After many stories about Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village rents getting crazy expensive and apartments being marketed as "luxury residences," it's official: Met Life is wants to sell the 110 building complex for $5 billion. The NY Times has the bombshell, and many issues are raised, including who will buy it (a team of developers? Dubai money? banks?), a new owner will probably want to make it a "luxury enclave," and where will the thousands of working- and middle-class residents go. The article had some excellent quotes that give an overview of what's at play:
“This is the ego dream of the world: 80 acres, 110 buildings, 11,000 apartments, covering 10 city blocks in Manhattan.” - Executive involved with the sale
“It’ll be the largest sale of a single property in U.S. history. No doubt in my mind. It’s truly an unprecedented offering and an irreplaceable property. It would be impossible today to get a property of that scale in an urban location. And that neighborhood has become so desirable.” - Dan Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics, a real estate research and consulting firm
“They have to raise the rents or convert it to a condo. Either event removes this as affordable housing stock. If this were removed, there are probably 22,000 workers who live there, most are two-family incomes, probably 15,000 employees are there. Where are they going to go?” - Leonard Grunstein, a lawyer who specializes in deals involving multifamily affordable housing
"We’re at about $1,400 now. If we die, whoever comes in will pay $3,500 or $4,000. This used to be a nice middle-income place. It’s no longer that.” - A woman named Evelyn, who declined to give her last name but described herself as a 77-year-old retired teacher who has lived with her husband in a three-bedroom apartment in Stuyvesant Town for 43 years
Moreover, if this sale goes through, it will change the East Village and other surrounding neighborhoods even more. According to the article, Met Life is accepting bids and will announce a winner later in the fall, but if there isn't an acceptable bid, it won't sell.
Some Stuyvesant Town history, the official Peter Cooper Village- Stuyvesant Town website, and the Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village Tenant Association website, where we're sure there will be some freaking out.
