September 2009 Archives

Via Pensions & Investments

The FDIC might fail, requiring a federal bailout, warned Andrew W. Lo, dragged down by the failure of regional banks with substantial commercial mortgage debt.

Mr. Lo, founder and chief investment strategist of AlphaSimplex Group and a finance professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that a failure to restructure debt on Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village -- the vast New York apartment complex -- could cause New York banks holding its debt to collapse. The value of the property reportedly has dropped more than $3.2 billion since it was acquired in 2006 for $5.4 billion by Tishman Speyer Properties and partners.

Mr. Lo made his comments at a press briefing hosted by Natixis Global Asset Management, AlphaSimplex's parent company.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has proposed that banks prepay their assessments to the FDIC for the next three years, generating some $45 billion in revenue for the cash-strapped insurance fund.

Lo thinks FDIC could fail [Pensions & Investments]

Via NYU News

Several NYU students who live in StuyTown could soon be seeing reductions in their rent depending on the results of a long-standing lawsuit.

The dispute, which traces back to January 2007, is based on the claim that Tishman Speyer -- the multinational development company that owns the rights to the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex -- unfairly raised rent prices and wrongfully deregulated several apartment buildings after receiving tax breaks.

The plaintiffs are seeking roughly $200 million in rent reparations, which could result in dramatically lowered rates for many individuals.

Stern sophomore John Huh lives in the complex and is eligible to receive benefits.

"I'm glad that people are taking action for something that they see is unjust," Huh said. "As a student living on a budget in New York City, a rent reduction would certainly help out a lot."

The lawsuit was most recently brought to court on Sept. 10. The arguments that day focused heavily on the ambiguous wording found in the state legislation regarding rent control, specifically the word "became."

Conspiracy theorists can sleep easy tonight. During the Art Battles event last summer, Style King Productions posted signs letting residents know the event was being video recorded which of course had some people up in arms about their civil rights. The outcome of the recording was nothing more than a mini documentary on the event.

Sadly their was no outrage over companies like Tishman-Speyer who make it next to impossible for artists to live and work in NYC thanks to luxury developments that threaten the creative fabric of our city. But hey, you can exploit us once a year. Whatev. 

A Sty Spy sent in this photo of a Mac Gray wagon out on a repair. We're not sure if a tornado blew through the vehicle or if Courtney Love works for the energy "efficient" washer / dryer company but either way, it's a miracle ANYTHING gets fixed from this disaster on wheels. We can smell the french fry grease from here.

In this edition of Stuy Town Residents ♥ Mondays, we get to see how Tishman Speyer continually fails at taming the garbage dumping beasts that make up their transient community. Furniture dumping has been a huge problem in Stuyvesant Town with tenants being offered shorter leases, people moving out in droves, or worse, getting illegally evicted. Tishman Speyer thought they could threaten residents with some stern stickers but decided to rethink their plan when it was pointed out you can't fine tenants for placing furniture in the recycling area (where they have been told to put it since the '40s). Nor can you charge them $80 to remove a TV.

Their latest attempt at discouraging their temporary tenants from turning the streets of Stuy Town into an IKEA wasteland comes in the form of a parking sign. Naturally! Rather than making tenants aware of the latest garbage rules by distributing a flyer or taking advantage of their resident portal, TS thinks the best way to let people know when to pitch their junk it to throw up a parking sign. Makes perfect sense, unless you don't drive, have no reason to look up, or are dumping in the dark. Clearly the sign is a huge success.

Stuy Town does have it all! Amenities covered with graffiti and crusty thongs, an idyllic park consumed by malaria mud, and now playgrounds covered in shattered beer bottles! Residents had hoped to play with their kids this morning at Playground 8 but instead were greeted by the late night remnants of Stuy Town's trashiest. As usual, what's left of Stuy Town's minimalist security force were slow to respond. And by slow we mean they didn't.

A resident called security when he first arrived at the playground this morning but there was no answer. The resident then went to a nearby building to use the lobby intercom to try and contact security. When security finally picked up they told the resident they put out a call to have it cleaned up a while ago but would put in another call. When the dangerous glass still wasn't picked up an hour later, the tenant placed a third call to security who snapped "I just got the call" and hung up. Two hours after that call the above photo was taken of the glass which had yet to be picked up.

In all fairness their was a Sponge Bob marathon this morning.

Via Town & Village

Via Town & Village

Today, Stuy Town residents received junk mail from their landlord, Tishman Speyer, who are so desperate to fill vacant apartments they have revived their old Mini-Cooper giveaway contest. Zzz.

Earlier this year Tishman Speyer, known for giving away gift cards, coupons, and free rent to tenants who coerce their friends into making the Stuy Town move, launched a new and highly mocked Mini-Cooper giveaway contest. The deal promised a year-long lease for a Mini-Cooper to the lucky tenant who referred the most people to the financially troubled housing complex. A few tenants who didn't immediately throw out the offer and read the fine print quickly learned the car may in fact be used and taxes were not included in the deal. Add that to the task of finding a parking spot for the trendiest car of 2003 and suddenly the deal wasn't sounding so great.

Like an unwanted case of Herpes Zoster, the painful promotion is back and this time Tishman Speyer has sweetened the deal by offering a brand new car along with a year of free parking. Of course the obvious problem with the promotion is that neither Tishman Speyer's self-created transient community who can barely remember that leaving bags of garbage in the halls is not cool, nor their long time residents who despise them,  will find the initiative to tell friends about the dump they live in.

Three years ago this month, Stuyvesant Town was a bees' nest of tenant activism. Rallies with bullhorns, press conferences and elected officials littered the 80-acre brick city on the East Side. The reason? MetLife was selling the longtime middle-class enclave that was Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village, and the tenants, terrified of the pressure a new owner would face to raise rents and deregulate apartments, were pushing their own bid to buy the property themselves.

In the end, MetLife went with real estate giant Tishman Speyer and its then historic $5.4 billion offer, leaving the tenants dejected.

Now, as real estate values have plunged from their peaks--which happened to roughly coincide with the November 2006 sale--and buildings around the city are failing to fetch the rents that their quixotic, often leverage-happy buyers envisioned, another viewpoint of the Speyer victory, from the tenants' perspective, might make more sense: as a stroke of good fortune.

"Considering that it's being assessed as low as $2.1 billion," said Alvin Doyle, president of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, "yes, I'm glad we lost the bid."

From the moment that MetLife put the 11,250-apartment, postwar complex on the block in September 2006, it was clear the contest for Stuy Town was going to be a pricey battle, as New York City real estate's biggest names all wanted a chance at the trophy.

Now, the prospect of default looms for Tishman Speyer, and a rent-regulation case being decided by the state's top court could leave the complex with a value of just a fraction of its sale price.

Stuyvesant Town, New York City's most litigious faux-lux complex, is being forced to evict nearly 50 new tenants because of overlooked criminal records. The market rate tenants, including a dozen or so college students, are receiving letters stating that management failed to run the appropriate background checks on them before their leases were signed and their past criminal records disqualify them from renting in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The snafu has left the hopeless tenants with a little more than a week to find new apartments.

Tishman Speyer is having difficultly renting apartments in their financially troubled Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes. Having nearly depleted their cash reserve the residential real estate newbies have discontinued renovating apartments which has turned off potential renters who'd prefer not to live in apartments with lead paint and kitchens dating back to the '40s. Frantic to fill apartments, Tishman Speyer has been waving first and last months rent along with security deposits to appeal to new renters. Though Tishman Speyer no longer checks the credit scores of new tenants they do still check criminal records, at least, they are supposed to.

Anthony Attenborough moved into his Stuyvesant Town apartment this past June. Last week he received a letter from Tishman Speyer that stated he had until September 31st to find a new apartment because of his criminal past. "I was arrested at a college protest years ago and was booked for disorderly conduct. That hardly qualifies as a criminal past!"

Attenborough is not alone. 47 other residents are being evicted this month for similar misdemeanor charges including unpaid parking tickets, disorderly conduct, and trespassing. "This is crazy," Katie Coughlin tells us. "When I was 17 I got into a fight with my boyfriend in a 7-11 parking lot. We were taken into custody for trespassing and disorderly conduct and released to our parents shortly thereafter. And for that I am going to lose my apartment?"

The problem started when a new employee in Stuyvesant Town's leasing office failed to check their new renters for criminal records during the months of May and June of 2009. "We look the other way on a lot of things when we rent apartments here but never on criminal records," said one employee who asked to remain anonymous. "When we realized what had happened we promptly fired the employee and began checking backgrounds."  The anonymous source admits most of the criminal records were for minor crimes though she did find a repeat arsonist, a registered sex offender, and a shoplifter.

"I'm going to have to move in with a friend until I find another apartment," says the soon to be displaced Tammy Tranito. "This is totally unacceptable!"

When asked for comment, unsympathetic Tishman Speyer spokesperson, Bud Perrone, said "Jaywalking is a crime in my book!"

Via The New York Times

In a stunning reversal, New York State's highest court on Tuesday upheld Gov. David A. Paterson's authority to appoint a lieutenant governor.

Though the decision was divided -- four judges agreed that Mr. Paterson exercised proper authority while three said he did not -- it was unambiguous in its affirmation of the governor's authority. The 4-to-3 decision resolved a longstanding constitutional question, and makes Richard Ravitch the first appointed lieutenant governor in New York State's history.

Since the state's first Constitution was adopted in 1777, no New York governor had ever tried to fill a vacancy in the job of lieutenant governor.

"The issue on this appeal is whether the governor of the state of New York has the authority to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor by appointment," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote for the majority. "We now hold that he does."

In a sharply worded dissent, Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr. wrote that the decision was "contrary to the text of the New York Constitution and affords governors unprecedented power to appoint a successor."

The ruling is certain to boost the political fortunes of the beleaguered governor, who was himself lieutenant governor before he replaced Gov. Eliot Spitzer in March 2008 after Mr. Spitzer was implicated in a scandal over his involvement in a prostitution ring.

Updated 5:04PM

If you are a Rent Stabilized Tenant, you have already received - or will received - a notice from the Division of Housing & Community Renewal advising that Tishman Speyer has applied for a Major Capital Improvement (MCI) rent increase to cover the cost of resurfacing, water tank, and doors.  PLEASE DO NOT DISCARD THE NOTICE.  INSTEAD, PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  We are asking you to request a 60-day extension to respond to the notice, which will give the Association time to analyze the MCI application and develop a plan of action.

1. Make two (2) copies of the notice from DHCR.

2. On the back of one copy, write:  I request a 60-day extension.  Sign it and write the date you are mailing it.  Also include the docket number that appears on the fourth line at the upper right hand corner of the notice.  (It will have two letters, a space, 6 numbers, another space, and two more letters.)  Each building has a different Docket Number.

3. Mail the form to: State of New York, Div. of Housing & Community Renewal, MCI Unit, 92-31 Union Hall St., Jamaica, NY 11433.  Reminder:  Postage is now 44 cents.

4. Mail another copy of the form to: STPCV Repaving MCI, ST/PCV-TA, P.O. Box 1202, New York, NY 10009-1202.  This is for the use of the Tenants Association's attorney.

5. Keep the other copy for yourself.  You will need it again in a month or two when you file the Response to the MCI Rent Increase Application.  Don't worry about that now.  We will send you full instructions for filing when the time comes.

Every resident who sends in the extension request will be helping the Tenants Association to mount an effective challenge of a rent increase whose legitimacy we will seriously question. The increases already reported to us range from $7.50 to $11 per room per month.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely, 

Al Doyle, President

Via the the Mother Goose of newspapers,  The New York Times

"THROUGHOUT law school, Atossa Movahedi was unhappy with her living quarters. First came a share near frenetic Times Square. Then came a share in dormlike Stuyvesant Town...

But when she hunted downtown for a one-bedroom rental of her own, she had a tough time deciding. On the one hand, everything she saw was basically fine. On the other hand, everything had some kind of problem, even though she didn't feel she was asking for much.

Her monthly budget was around $1,600. Given her preference for a one-bedroom, not a studio, "I knew I was going to have to give up something," she said. She just didn't know what.

Miss Movahedi, 27, comes from Newton, Mass., near Boston. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and received a master's degree in international politics from American University in Washington. When she enrolled in New York Law School four years ago, two friends living in the theater district needed a roommate. So she moved to the Ellington, a rental tower on West 52nd Street. Her share was $1,300 a month.

The musical "Hairspray" was playing on her block, so she constantly pushed through lines of theatergoers. Honks and sirens awakened her at night. "I had anxiety that I never had before," she said.

After two years, she and one roommate moved to a Stuyvesant Town one-bedroom. She paid $1,560 for half of the living room, while her roommate paid $1,810 for the bedroom. The neighbors included plenty of noisy students."

Everything but the bathroom sink [NYT]

"The Posting article on Sept. 6 about new high-end residential developments on the eastern end of 14th Street in Manhattan overstated the improvements on the street made by Tishman Speyer Properties after it acquired Stuyvesant Town, the World War II-era housing complex. The supermarket on the 14th Street side of Stuyvesant Town already existed; it was not developed by the company."

Still no correction on the mysterious signage (?) and "new plantings"...unless they mean the unattended weeds.

"Our fellow scribes at National Real Estate Investor, for example, report that last month, "Tishman Speyer Properties defaulted on loans associated with the acquisition of 28 Washington, D.C.-area office buildings for $2.8 billion from the Blackstone Group in 2006. Blackstone sold the portfolio to Tishman at the height of the market, the same month it purchased CarrAmerica, the portfolio's previous owner. Tishman also owns Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building in New York and controls assets worth an estimated $35 billion."

We hear in the channel that another market peak investment made by Tishman, namely the $5.4 billion buyout of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan's East Side, could be going pear shaped in the not too distant future. One of our colleagues in the ratings community who lives in Stuyvesant Town and participated in an effort by fellow residents to make a competing offer for a buyout, says that the closest that the banks advising their group could get to the valuation agreed by Tishman was $3.5 billion, suggesting that the deal could now be close to 50% under water.

Got to hand it to Snoopy and the folks at Met Life for stuffing the banksters on that trade.

The same source tells The IRA that Tishman apparently thought they could force rent stabilized tenants out of this unique community on Manhattan's Lower East Side much faster than has been the case. The idea was eject the current tenant, upgrade the apartment and remove it from rent stabilization, then lease at $2,000 and more to make the $5.4 billion valuation work. Well, not. The tenants, being New Yorkers, sued and Tishman lost a ruling in a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court accusing the landlords of illegally raising rents and deregulating rent-controlled apartments. "It could ultimately cost them up to $200 million that they don't have," reported The New York Times. The matter is still before the NY courts on appeal.

The funniest part of this sad tale is that because the City of New York decades ago gave the land for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to Met Life in return for building affordable housing, the ultimate motive of the new investors to upgrade the apartments and end the rent controls on same is probably not even possible under New York law. This is the key issue now before the New York State Court of Appeals, which is the state's highest court, by the way. And the lawsuit would effect all rent controlled apartments in New York City."

Read Full Article: Exposure at Default: As Banks Shrink, So Does the Economy [elnuevoparquet.com]

Via The Huffington Post

"I know it's not nice to gloat -- to say "I told you so" -- but the recent news reports on the financial turmoil at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village -- involving over 11,000 apartments in 110 buildings -- is just too good a story of greed and stupidity to let it pass.

The project was purchased in 2008 by Tishman Speyer for over five billion dollars. There was a near universal sentiment in the housing advocacy community, including my organization, the Community Service Society, that given the large number of rent regulated units in the complex, there was no way the rent rolls could come close to meeting the nearly four billion dollars in mortgage-backed debt, far less to provide a return to Tishman Speyer for the $800 million it invested in the deal -- unless -- it was the new owners' intention to push moderate income tenants out and replace them with well-heeled renters willing to pay rents at a much higher price.

This is a classic example of "predatory equity," an advocate's term for the incredibly harmful practice of investing equity and securing bank loans to buy rental apartments at inflated prices. Why would investors and banks do this? Basically because at the height of the housing boom, and even at the beginning of the downturn, there was almost a religious belief that rental housing prices would never fall in the New York real estate market, and there were an unlimited number of affluent people waiting for apartments as soon as you could get rid of low and moderate income tenants."

Read Full Article: Predatory Equity [Huffington Post]

Via Town & Village

This lonely "No Dogs" sign is ten feet from the previously mentioned spilled paint.

Some super genius spilled, then walked through, a gallon of paint on the First Avenue Loop in Stuyvesant Town. The Pollock inspired puddle has been ignored for almost two weeks by what's left of Tishman Speyer's management team. No word if there will be yet another MCI for the flare.

Stuyvesant Town, New York City's version of Court TV, is hoping to distract residents from the historic financial crisis that threatens the future of the complex by naming a new road on the property this weekend - New Broadway.
 
Much like the original Broadway - formerly the Wickquasgeck Trail which was carved into the brush land of Manhattan by Native Americans - New Broadway was forged through the Oval lawn by Stuyvesant Town Yunnies, too busy and too bored to use the traditional roads within the community in crisis. New Broadway hopes to be a symbolic pathway in modern day Stuy Town though some residents are skeptical and see New Broadway as a cost cutting tactic for the change-rolling Tishman Speyer.

Stuyvesant Town's once pristine Oval lawn has become a muddy, malaria-friendly bog under Tishman Speyer's management. Snakes such as the poisonous Water Moccasin, indigenous to the area in the 1600's, are making a comeback and have been spotted on the lawn, striking residents who get too close. At one point the lawn got so bad there were plans to bag it up and throw it out. But much like the brave Indians who made their way through the wilderness of Manhattan Island, Stuy Town's Yunnies, (short for young urban narcissists), have forged their own path through the septic swampland.
 
When we asked 23 year old Amber Amberose why she used New Broadway to cut through the Oval rather than the paved road, she flicked her cigarette at our reporter saying, "like, whatev. Leave me alone." The frail 22 year old Drew Dunn, wearing black skinny jeans and a black and yellow flannel shirt says when she's trying to buy weed in the Oval, there's no time to waste.  "I'm not going to walk all the way around the Oval," she said in a huff.

Other residents feel New Broadway is just another cost-cutting tactic for the penny pinching Tishman Speyer. "Sticking a sign in the ground that reads 'New Broadway' is obviously cheaper than reseeding the lawn," says longtime resident Charles Chattameyer. "Plus with the wet summer we had, who knows how much of that toxic waste below the Oval rose to the surface," he says referring to the highly contaminated soil left underground by the former Gas House District. "It's probably why the lawn is dying in the first place."

When asked for comment on the naming of New Broadway this weekend, Tishman Speyer's spokesperson, Bud Perrone, said "so long as it's not called J-51 I don't care what they call it!"

Via The New York Times

Millions in Rebates at Stake in Rent Case Before Top Court

ALBANY -- When the Court of Appeals decides whether the landlords of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the sprawling developments on Manhattan's East Side, have to repay millions of dollars in rent overcharges to thousands of tenants, its ruling could very well depend on a single word: "became."

Oral arguments on Thursday before the state's highest court sounded at times like a grammar lesson, as lawyers representing the tenants and the landlords, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, faced numerous questions from the judges about the definition of the word. What "became" means as it applies to the state's rent regulation law is at the center of the landlords' contention they acted lawfully when they deregulated apartments in the two complexes and raised rents.

$15 million case involves a lease renewal by Saatchi & Saatchi.

Just what Tishman Speyer needs, another suit to fight in court. Last week, a brokerage firm sued the developer for at least $15 million over a commission. The suit came just as Tishman Speyer was appealing a devastating court decision that prevented it from deregulating rent at apartments in Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village.

In the new action, Peter R. Friedman Ltd. alleged in a complaint that Tishman Speyer owes it a commission on ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi's 2008 decision to renew its lease at 375 Hudson St. The brokerage represented Saatchi when it signed the original lease in 1985 and says its deal with Tishman Speyer requires the real estate giant to pay a commission on the renewal.

Brokerage firms rarely sue landlords over commissions because they don't want to develop a reputation for being contentious or litigious in an industry where the two sides work together closely during negotiations and where personal relationships are very important.

But Peter R. Friedman is not a major brokerage, and it's unclear just how much business the firm has conducted recently. The company's founder, Peter Friedman, was once a prominent real estate broker, winning a Real Estate Board of New York deal of the year award in 1992 along with his partner. However, in 1999, the two pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Lehr Construction in return for work at the Bertelsmann Building, at 1540 Broadway, according to The New York Times. The two men were ordered to make $1.5 million in restitution to Bertelsmann, the Times reported.

The earlier case has nothing to do with the current action, says Mr. Friedman's lawyer, Barry Slotnick. Mr. Friedman is still a licensed real estate broker who is "very active" in real estate in New York and across the country, Mr. Slotnick said.

A spokesman for Tishman Speyer said the suit had no merit, and a Saatchi spokeswoman declined comment.

Tishman Speyer clearly has bigger legal troubles. If it loses a case in front of the New York state Court of Appeals, it could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in back rent to tenants whose apartments had been illegally deregulated. Moreover, Tishman Speyer and its partner have largely run through reserves for the sprawling complex they bought in 2006 for $5.4 billion. They overestimated the number of apartments they could deregulate and are now in danger of defaulting on the $4.5 billion portion of the loan that has been sold off to various investors if an equity infusion or recapitalization doesn't happen.

Broker sues Tishman Speyer in commission dispute [Crain's]

The Week's Winners and Losers

Winners

IRENE ROSENFELD
The Kraft CEO makes sweet bid to buy Cadbury for $16.7B.

JAMES GORMAN
Co-president of Morgan Stanley, who's name is an anagram, tapped to be new CEO replacing John Mack.

MELANIE OUDIN
The 17-year-old rising tennis star wows US Open crowd, Madison Avenue.

Losers

JERRY SPEYER
His 2006 purchase of Stuyvesant Town for $5.4B now only holds about half that value.

DAVID JACKSON
Dubai sovereign fund chief forced to restructure operation as pricey acquisitions start to show strain.

TIM ZAGAT
Foodie guide founder sees sales tumble as rivals' free Web sites eat their lunch.

Business: The Week's Winners and Losers [NY Post]

Dear Stuy Town Residonts,

At last! It finally here! The moth of September and that can only meen one thing. That's right, your ever so valuable consearges have cooked up a fresh batch of events at the Oval Amenities, or as some of you sourpuss residents refer to as, the oval atrocities.

I know what you are thinking, Manny, we are alredy halfway through the Month of Spetmeber, why are you telling us about these spectacular evints just only now? Well, as you may have read in the newspaper or seen on the TV or laughed at on the Internit, Stuyvesant Town is having a little finashil issue so Manny and the other consearjes have been rolling change for the past two weeks. But fear not, Oval Conerage has paid its rent and promises to provide you with the monumental sericve yous come to expect, until october. So now, the events!

We know that you have been waching your figure throughout the summer to keep those bangin beach bods in shape. But now the fall is here and it is time to hide under comfy sweaters, loosen your gucci belts, and stuff your pie holes. That is why we have too food related events for you which are 'A taste of Stuy Town with Food Network Chef Daniel Boone'. Now we know what you are thinking, what does a chef named Daniel Boone consider stuy town kwuizine? And you can relax. He is not an exxplorer or furby trader, and will not be cooking up oval rats, cock roaches, field mice and will not use bed bugs as a garnish. Quite franklee we are not shure what Stuy Town kwizine is and cant tell you whatit tatste like so you better arttend this delishous event with us and find out!

Also be sure to check out the fresh baked delights at the 'Pastry Tasting with Donut Pub'
i know, five words you nevrr thought you'd hear in once sentence!

While you are walking through the oval be sure to indulge your creative side by watching Art battles at the Oval LOUNge. We moved the event from the oval lawn to the Oval Lounge after we lost three children in the malaria mud over the summer. Residents are reminded NOT to use markers filled with glass etching fluid on the windows like some trickster did last month. Though we like to keep things real around here is is not cool to write things like "I'm dying a slow and painful death in here. please send help!" with an arrow pointing to the lonely Oval film guy. Those windows are for looking now drawing!

And for those fashinestas and Gossip Squirrels we have a night of enchantment and beauty at Oval Study sponsired by Stila beauty. Remember girls you may think you look good but there is always someone out there hotter and thinner than you so flip-flop yourself over to the beauty party and learn how to be more smokin.

So please come see for yourself the wide ranging events we have in order for you this segway moth of Spetmener. And remember, be sure to tell tham that Manny sent you!

Manny
Ovil Concerarge / Amenities
American Loson
Newark Sirport
Mary j Blije

Via the New York Post

The extent to which developer Tishman Speyer overpaid for Manhattan's iconic Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex came into focus yesterday after real-estate experts said the properties' value had sunk to $2.1 billion -- less than half of what Tishman paid three years ago.

And the value could drop even more if the company loses a pivotal court case presented yesterday before the New York State Court of Appeals that could impact the developer's ability to convert rent-regulated apartments into market-rate units.

The state's highest court is expected to rule next month on the matter. The issue has also prevented Tishman, run by Jerry Speyer and son Rob, from restructuring the massive debt load attached to the 80-acre apartment complex on the east side of Manhattan.

If the appeals court sides with the lower court, Tishman may simply turn the keys of the property over to the mortgage company, industry watchers predict.

But even if it wins this case, it's going to need to negotiate with lenders for more time to generate income on the property, sources said.

"They may say to lenders, 'Give us a 12-month forbearance'" to get back on track, said Steve Kuritz of real-estate research firm Realpoint LLC.

At issue is Tishman's overly rosy projection when it and a group of investors, including asset manager Blackrock, bought the property for nearly $5.4 billion in 2006.

At the time, the proud, new owners outlined grand plans to convert up to 60 percent of the complex's more than 11,000 units to higher-earning market-rate rentals by 2011.

But the tenants fought Tishman's plan tooth and nail, forcing the new landlord to shell out more money than expected to convert fewer apartments than planned.

Currently, just 39 percent of the apartments are higher-priced rentals, up from 27 percent at the time of purchase.

If Tishman loses the case, brought forth by angry tenants, it could be forced to reverse its hard-won conversions and say goodbye forever to the money it spent evicting tenants and renovating their apartments for higher-paying renters.

Yesterday, lawyers for the defense, which includes insurance company MetLife, begged the court to allow it to at least retain the conversions it has obtained thus far -- even if the lower court's ruling is upheld.

But even assuming the complex is allowed to retain its current number of market-rate apartments, the development is worth a measly $2.1 billion, according Kuritz's calculations.

Meanwhile, the developers are blowing through a $650 million cash reserve established at the time of purchase to pay for things like mortgage interest. The reserve has dwindled to just $62 million, and is expected to vanish sometime between December and March.

As The Post reported last month, Tishman put fundraising plans on hold as a result of the pending court case, which could dramatically change it revenue projections.

Stuy Town Down [NY Post]

Via Real Estate Channel

(NEW YORK, NY) -- Things look bleak over at  Tishman Speyer's  56-building, twin apartment Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan.

Fitch Ratings reports debt service reserves for six loans totaling $4.5 billion are likely to run out by the end  of  this  year. A default on the loan is likely if an equity infusion or recapitalization does not take place
 
Please see Real Estate Channel posting, Jan. 26, 2009,  "Clock Ticking on Tishman Speyer's $4.5B Loan Payments."),  .

Pieces of a $3 billion pari passu (without preference or priority) Stuy Town loan are securitized in the following transactions:

 -- WBCMT 2007-C30; -- COBALT 2007-C2;  --ML-CFC 2007-5; -- ML-CFC 2007-6.

Fitch  has downgraded  these  four U.S. CMBS transactions due to the continued  underperformance of the Stuy Town loan and other loans in the transactions.

The  outcome of the ongoing Stuy Town litigation may have future rating implications for the four transactions, notes Fitch analyst and senior director  Adam Fox.

The  outcome of the ongoing Stuy Town litigation may have future rating implications for the four transactions, notes Fitch analyst and senior director  Adam Fox.

"Based  on  current  performance and the uncertainty surrounding ongoing litigation,   we   do not expect  property  performance  to  improve sufficiently to service the securitized portion of the $4.5 billion debt before reserves are depleted', says Fox.

In  addition  to  the  securitized  balance, there is an additional $1.5 billion  of mezzanine  debt  held outside the trust.

For the year ended 2008,  the  servicer  reported debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) on the mortgage  was 0.69 times (x), as compared to the year ended 2007 DSCR of 0.55x.

For  first  quarter-2009 (1Q'09), the servicer reported DSCR was 0.71x. As of July 2009, approximately 60% were rent-stabilized units and 40% were market units with a vacancy rate of approximately 4.1%.

Based on first quarter financials reviewed by Fitch, cash  flow  generated  from the property remains  "significantly  below  what  is needed to service the current outstanding debt,  and  the borrower continues to use debt service reserves to cover operating shortfalls," the agency says.

Capital  expenditures  for  converting  stabilized units to market rents have  ceased  because of a moratorium on conversion imposed by the Court of Appeals as a result of the litigation.

While this has reduced capital expenditures, the use of debt service reserves has increased because the Court  also  requires  the  borrower to separately escrow the difference between   stabilized  and  market  rents  on  former  stabilized  units, Fox says.

Previously,  this  difference  was available for debt service. Once debt service  reserves  have  been  depleted,  the borrower has the option to replenish them or cover the operating shortfalls out of pocket.

Fitch's  analysis  is  based  on  updated  expectations  of limited unit turnover  and  stabilized expenses. Based on this estimate of cash flow, losses  could  be  as  high  as  20%  of  the $3 billion A note balance.

However,  although  a  default  is  expected in the near term, a lengthy workout  is  also  expected.

While final resolution for this lawsuit may not occur for several months or years, Fitch believes the ultimate value of  the  properties  will be, in large part, determined by the lawsuit's  resolution.

Manhattan's Stuyvestant Town and Peter Cooper Village Finances Continue to Lag, Fitch Reports [Real Estate Channel]

Tishman Speyer Properties LP has lost more than $3.2 billion on the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment complex and is at risk of defaulting on its loans, according to credit rating company Realpoint LLC.

The 80-acre property, bought for $5.4 billion in 2006, has a market value of about $2.13 billion, Realpoint said. Today Tishman Speyer's lawyers will be in the New York State Court of Appeals asking a judge to reverse a lower court decision that said it didn't have the right to deregulate more than 4,000 apartments and raise rents for some tenants.

Realpoint's valuation is based on an assumption that Tishman Speyer and its partner in the transaction, BlackRock Realty LP, won't be able to carry out their strategy of converting rent regulated units to market rates, said Steve Kuritz, senior vice president at Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Realpoint. Tishman Speyer obtained financing for the purchase based on plans to increase some rents.

"If the decision is upheld by the Court of Appeals, it will make it difficult, if not impossible for the developers to continue to pay their debt service," Bret Salzer, managing principal at FrontView Advisors LLC, a real estate investment firm in New York, said in an e-mail.

Tishman helped finance the purchase with a $3 billion loan that was bundled into commercial mortgage backed securities.

Via crainsnewyork.com

A New York appeals court will hear on Thursday a case involving rent regulation and Tishman Speyer's role at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

The number of rent-regulated apartments in the city could be dramatically altered by a case the New York state Court of Appeals is slated to hear in Albany Thursday. Rent paid by thousands of individuals and the income of hundreds of landlords could be significantly affected the decision, expected to be handed down by the end of the year.

The issue is whether landlords can deregulate apartments while simultaneously receiving what are known as J-51 tax abatements, which are given for making building improvements. In March, a lower court ruled that Tishman Speyer Properties has been illegally deregulating apartments at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village because it was receiving the tax breaks. Former owner Metropolitan Life was also named in the suit.

The case is critical for Tishman Speyer, which bought the sprawling complex in 2006 for $5.4 billion with plans of deregulating substantial numbers of units to increase cash flow and pare down debt. Tishman Speyer vastly overestimated the number of units it could deregulate, and as a result, experts say the real estate firm may run through its cash reserves by the end of year. In a report issued last month, Fitch Rating said that a default is likely on the $4.5 billion portion of the loan that has been sold off to various investors if an equity infusion or recapitalization doesn't happen.

Sources said that the case has stymied Tishman Speyer's attempt to shore up the complex's finances to date. They also say that a loss would be devastating. One lawyer estimated Tishman Speyer might have to repay $200 million to tenants it overcharged, and it would not be able to deregulate more apartments.

Tishman Speyer declined to comment, but sources have noted the company was just following standard industry practice. In a court filing, it requests that even if the decision is upheld, any remedy should not be applied retroactively.

Jack Lester, an attorney representing Stuyvesant Town residents on a related matter, said it is possible the court won't tackle the issue of the retroactive rent even if it decides in favor of the tenants, which would likely lead to further litigation.

"The J-51 benefits were intended to maintain affordable housing in the city," Mr. Lester said. "If the court upholds the decision it will help preserve access to affordable housing."

The court's decision affects landlords besides Tishman Speyer, although no one is sure just how many companies or apartments will be hit. About half the city's 2 million rental apartments are regulated. Apartments can be deregulated for several reasons but the majority leave the system when they are vacated and their rents hit $2,000.

"The question is why should those who can afford to pay $2,000 be protected by rent regulation?" said Frank Ricci, director of government affairs for the Rent Stabilization Association, a lobbying group for landlords.

Mr. Ricci said that the city's tax revenues would suffer if the court rules against Tishman Speyer because landlords pay assessments based on their buildings' income, and revenue would fall if rents can't rise or have to be rolled back. He noted that if landlords are forced to repay tenants some back rents, landlords would like demand that some of their taxes been returned.

Huge legal test on rent regulation looms for landlords [Crain's NY Business]

Related
Stuy Town Owners in Court Over Rent Boosts [NBC NY]
Top NY court hears Stuyvesant Town rent arguments [WCAX]
When a Real Estate Deal Goes Bad [NYT]
Report: Stuy Town Owners At Risk Of Defaulting On Loan [NY1]
Stuytown and Peter Cooper Village Owners Risk Default on Loans [WNYC]
Tishman, BlackRock could default on StuyTown loans [The Deal]
East Side Megacomplex's Value Down 60% [Curbed]

Via Gothamist

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."

The city's housing commission, among others, believes Tishman Speyer, which controversially acquired the properties for $5.4 billion three years ago, is at high risk of default on some $4.4 billion in loans. Sources say the company only has enough juice to hold on until February, and even co-CEO Rob Speyer admits "the asset is going to require a restructuring. Once the court case is resolved, we'll speak to our debt holders as well as our fellow equity investors." In March the state appeals court ruled that developer Tishman Speyer had wrongfully raised rents and deregulated thousands of apartments after receiving special tax breaks; the decision is being appealed, but if upheld, the market-rate tenants could seek treble damages, costing Tishman Speyers and parteners more than $200 million. (A ruling is expected as soon as tomorrow.)

Naturally, the whole mess has tenants uneasy; Daniel R. Garodnick, a city councilman who lives in Peter Cooper Village, says, "Residents are increasingly concerned that the maintenance of the buildings is slipping, even as they are getting hit with a flurry of potential charges for major capital improvements." And a recent report from Realpoint, a credit rating agency, estimates that the property has a value today of only $2.13 billion, suggesting $1.9 billion in equity has gone down the drain.

Rafael E. Cestero, the city's housing commissioner, tells the Times, "We are absolutely keeping an eye on it. It's an iconic complex. We're not doing this to bail out anybody who was part of the original transaction. Those folks are going to take their lumps. We are looking at how we can ensure that the rent-stabilized units and the families that live there and families that could live there in the future could be insulated from the unwinding of this deal."

Stuyvesant Town And Peter Cooper Village On Verge of Ruin [Gothamist]

Via The New York Times

Three years ago, the sale of the 110 red brick apartment buildings at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan amounted to the biggest American real estate deal of all time.

Now the buyers are running out of time and money. Jerry and Rob Speyer and their partner, BlackRock Realty, who together paid $5.4 billion for the quiet middle-class redoubt near the East River, have nearly exhausted an additional $890 million set aside for apartment renovations, landscaping and interest payments. Rents are down 25 percent from their peak.

Real estate analysts say that the partnership's money will run out as soon as December and that the owners are at "high risk" of default on $4.4 billion in loans. Two real estate executives who have been briefed on the finances insist that the owners can hold out, but only until February.

On Thursday, the partnership will go before the Court of Appeals in Albany to try to overturn a lower court decision that could force them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in rent rebates to thousands of tenants.

Regardless of the outcome at the Court of Appeals, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are in trouble. City officials have been monitoring the looming crisis, worried that the financial problems could eventually lead to default, deferred maintenance and disinvestment at a complex that has served as an oasis of affordability in Manhattan for middle-class New Yorkers. Some 6,875 of the 11,227 apartments at the two adjoining complexes are rent regulated.

"We are absolutely keeping an eye on it," said Rafael E. Cestero, the city's housing commissioner. "It's an iconic complex."

"We're not doing this to bail out anybody who was part of the original transaction," he added. "Those folks are going to take their lumps. We are looking at how we can ensure that the rent-stabilized units and the families that live there and families that could live there in the future could be insulated from the unwinding of this deal."

Rob Speyer, who is co-chief executive of Tishman Speyer Properties with his father, Jerry, acknowledged the problem, saying that it went beyond the need for a cash infusion from the partners and their investors, which include Calpers, the giant California pension fund that is the nation's largest, as well as other pension funds.

"The asset is going to require a restructuring," he said. "Once the court case is resolved, we'll speak to our debt holders as well as our fellow equity investors."

But between the $5.4 billion purchase price and four "reserve funds" with $890 million, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock spent $6.3 billion acquiring Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village from the original owner, Metropolitan Life.

The deal has become a "poster child" for all that was wrong with that era of easy credit, highly speculative deals and greed, said Ben Thypin, an analyst at Real Capital Analytics, a research firm.

A recent report from Realpoint, a credit rating agency, estimates that the property has a value today of only $2.13 billion. That would seem to indicate that $1.9 billion in equity in the deal has been completely wiped out.

"The lender has to determine its own interests, as does the equity," Rob Speyer said. "When the time comes we will be fair and reasonable and hope to get a new deal done."

The Stuyvesant Town travail has put a dent in the armor of Tishman Speyer, a real estate company that zealously protects its image as the preferred caretaker for the city's crown jewels: Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building and the Met Life Building on Park Avenue. Indeed, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said as much in response to criticism when they bought Stuyvesant Town that the city should have supported a rival $4 billion bid from tenants.

Like other developers and real estate managers, Tishman Speyer has been left holding a couple of sour deals now that the real estate and credit markets have collapsed. A partnership led by the Speyers defaulted recently on debt payments for its $2.8 billion acquisition of CarrAmerica, a collection of 28 prime office buildings in Washington.

Its $22 billion purchase of Archstone-Smith Trust, a vast collection of 400 apartment complexes, has also fared poorly. Earlier this year, the banks that financed the deal were forced to pour in another $500 million to give Archstone more time to sell properties and reduce its debt. Tishman Speyer, whose investment fund invested $250 million in the deal expecting to get 13 percent of the profits, declined to participate. Its 1 percent stake was reduced substantially.

Rob Speyer said that in both cases the properties have "a lot of long-term value." But the bad deals also represent only a fraction of the $35 billion in real estate assets that it owns or manages in the United States, India, China and Brazil. At the top of the market, he said the company also sold $10 billion worth of property over six months in 2007, including The New York Times Building in Manhattan, which went for $525 million, three times what it paid less than three years earlier.

Despite several bad deals, the Speyers insist their company is still providing investors with "20 percent returns" and has $2 billion to invest in new deals. "You show me anybody who measured up to that standard," Jerry I. Speyer said.

Via EV Grieve

The R&S Strauss building on Avenue C and 14th Street that was sold in January 2009 for $12.3 million was purchased by the Arun Bhatia Development Organization, a company that specializes in luxury condos and dorms. A recent NYT infomercial about the development of the east side of 14th Street discusses a Meatpacking-like vibe that may come to the south of Stuyvesant Town. God help us.

East 14th Street Destined to become Just Like West 14th Street [EV Grieve]

A typo-filled article in the NY Post this morning (is Manny moonlighting?!) about the history of Manhattan Island left us wanting to know more about the island Indians were duped into trading for $1,000 worth of nuts and berries. Thanks to the website The Mannahatta Project, we can see what the land ST/PCV was built on looked like in 1609.

In an article today about the revitalization of 14th Street, reporter C.J. Hughes gushes about the wonderful gifts Tishman Speyer's bankrupt Stuyvesant Town has contributed to the neighborhood:

"The street's incipient revitalization may also owe something to what's already there. In fact, the fresher look to the south-facing blocks between First Avenue and Avenue C comes courtesy of adjacent Stuyvesant Town. After Tishman Speyer Properties bought the World War II-era complex in 2006, it contributed new plantings, signage and a supermarket."

If the reporter had actually visited Stuyvesant Town, it would have been painfully obvious that none of these things are true. The trees that Tish-Spey planted, you know, the ones that died in the ground, were nowhere near 14th Street. The only signage they provided were some kitschy "no pooping" lawn steaks reminding owners to curb their dogs, again nowhere near 14th Street. And who in their right mind would take credit for Associated Market, a grocery store that, for over a decade, has employed every hostile, would-be diva in a 20 mile radius?

Of course there is no mention of this car break-in, or this looting, or this other car break-in, this heroin bust, this gang violence, or Stuy Town's red light running security, all of which have taken place on 14th Street in recent months.  

Will The New York Times continue to spin such glowing stories about Stuyvesant Town even after Tishman Speyer's failed faux-lux complex runs out of cash later this year and becomes an impoverished wasteland?

Former Outpost Angles for In Crowd [NYT]

Related New York Times Fairy Tales
New York Times Does Pressure Wall Damage Control
Stuyvesant Town's Staged Press is a Disaster Too

While our Tenants Association is struggling to keep up with the flood of recent MCI applications filed by our landlord, a crucial piece of legislation is stalled in Albany. The current MCI law has us paying for new roofs, elevators, walkways, laundry room doors, etc "in perpetuity" (ie: forever). Bill A01928 overhauls MCIs so that "that rent surcharges authorized for major capital improvements shall cease when the cost of the improvement has been recovered" and that "MCI's shall be calculated as a rent surcharge and shall not become part of the base legal regulated rent..."

Past Mayors Koch, Dinkins, and Giuliani all lobbied Albany on our behalf to pass pro-tenant legislation like this. The current mayor has refused to do so for us for the past eight years, and continues to do so even in this election year. His televised claims that he's Mr affordable Housing ring pretty hollow.

Keep that in mind when election time rolls around. And remember that while market rate rents across the city (and across the country for that matter) went down this past year, Mayor Bloomberg's Rent Guideline's Board approved rent increases (and in an election year!!!) of 3% and 6% for 1 and 2 year leases for rent-regulated tenants. Candidate for mayor Comptroller Bill Thompson not only supported a rent freeze, he has "demanded that the State repeal the Urstadt Law, and return control over City rent laws to New York City residents and elected officials."

- Roundly Roger in response to "Coming Soon! Stuy Town Tenants Association Lawsuit?"

Via Town & Village

Via Town & Village

-----Original Message-----
From: Your Tenants Association <members@stpcvta.org>
To: xxxxx
Sent: Thu, Sep 3, 2009 2:21 pm
Subject: Tenants Association Questionnaire Seeks Primary Candidates' Positions on Key Issues

Tenants Association Questionnaire Seeks
Primary Candidates' Positions on Key Issues

On Monday August 31st, the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association released its first in a series of questionnaires to candidates for citywide office.

The questionnaire [PDF] asks the candidates running in the September 15th primary their positions on specific issues that affect our future. In October, we will send a similar questionnaire to candidates for all citywide offices.

Said Tenants Association  President Al Doyle, "Our community, with its large base of prime voters, has a proud tradition of informed involvement in the electoral process. With so much at stake, we are trying to rise above the din and provide information relevant to our shared issues on housing and to our future as a community. None of us has far to go to vote and we urge all registered voters to go to the polls on September 15th."

Executive Vice President Susan Steinberg added, "The importance of the primary election cannot be overstated.  In a city where the Democratic Party holds a huge advantage in registered voters, the winners of primary elections usually are also winners in November.  Each citywide office is important to the future of the tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. We=2 0hope the replies each candidate provides help tenants to make solid, informed choices."

Via The Villager

As you might expect, today's big story on Mike Bloomberg's financial tentacles and the city, from the Voice's Wayne Barrett, is long and winding, and not nearly as exciting as one brave bird's suicide attack on the mayor's plane. Much of it is innuendo and unanswered questions. (That's sort of fine and right, though: it's important, with such a mayor as ours, that you acknowledge that there's lots we cannot find out!) But there are a couple of things that, if you can parse them, you might want to give some attention.

1. Remember when all the businesses downtown, in the "aftermath of 9/11," decided that they had to bluff about their plans to move to midtown, which were patently fake lies, because when they ran the numbers, it was obviously far more expensive for them to move to midtown than to stay downtown? We're still getting hosed over that, which is completely Bloomberg's fault. Still, it's impossible to parse the web of lobbying from the just plain old rich-people-palling around aspect of how the city works. Maybe the lobbying is useless! But how else to explain the bad outcomes of pro-business decisions?

Citigroup, which was the only other office tenant in the Bloomberg LP headquarters building and is now subleasing its vacated space to Bloomberg LP, even lobbied City Hall... on behalf of the Alternative Investments Group, the very unit located in the Lexington Avenue tower. Goldman Sachs had so many issues before the administration that it took seven pages to list its lobbying activities in the city clerk system (it spent almost a million dollars). When the city and state approved $1.6 billion in low-cost, tax-exempt bonds for Goldman's new downtown headquarters in 2005, [the mayor's office] justified it by saying that Wall Street's top firm might otherwise leave the city. Last year, the Daily News editorialized that Bloomberg was "taken to the cleaners" in the Goldman deal. The city and state "are in line to forfeit a whopping $321 million to Goldman because the governor and mayor agreed to contract terms that were downright foolhardy..." [N]o one knows how big a Bloomberg customer Goldman was when it won this largesse.

The end is sort of where Barrett goes wrong; it's irrelevant how big a client anyone was of anyone! The way they are in bed goes deeper than that. Of course it does! This is New York, baby!

2. The other is the dismantling of affordable and middle-class housing, as epitomized by the to-market race of Stuyvesant Town, purchased by the Speyers, who are deeply entwined with the mayor, in cooperation Merrill Lynch, which also owned 20% of Bloomberg LP, until Bloomberg bought them out (for pennies) last year. The mayor quite clearly does not want Stuy Town tenants protected.

[W]hen the Stuy Town tenants brought the Roberts v. Tishman Speyer case in January 2007, and when they won that unanimous Appellate Division decision this March, Bloomberg once again took a "neutral" nosedive, refusing to join other city officials on the side of the tenants. Since a city tax subsidy, J-51, is at the heart of the suit, the city's silence is deafening. The complaint alleges that Speyer et al. want to have their cake and eat it, too, seeking to retain millions in tax breaks linked by law to rent regulation, while, at the same time, deregulating thousands of apartments.

    Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, hardly a Bloomberg critic, filed amicus briefs in support of the 3,000 tenants covered by the Roberts complaint twice already and is planning a third. Quinn joined an overwhelming majority of the Council in filing papers in support of the tenants last month, contending that Speyer and company "would unwork decades of commitment" by the Council and, by extension, the government that implements the laws it passes, "to require that J-51 units be rent-stabilized."

    Instead of joining them, Michael Cardozo, the mayor's corporation counsel, issued a statement in March indicating that the city "takes no position on the merits" of the case. Stringer says that the mayor should "absolutely" have joined him in siding with the tenants in court....

There, now you did some learning today, go watch some funny cat videos for a while to relax.

Bloomberg's Rich Friends, and His Silence on Affordable Housing [The Awl]

Whose more dangerous, grown-ups on bikes or children on scooters?

"I'm surprised with all of the attention given to the "rules" we have these days (no furniture dumping, no photo taking, no bird feeding), you haven't jumped on the newest rule they have decided to enforce which is no bike riding.

Unlike the other rules I know this one is real but what I don't understand is the method they are going about to prevent people from bike riding. During the day they have set up barricades at several locations in the oval with a small openings people can pass through. Sure this stops people from driving through with bikes but it is a dangerous cluster fuck when you have people, people with dogs, and kids with scooters all trying to pass through at the same time.

And why is there a ban on bike riding but not scooters? Have you seen some of those children? They barrel though the oval in packs like bats out of hell with little or no disregard to the people and pets around them. Twice this week I have seen kids once knocking into an elderly lady and on a different occasion nearly hitting a small dog that was on a leash walking very close to its owner. Meanwhile the parents are too involved in their gabfests to pay any attention to their kids getting screamed at by people they hit.

Typical to the ways things are done around here they make the food delivery people walk through the complex yet the kids on scooters can have a free for all? What is the logic in that?"

The Daily News is reporting today that uber greedy landlord Tishman Speyer is raising the rent of the French language bookstore, Librairie de France, from $300,000 a year to a whopping  $1 million a year! The store has been at the Rockefeller Center location for 74 years. Last year Tishman Speyer also forced the Rainbow Room out of their Rockefeller Center location when Tish-Spey raised their rent to $8.7 million a year, forcing the popular restaurant out. When one is involved in as many lawsuits as Tishman Speyer is, every penny counts. Quel dommage!

"Au revoir, New York.

French language bookstore Librairie de France - a Rockefeller Center destination for 74 years - is closing shop after its rent threatened to triple to an astonishing $1 million a year.

The last original retail tenant remaining in the iconic Midtown complex, Librairie de France will shut down forever at the end of this month.

"It's going to be a loss," said owner Emanuel Molho, 73, who has been working in the store since 1961. "It's very hard to let go."

But he said he has no choice. The store's 15-year lease is set to expire Sept. 30, and he estimates the owners can get close to $1 million annually for the space that has cost him $300,000, Molho said.

"We just can't afford to stay here anymore," he added. "New York is becoming impossible for retail."

The owner of Rockefeller Center, Tishman Speyer Properties, would not comment.

Molho's father, Isaac, started the business in 1928 and moved in 1935 to the La Maison Francaise, a building near the ice rink at the newly built Art Deco masterpiece.

When France was under Nazi occupation, the store published works of some 200 exiled authors, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of "The Little Prince."

Librairie de France sells classics, children's books, rare titles, travel guides and more, catering to students, libraries, tourists and ex-pats.

Its old neighbors have been replaced by high-end retailers and Molho believes - soaring rents aside - that he's no longer wanted.

"We don't fit," he said amid emptying shelves. "We're a stodgy old bookstore."

Molho announced the closing two years ago - along with plans to continue his mail-order business - after finding out Tishman Speyer did not plan to renew the lease. Thousands of books now sit in boxes, ready to be shipped to his Sutton Place home.

"They're sort of my friends. They're part of me," he said.

The long transition hasn't made it any easier. "It's like grieving somebody who is slowly dying," said Molho.

Many of his customers had similar sentiments. "This is quite tragic," said Susan Fales-Hill, 47, who has visited the shop since childhood and brought her 6-year-old daughter along yesterday.

"I was planning to continue the tradition," she said sadly.

"It's the loss of something so unique and beautiful," another life-long shopper said. "I don't know what I'll do now."

French language bookstore Librairie de France - a fixture since '35 - loses lease [NY Daily news] 

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Florida's pension lost $250 million it invested in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan's largest rental-apartment complex, the fund's trustees were told.

"We are carrying that investment at zero because the market softened dramatically," Ash Williams, executive director of the State Board of Administration, which oversees $121.9 billion of pension and other assets, told a meeting in Tallahassee today.

The SBA bought in 2007 its share of a limited partnership run by Tishman Speyer Properties LP and Blackrock Inc., owners of the property, said Williams, who was hired in October 2008.

Tishman and Blackrock acquired the 80-acre, 11,200-unit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper complex for $5.4 billion in 2006 at what Williams called "the top of the market." Their plan to convert 1,600 rent-stabilized units to market rates as residents vacated was stymied by rising unemployment during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.