Via The New York Observer

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Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is making a play for Stuyvesant Town.

Mr. Ackman's Pershing Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Trust today put out an announcement that the two firms had bought up $300 million worth of mezzanine debt on the 11,200-apartment property and are seeking to foreclose on the owners, a partnership controlled by Tishman Speyer. (Winthrop has held debt in Stuy Town for some time now, and has previously threatened to take control).

The move is bold, if unexpected. Given that they hold mezzanine debt, which is less senior than the $3 billion mortgage, the two firms would need to first foreclose on the Tishman Speyer partnership (which has been eager to leave the property since it defaulted early in the year), and then work out a deal with the mortgage holders. Adding to the mess, the holders of the first mortgage (which was securitized and is controlled by CW Capital) are advanced in foreclosure proceedings and are likely only a month or two away from gaining full control from Tishman Speyer.


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rob-jerry-speyer-stuy-town-cash-crisis-daily-news.jpgVia The New York Observer

In case there was any doubt, it's going to be a mess to legally untangle rent issues at Stuyvesant Town.

Today, a judge handed a victory to market-rate tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village by ruling against prior property owner MetLife. The ruling--part of the same ongoing lawsuit that last year forced the re-regulation of thousands of market-rate apartments at the property--denied a bid by MetLife to block the retroactive application of the newly-interpreted rent laws. In English: MetLife didn't think market-rate tenants, whose apartments were re-regulated, should have been able to collect overcharges. Tenants contend they should be able to get back, in the form of a check, the difference between the rents they paid and the stabilized rents they should have been paying.

Justice Richard B. Lowe III said he found MetLife's arguments "unpersuasive."

"The Decision should be accorded full retroactive effect," he wrote.

Should the tenants proceed with their suit against the owners, this could go on for a while. The lawsuit was initially filed in spring 2007 by a set of market-rate tenants, was denied by Mr. Lowe at the time, made its way up to the state's top court, and now has been sent back to Mr. Lowe.

A spokesman for MetLife said the firm is "studying the opinion in order to determine our next steps."

Continue reading "Tenants Win, Again, in Stuy Town Rent Case" @ The New York Observer

Related Articles:

Judge issues rent ruling on NYC apartment complex [Business Week]
Stuy-Town tenants take home big win [Crain's]
Stuyvesant Town Tenants To Get Rent Rebates [NY1]
Stuyvesant Town Decision Applies Retroactively, Judge Says [NY Law Journal]

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Another fantastic morning here at the Stuyvesant Town Oval. At 7am why a pleasant shirtless fellow enjoyed the fountain by wandering in it while double fisting two bottles of delightful Samuel Adams Summer Brew. He circled the cooling waters twice, glaring at everyone, before returning to his spot on the park bench next to his young lady companion and fondling her breasts. (see attached pic)

What cracks me up is how just last weekend I, a tenant of this fine property, was enjoying this very same spot with my daughter. With us was another family with a small child as well, who are residents of Peter Cooper Village. Why not 30 seconds after our daughters reached into the fountain to touch the water with their little child hands we were confronted by the Barney Fife Security guards warning us that the "fountain was not a pool" and we wouldn't want to "get a summons" so "keep the children out of the fountain or else!" at which point the guards retreated a generous five or maybe six feet from us and watched our pre-toddler children with eagle eyes to make sure they didn't try to approach the water. Ten minutes later when the other fellows daughter got within 12 inches of the fountain edge the guard yelled "I don't want to warn you again!"

Glad to see that in retrospect they were merely protecting us and our groin spawn from whatever waterbourne STD's and residual drug particles they must obviously know inhabit these waters thanks to letting alpha males such as Shirtless Double Fisting Samuel Adams Douchebag wander these waters in these warm climes with relative impunity.

Circle of life.

From yesterday's Observer online:

Big Real Estate Warms to Senate Dems
by Eliot Brown

For many years in Albany, a town with many an uncertainty, there was one constant: Joe Bruno was the majority leader in the Senate, and the New York City real estate world was a loyal benefactor. The industry was a steadfast supporter of that Republican majority, and poured campaign contributions into Republican coffers (and not, with some minor exceptions, into Democratic ones). In turn, the Senate Republicans were equally loyal defenders of the policies that big real estate cared deeply about (issue No. 1: keeping rent regulations limited, or eliminating them all together [sic]).

Times have changed.

Read the entire article here.
| 3 Comments
Stuy-Town-Permitted-Temp-Wall-Floor-Plan.jpgWhat do you get when you can't afford a spacious apartment on your own? Hack it to pieces with fake walls and create you own private Kowloon Walled City!

A Sty-Spy sent us this floor plan illustrating the fake walls Stuyvesant Town puts up for their penny-crushing renters. The toy walls create an OK-sized bedroom and butcher the rest of the common living area, creating a series of unusable, cramped and airless spaces. The Sty-Spy writes: 

"Attached is the actual floor plan that ST-PCV sent me showing the new permitted set up for dividing the living room in Stuy Town one bedroom apartments.

FYI, the floor plan is for a one bedroom in the G line on the highest floors. It's similar to the floor plan for the standard one bedroom, except that a corner chunk of the bedroom is missing and replaced with a long double walk-in closet that is not shown on the floor plan.  

But I think that the living rooms are the same for all Stuy Town one bedrooms -- be they a standard one bedroom, a corner one bedroom, or a G line high floor one bedroom. I think that the attached floor plan's depiction of the permitted dividing of the living room is universal."
| 17 Comments
Via Town & Village

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| 51 Comments
Via Town & Village

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| 7 Comments
Via PBS's Need to Know

They want your blood. No, not the undead denizens of "The Twilight Saga" or "True Blood." A more corporeal nocturnal plague may lurk much closer to home: bedbugs.

"It's like having tiny little vampires in your house," said Andy Linares, owner of the New York-based Bug Off Pest Control Center.

Continue reading "5 Things You Need to Know About Bed Bugs" @ PBS.

| 13 Comments
stuy-town-condo.jpgCurbed.com's real estate listing section currently has an ad for a "condo" in Stuyvesant Town. The ad is for an available 5 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in the complex for $6,201/month. Why the apartment is referred to as a condo is anyone's guess. On the plus side there's no stove in the closet.
| 35 Comments
fountain-baby.jpgWhat are some of Stuyvesant Town's self-entitled parents up to these days? Well, when they are not letting their kids wildly race on their scooters through the Oval or allowing them to scream like rabid brats outside your window bright and early on Saturday mornings, it seems they are willing to risk electrocution for a dive in the fountain!

"Aw look honey, they're playing in the fountain! Isn't that cute?" Actually, no. It isn't. It's a fountain, not a wading pool.

Of course if your idea of parenting is letting your kids run around unsupervised while you sip wine out of a Solo cup, than yes, perhaps little-Timmy son-of-a-bitch is just adorable. Until he accidentally kicks one of the lights in the fountain and electrocutes himself. Or slips on the uncoated tiles that make up the base of the fountain and cracks his head on the cement wall. Or gets accidentally poisoned by god only knows what chemicals used in the water to keep it  oh-so-sparkling. Fret not. Momsy and Daddy will no doubt have a breeze directing EMTs to something called the "Oval" in Stuy Town, where roads are confusing and maps are scarce. Every second counts!

Naturally the bereaved parents will then turn around and sue Tishman-Speyer for not putting up signs warning of the dangers that come with a beautiful fountain. The many playgrounds with water features are not enough! Ah, modern parenting at its best.
| 109 Comments
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