the "largest public-to-private acquisition ever among apartment REIT’s." Archstone Smith has over over 85,000 rentals nationally and almost 3,800 in NYC, which would given Tishman-Speyer over 15,000 apartments for its portfolio. According to Crain's, there's been more interest......

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. Some residents have received non-renewal letters, with Tishman-Speyer explaining that since the tenants do not use their Stuy Town-Peter Cooper apartment as a primary residence, then their lease can be over. The......

Cabbies are worried about their safety after robberies on the Lower East Side The city's problem-laden high schools for pregnant girls are closing; check out this article about how one student was facing the difficulties of her school, which included teachers not showing up and student fights Culturegrrl speaks with William Griswold, the future head of the Morgan Library, who actually left the Morgan a few years ago, with stings at the Getty and......

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted 5-4 to propose rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments on the order of 2-4.5% for one-year leases and 4-7.5% for two-years leases. Loft rent increases would be 2-4% for one-year leases, 4-7% for two-year leases. The NY Times says these proposed increases "could mean smaller increases than last year’s," and the Post says the increases could fall in the "middle range" of about 3.25% and 5.75%. Last year, the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A crime scene at the East 69th Street and 2nd Avenue Eckerd Pharmacy in Manhattan, a building facade collapse on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, and a hazmat situation at Cornell Medical at York and East 69th The city wants to do repair work to buildings that need it - and charge the landlords - in legislation proposed by the City Council and supported by the Mayor and other housing......

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......

The Mayor unveiled his Fiscal Year 2008 Preliminary Budget and was very upbeat, if cautious. Mayor Bloomberg said of the $57.1 billion budget:“Because of our strong economy, tax revenues are running higher than expected this year. That’s good budgetary news, including $1 billion in tax cuts for the people of New York City. If conditions permit, we’ll propose extending that tax cut in the future. But with slower job growth and other indications of economic......

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: - Two bedroom......

Two months after Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were sold by MetLife to Tishman Speyer for a record-breaking $5.4 billion, an epic review of the deal by Charles Bagli of the NY Times ties up loose ends and brings several underlying issues into sharper focus. Reading between the lines: The purchase is highly speculative. "Financial leaps of faith" about StuyTown's future value inflated the bidding well above a more soberly estimated price tag......

Special water theme today on the Gothamist Newsmap: DOA Floater on Staten Island, found human remains on Plumb Beach in Brooklyn, and a water rescue in the Hudson. Coliseum Books has closed for the last time-- a victim of the internet, Barnes & Noble, and rising real estate prices. Some "deranged" goths vandalized a church on East 76th Street twice in the last two days-- writing "Satan is God" and "Christ is a False......

They say New York is home to a million stories, and so far this year, we've published 7021 of them here on Gothamist. So in case you missed any of those, let's take a little stroll back in time, and review the most significant stories the past 12 months, shall we? Here's part one of a semi-chronological look at 2006; part two will go up tomorrow: Nixzmary Brown and the Problem with the Administration for......

What do slumlords, apartment-seekers, and big real estate developers around the city have in common? Not much. But the latest debate in City Hall should have all of them closely watching the reforms of 421-a, a bill that will decide the future of New York City’s affordable housing policy and long-term housing stock if passed by the state legislature. City Council members will vote tomorrow on reforms to a bill originally designed to provide tax......

Maybe the new black is actually selling huge middle-income housing complexes. The NY Times reports that the 140 acre Starrett City apartment complex in Brooklyn is up for sale. And who's the broker? Why the firm of CB Richard Ellis, which handled the $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman-Speyer. From the NY Times:The complex, whose owner changed its name in recent years to the more chic-sounding Spring Creek Towers, is......

Yesterday, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow revealed the 2007 $10 billion MTA budget, confirming that there will be no fare hikes in 2007 and 2009. But some transit advocates think that Kalikow's strategy of implementing hikes every other year (one is expected in 2008) is just delaying the inevitable given the crippling deficits expected. Beverly Dolinsky of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA told the Post, "[Kalikow is] putting it in the lap of......

Bwahaha! Crain's New York reports that the monster $5.4 billion deal Met Life made to sell Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer could be derailed by a "little-known provision." Apparently the provision says MetLife cannot make more than a 6% annual profit on the complex! From Crain's: Trautman Sanders, a law firm representing the tenant group that lost its bid to purchase the complex, discovered the condition in a 1942 agreement with New......

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......

Yesterday, it was announced that Tishman Speyer's $5.4 billion bid for Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village was successful, making it the largest real estate deal in history. But what's interesting is that the second bid from Apollo was $5.33 billion. We wonder if Apollo executives are "What if"-ing right now. The bid organized by tenants to preserve middle-class housing was $4.5-4.9 billion - well behind the other bids - and City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, Peter......

Breaking: Tishman-Speyer, the real estate concern that controls Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building, the Lipstick Building, and much more around the city and world, was the winning bidder in the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village sweepstakes. The NY Times' Charles Bagli writes: Mr. Speyer and his partner, the Blackrock investment bank, outmaneuvered nearly a dozen bidders, including a group aligned with the tenants at the complexes who hoped to preserve what is fast becoming a......

The City Council has introduced a bill to stall the sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. At the end of August, MetLife announced it would seek bids for the 110 building complex that spans 80 acres in Manhattan, with an ideal asking price of $5 billion. The sale sent tenants of STPCV into a frenzy, worrying about their status there, as well as advocates for affordable housing, as all signs point to developers taking the......

- There are 12 bids for Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Villlage; the Bloomberg administration, so far, is just waiting to see what happens - Watch out boutique shoppers - a man is targetting stores on the Upper East and West Sides - What happens when the leader of an African rebel army asks you to take him out on the town (for starters, you say yes) - World Trade Center dust could cause cancer -......