Just wait until our friends at NY Mag's Daily Intel catch wind of this. 33 year old Zachari Gaston was caught on a Stuy Town roof twice last week, the first time taking a dump, and the second time going back to retrieve his 27 bags of pot he left behind. So yes, people do defecate in the stairwells, and on the roofs, and...sigh...we promise we'll lighten up on the feces-related posts next week.
February 2010 Archives
Just wait until our friends at NY Mag's Daily Intel catch wind of this. 33 year old Zachari Gaston was caught on a Stuy Town roof twice last week, the first time taking a dump, and the second time going back to retrieve his 27 bags of pot he left behind. So yes, people do defecate in the stairwells, and on the roofs, and...sigh...we promise we'll lighten up on the feces-related posts next week.
The weather is slightly warmer. Perfect day for a walk. Not in Stuyvesant Town! As the snow melts in Stuyvesant Town it's revealing the remnants of irresponsible dog owners in the form of poodle bombs throughout the complex. An angry tenant just wrote us:
"I counted no less than 4 piles of dog shit on the Ave A loop between 14th an 3 Oval around noon today. I guess people feel the snow washes it away and nobody will notice. This place did nothing but make me angry for 3 years, now it's making me nauseous."
And if the mini-loafs aren't bad enough, residents are having to deal with unleashed dogs attacking their pets. A Stuy Spy snapped a photo today of this flier outside of Associated Market which reads in part:
The writer goes on to say the dog owners had to pry the dog out of their dog's mouth and left without saying anything nor offering an appology.
Non-residents are not allowed to walk their dogs in Stuyvesant Town and Stuy Town dog owners are suppossed to keep their dogs leashed at all times. Perhaps it's time security starts enforcing the dog rules around Stuyvesant Town before another dog is attacked, or worse, a small child.
"I counted no less than 4 piles of dog shit on the Ave A loop between 14th an 3 Oval around noon today. I guess people feel the snow washes it away and nobody will notice. This place did nothing but make me angry for 3 years, now it's making me nauseous."
And if the mini-loafs aren't bad enough, residents are having to deal with unleashed dogs attacking their pets. A Stuy Spy snapped a photo today of this flier outside of Associated Market which reads in part:
"There is a brown and white bulldog short & very heavy that attacked my small dog. This dog was loose with it's irresponsible owners when I came outside 655 E14th Stuy Town at Playground 5. The dog chased my dog back up the stairs and grabbed it by the back, had my dog dangling in mid air screaming with pain and wouldn't release my dog. These people are completely irrisponsible."
The writer goes on to say the dog owners had to pry the dog out of their dog's mouth and left without saying anything nor offering an appology.
Non-residents are not allowed to walk their dogs in Stuyvesant Town and Stuy Town dog owners are suppossed to keep their dogs leashed at all times. Perhaps it's time security starts enforcing the dog rules around Stuyvesant Town before another dog is attacked, or worse, a small child.
When Stuyvesant Town residents aren't slipping on icy walkways, they are slipping on large piles of brown left behind by inconsiderate dog owners. A Stuy Spy took this photo today of a garbage can surrounded by dog feces.
When the Tishman Speyer regime took over the property, they did away with the "no dogs" policy that had been in effect since the '40s. Unfortunately they did little to nothing to prevent the place from drowning in dog urine and mini-loafs ala Gramercy Park. This means anyone with a dog, both residents and non-residents, can use the property as a pooch potty.
While some dog owners are responsible and pick up after their dogs, there are plenty of others who let their dogs yo-yo into what's left of the landscaping - on their illegal retractable leashes - to drop a bomb. Hopefully the new management will do something about this mess.
When the Tishman Speyer regime took over the property, they did away with the "no dogs" policy that had been in effect since the '40s. Unfortunately they did little to nothing to prevent the place from drowning in dog urine and mini-loafs ala Gramercy Park. This means anyone with a dog, both residents and non-residents, can use the property as a pooch potty.
While some dog owners are responsible and pick up after their dogs, there are plenty of others who let their dogs yo-yo into what's left of the landscaping - on their illegal retractable leashes - to drop a bomb. Hopefully the new management will do something about this mess.
While some parts of Stuyvesant Town are frequently graced by snow plows - they still need to show that model apartment - others are still a mess. A Stuy Spy snapped these photos around 6PM near 20th Street and First Avenue and of the 18th Street Loop. The Stuy Spy writes:
Other residents have said their buildings have been plowed but the salt is randomly dispersed, with just a handful tossed every 20 feet or so. "The stairs near the Community Center on the First Avenue Loop are an icy mess. They were shoveled this afternoon but the black ice is bad. Only one stair has rock salt on it."
"Nothing has been plowed - all these photos were taken near 20th Street and 1st Ave. In the last photo, you can see a view looking South to the north side of the 18th Street loop. The hill leading to it was covered in packed snow as well. My husband helped an elderly woman down it - horrible conditions!!!"
Other residents have said their buildings have been plowed but the salt is randomly dispersed, with just a handful tossed every 20 feet or so. "The stairs near the Community Center on the First Avenue Loop are an icy mess. They were shoveled this afternoon but the black ice is bad. Only one stair has rock salt on it."
After last week's feces-packed snowball fights, Stuy Town's management is keeping their staff on a short leash. How short you ask? Short enough they aren't allowed to use their plows! A Stuy Spy sent us these photos of an abandoned snow plow on the Avenue C Loop while another, larger plow remains abandoned near 4 Stuyvesant Oval. Break a hip leg!
Via MercuryNews.com
A state Assembly bill prompted by widespread tenant evictions in East Palo Alto would bar public pension funds from investing in businesses that force residents out of rent-controlled buildings.
The Socially Responsible Investment Act, which Assembly Member Tom Ammiano introduced Friday, would also require the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System to sell existing investments "in a company with business operations engaged in predatory investment practices.
"It is in the public's interest to enact legislation to prohibit investment of retirement funds in companies engaged in ... predatory investment practices that result in excessive rent increases imposed upon, or the eviction or displacement of, persons residing in rent-regulated housing," Assembly Bill 2337 states.
Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said he began crafting the legislation a few months ago after hearing about hundreds of tenants forced out of Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties' buildings in East Palo Alto. CalPERS invested $100 million in Page Mill, which is East Palo Alto's biggest landlord with about 1,800 rental units in 101 buildings. However, CalPERS wrote off the investment after Page Mill failed to make a $50 million balloon payment to Wells Fargo Bank on the properties last year, and a court-ordered receiver took over. CalPERS lost $500 million in a similar investment in the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town complexes in New York City, formerly a bastion of affordable housing in Manhattan.
"It's part of a line of incidents like this," Ammiano said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We also see non-CalPERS evictions in San Francisco a lot. Recently, some elderly Chinese people were all evicted around Christmas time.
Continue reading "State lawmaker introduces bill inspired by E. Palo Alto evictions" @ MercuryNews.com
A state Assembly bill prompted by widespread tenant evictions in East Palo Alto would bar public pension funds from investing in businesses that force residents out of rent-controlled buildings.
The Socially Responsible Investment Act, which Assembly Member Tom Ammiano introduced Friday, would also require the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System to sell existing investments "in a company with business operations engaged in predatory investment practices.
"It is in the public's interest to enact legislation to prohibit investment of retirement funds in companies engaged in ... predatory investment practices that result in excessive rent increases imposed upon, or the eviction or displacement of, persons residing in rent-regulated housing," Assembly Bill 2337 states.
Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said he began crafting the legislation a few months ago after hearing about hundreds of tenants forced out of Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties' buildings in East Palo Alto. CalPERS invested $100 million in Page Mill, which is East Palo Alto's biggest landlord with about 1,800 rental units in 101 buildings. However, CalPERS wrote off the investment after Page Mill failed to make a $50 million balloon payment to Wells Fargo Bank on the properties last year, and a court-ordered receiver took over. CalPERS lost $500 million in a similar investment in the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town complexes in New York City, formerly a bastion of affordable housing in Manhattan.
"It's part of a line of incidents like this," Ammiano said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We also see non-CalPERS evictions in San Francisco a lot. Recently, some elderly Chinese people were all evicted around Christmas time.
Continue reading "State lawmaker introduces bill inspired by E. Palo Alto evictions" @ MercuryNews.com
Via The New York Post
The tussle over downtown Manhattan apartment complex Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is heating up -- and this time it's the natives who are girding for battle.
Al Doyle, head of the property's tenants association, is sending out volunteers to rally support among its 25,000 residents in what could be a first step toward mounting a bid for the 110-building complex.
"Volunteers in all 110 buildings will be distributing and collecting signed pledges on an ongoing basis to illustrate the unity among residents," Doyle said in a strongly worded statement.
Doyle also sent a letter to CW Capital, head of the holders of the defaulted $3 billion mortgage, alerting them of the tenant association's interest in buying the property and warning that the association expects to be kept in the loop as things unfold.
Doyle told The Post that there's still no definite plan of action to grab control of the place, although he and the tenants association have retained law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind to help. The effort to rally tenants through the pledges is designed to ensure the residents have a voice in whatever happens to the property, he added.
"As we have said all along, it is critical for the tenants to speak with one voice," Doyle said. "Our position at the bargaining table is much stronger when we have our 25,000 residents united behind us."
Others who have expressed interest in buying the property include billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and Ofer Yardeni's Stonehenge Partners, an unsuccessful bidder in 2006.
Stuy Town Tenants Gear Up [NY Post]
The tussle over downtown Manhattan apartment complex Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is heating up -- and this time it's the natives who are girding for battle.
Al Doyle, head of the property's tenants association, is sending out volunteers to rally support among its 25,000 residents in what could be a first step toward mounting a bid for the 110-building complex.
"Volunteers in all 110 buildings will be distributing and collecting signed pledges on an ongoing basis to illustrate the unity among residents," Doyle said in a strongly worded statement.
Doyle also sent a letter to CW Capital, head of the holders of the defaulted $3 billion mortgage, alerting them of the tenant association's interest in buying the property and warning that the association expects to be kept in the loop as things unfold.
Doyle told The Post that there's still no definite plan of action to grab control of the place, although he and the tenants association have retained law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind to help. The effort to rally tenants through the pledges is designed to ensure the residents have a voice in whatever happens to the property, he added.
"As we have said all along, it is critical for the tenants to speak with one voice," Doyle said. "Our position at the bargaining table is much stronger when we have our 25,000 residents united behind us."
Others who have expressed interest in buying the property include billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and Ofer Yardeni's Stonehenge Partners, an unsuccessful bidder in 2006.
Stuy Town Tenants Gear Up [NY Post]
Via The Wall Street Journal
Calpers took a hit last year when its investment in Manhattan's Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex collapsed. But Stuyvesant Town wasn't the huge pension fund's only foray into real-estate investments that involved ousting low-rent tenants.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System has partnered with firms that have bought and converted rent-regulated buildings in East Palo Alto, Calif., and in other New York City neighborhoods, including Harlem and Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Some deals have led to losses; at least one has paid off. But whatever the investment result, the conversion of low-rent properties to market-rent apartments--and ejection of some tenants in the process--is raising concerns within and beyond Calpers about its role in these deals.
"These historical investments were made under previous investment leaders" and outside managers who handle Calpers real-estate investments, says Calpers spokesman Brad Pacheco. "Nevertheless, our current investment staff has this issue under study, and hopes to bring forward a policy discussion in the months ahead."
Calpers has been a passive investor in the deals; representatives of the fund have said that in some cases, Calpers was unaware of tenants' complaints.
Calpers, which manages about $200 billion in retirees' money and other benefits for public employees, prides itself on taking a leadership role in promoting socially responsible investing.
Continue reading "Backlash Hits Calpers Property Deals" @ The Wall Street Journal
Calpers took a hit last year when its investment in Manhattan's Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex collapsed. But Stuyvesant Town wasn't the huge pension fund's only foray into real-estate investments that involved ousting low-rent tenants.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System has partnered with firms that have bought and converted rent-regulated buildings in East Palo Alto, Calif., and in other New York City neighborhoods, including Harlem and Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Some deals have led to losses; at least one has paid off. But whatever the investment result, the conversion of low-rent properties to market-rent apartments--and ejection of some tenants in the process--is raising concerns within and beyond Calpers about its role in these deals.
"These historical investments were made under previous investment leaders" and outside managers who handle Calpers real-estate investments, says Calpers spokesman Brad Pacheco. "Nevertheless, our current investment staff has this issue under study, and hopes to bring forward a policy discussion in the months ahead."
Calpers has been a passive investor in the deals; representatives of the fund have said that in some cases, Calpers was unaware of tenants' complaints.
Calpers, which manages about $200 billion in retirees' money and other benefits for public employees, prides itself on taking a leadership role in promoting socially responsible investing.
Continue reading "Backlash Hits Calpers Property Deals" @ The Wall Street Journal
Via The New York Times
A hedge fund that has acquired a significant portion of the debt on the troubled Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes in Manhattan is seeking to take control of them.
The move is expected to complicate an already byzantine political and financial situation surrounding the largest apartment complexes in Manhattan and send tremors though the 25,000 tenants who are already worried about the future.
Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were bought by a partnership of Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty in 2006 for a record-breaking $5.4 billion. But the owners defaulted on their mortgage in January and have since agreed to turn the properties over to lenders.
Appaloosa Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund led by David Tepper, filed papers in United State District Court on Tuesday afternoon challenging the company overseeing the two sprawling complexes overlooking the East River on behalf of lenders, saying that the company has acted "irrationally and imprudently" in pursuing a course that could cost debtholders hundreds of millions of dollars.
In its motion to intervene, Appaloosa objected to a decision by the company, CW Capital Management, to foreclose on the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Villages. Arguing that a foreclosure could cost as much as $200 million in transfer taxes, Appaloosa said that CW Capital should have pushed the owners to go into bankruptcy court, thereby avoiding the necessity of paying those taxes.
Appaloosa, which has asked the court to allow it to intervene in the matter, also claims that CW Capital has "irreconcilable conflicts of interest" because it is both the "servicer" for the mortgage and an important debtholder.
Continue reading "Hedge Fund Moves on Stuyvesant Town" @ The New York Times
A hedge fund that has acquired a significant portion of the debt on the troubled Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes in Manhattan is seeking to take control of them.
The move is expected to complicate an already byzantine political and financial situation surrounding the largest apartment complexes in Manhattan and send tremors though the 25,000 tenants who are already worried about the future.
Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were bought by a partnership of Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty in 2006 for a record-breaking $5.4 billion. But the owners defaulted on their mortgage in January and have since agreed to turn the properties over to lenders.
Appaloosa Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund led by David Tepper, filed papers in United State District Court on Tuesday afternoon challenging the company overseeing the two sprawling complexes overlooking the East River on behalf of lenders, saying that the company has acted "irrationally and imprudently" in pursuing a course that could cost debtholders hundreds of millions of dollars.
In its motion to intervene, Appaloosa objected to a decision by the company, CW Capital Management, to foreclose on the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Villages. Arguing that a foreclosure could cost as much as $200 million in transfer taxes, Appaloosa said that CW Capital should have pushed the owners to go into bankruptcy court, thereby avoiding the necessity of paying those taxes.
Appaloosa, which has asked the court to allow it to intervene in the matter, also claims that CW Capital has "irreconcilable conflicts of interest" because it is both the "servicer" for the mortgage and an important debtholder.
Continue reading "Hedge Fund Moves on Stuyvesant Town" @ The New York Times
Via New York Daily News
Tenants in Manhattan's foreclosed Stuyvesant Town shouldn't expect the city to help them buy the property, Mayor Bloomberg said Monday.
"That's not what we're here to do. We want to make sure that whomever does take it over has a profitable deal," Bloomberg said.
City Councilman Daniel Garodnick (D-Manhattan), who lives in the complex, said "the mayor should not underestimate what the city can do."
"Whether through financing or by helping the tenants partner with a nonprofit entity, the city can play a critical role," he said.
Developers Jerry and Rob Speyer paid $5.4 billion for the 110-building complex at the height of the real estate bubble in 2006, after Bloomberg refused to let the city help tenants buy it.
Stuy-Town residents shouldn't expect city to help them buy foreclosed property, says Bloomberg [NY Daily News]
Tenants in Manhattan's foreclosed Stuyvesant Town shouldn't expect the city to help them buy the property, Mayor Bloomberg said Monday."That's not what we're here to do. We want to make sure that whomever does take it over has a profitable deal," Bloomberg said.
City Councilman Daniel Garodnick (D-Manhattan), who lives in the complex, said "the mayor should not underestimate what the city can do."
"Whether through financing or by helping the tenants partner with a nonprofit entity, the city can play a critical role," he said.
Developers Jerry and Rob Speyer paid $5.4 billion for the 110-building complex at the height of the real estate bubble in 2006, after Bloomberg refused to let the city help tenants buy it.
Stuy-Town residents shouldn't expect city to help them buy foreclosed property, says Bloomberg [NY Daily News]
Via The ST / PCV Tenants Association
ATTENTION RESIDENTS
A foreclosure suit against Tishman Speyer was filed in federal court last Tuesday, February 16th.
Foreclosure law requires posting of an ALARMING notice that says "you will be allowed to stay in your apartment for the time being." We anticipate that this notice, intended as a consumer protection, will be posted shortly.
DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED.
The notice is a formality. Your right to remain in your home is protected by New York State rent laws. The foreclosure suit itself also makes clear that all leases will remain in place.
###
Special Tenants Association Meeting - SAVE THE DATE
Afternoon of Saturday March 13th, 2010, Starting at 2 PM
Baruch College's Mason Hall (Seats 1,100)
Location: 17 Lexington Ave. (between 22 &23rd. St.)
More details on the panel of experts to follow.
###
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers.
Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, donate online. Or mail a check payable to: ST/PCV TA, P.O. Box 1202, Stuyvesant Station, NY 10009 1202. Thanks.
ATTENTION RESIDENTS
A foreclosure suit against Tishman Speyer was filed in federal court last Tuesday, February 16th.
Foreclosure law requires posting of an ALARMING notice that says "you will be allowed to stay in your apartment for the time being." We anticipate that this notice, intended as a consumer protection, will be posted shortly.
DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED.
The notice is a formality. Your right to remain in your home is protected by New York State rent laws. The foreclosure suit itself also makes clear that all leases will remain in place.
###
Special Tenants Association Meeting - SAVE THE DATE
Afternoon of Saturday March 13th, 2010, Starting at 2 PM
Baruch College's Mason Hall (Seats 1,100)
Location: 17 Lexington Ave. (between 22 &23rd. St.)
More details on the panel of experts to follow.
###
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers.
Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, donate online. Or mail a check payable to: ST/PCV TA, P.O. Box 1202, Stuyvesant Station, NY 10009 1202. Thanks.
Via The Telegraph
The Church of England has defended the disastrous decision to invest £40m in a New York housing scheme that led to accusations of wrongfully raising rents and a multi-million pound loss for the Church's pension fund.
In an interview with property magazine Estates Gazette just a month after the Church of England wrote of its £40m investment in the project Joseph Cannon, chief surveyor, said that while the episode was "painful" much of the criticism levelled at the Church was undeserved.
"The loss of our investment in Stuyvesant Town is very unpleasant and clearly not something we would ever have wished for. But painful as it has been, we have been able to absorb it and it has not knocked us off strategic course in any way," he said.
n 2006, the Church of England's pension fund invested £40m in the $5.4bn (then £2.9bn) Tishman Speyer and BlackRock led purchase of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan. The debt-fuelled purchase was made at the height of the property boom and set a new record for the largest single property transaction in the world.
However the investment ran into problems when Tishman failed in its attempts to put up rents on the 56 apartment blocks, an attempt that led to accusations the consortium was robbing Manhattan of one of its few pockets of lower rent housing.
"Part of the manager's strategy, along with many other New York landlords, was simply over time to upgrade the property," explained Mr Cannon. "We saw it very differently from what we would classify as 'affordable housing' here in the UK."
Continue reading "Church of England defends disastrous £40m Manhattan property deal" @ The Telegraph
The Church of England has defended the disastrous decision to invest £40m in a New York housing scheme that led to accusations of wrongfully raising rents and a multi-million pound loss for the Church's pension fund. In an interview with property magazine Estates Gazette just a month after the Church of England wrote of its £40m investment in the project Joseph Cannon, chief surveyor, said that while the episode was "painful" much of the criticism levelled at the Church was undeserved.
"The loss of our investment in Stuyvesant Town is very unpleasant and clearly not something we would ever have wished for. But painful as it has been, we have been able to absorb it and it has not knocked us off strategic course in any way," he said.
n 2006, the Church of England's pension fund invested £40m in the $5.4bn (then £2.9bn) Tishman Speyer and BlackRock led purchase of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan. The debt-fuelled purchase was made at the height of the property boom and set a new record for the largest single property transaction in the world.
However the investment ran into problems when Tishman failed in its attempts to put up rents on the 56 apartment blocks, an attempt that led to accusations the consortium was robbing Manhattan of one of its few pockets of lower rent housing.
"Part of the manager's strategy, along with many other New York landlords, was simply over time to upgrade the property," explained Mr Cannon. "We saw it very differently from what we would classify as 'affordable housing' here in the UK."
Continue reading "Church of England defends disastrous £40m Manhattan property deal" @ The Telegraph
What Do Default, Foreclosure and Other News Reports Really Mean for Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Tenants?
Find out, read our Frequently Asked Questions here.
Then save the date for an informative meeting with a fresh new format and for our member's comfort, at a larger venue.
SAVE THE DATE
Afternoon of Saturday March 13th, 2010
Baruch College's Mason Hall (Seats 1,100)
Location: 17 Lexington Ave. (between 22 &23rd. St.)
More details on the panel of experts to follow.
What Else Can I Do?
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers. Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, donate online. Or mail a check payable to: ST/PCV TA, P.O. Box 1202, Stuyvesant Station, NY 10009 1202. Thanks.
Find out, read our Frequently Asked Questions here.
Then save the date for an informative meeting with a fresh new format and for our member's comfort, at a larger venue.
SAVE THE DATE
Afternoon of Saturday March 13th, 2010
Baruch College's Mason Hall (Seats 1,100)
Location: 17 Lexington Ave. (between 22 &23rd. St.)
More details on the panel of experts to follow.
What Else Can I Do?
- Join the massive organizing effort, become a Zone Leader or Building Leader and help collect Pledges
- Contact our Volunteer Coordinators though our Contact Form, Choose Organization and Volunteering
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers. Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, donate online. Or mail a check payable to: ST/PCV TA, P.O. Box 1202, Stuyvesant Station, NY 10009 1202. Thanks.
Via The New York Post
A horrifying 911 bungle may have cost a young boy his life yesterday, sources told The Post.
Firefighters and medics rushed to a call of a 6-year-old boy in cardiac arrest at 277 Ave. C at 9:04 a.m. But they were sent to Avenue C in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan.
By the time paramedics reached the boy's apartment at 9:22 a.m. -- 18 minutes after the family's 911 call -- the child was dead, the sources said. The boy's name was not immediately released.
A woman who opened the door at the family's apartment last night said, "We can't talk about it." A next-door neighbor, Nori Evoy, said what happened was "awful," adding, "He was the sweetest little kid."
A spokesman for the FDNY said the incident is "under review."
The NYPD said it received a 911 call from a hysterical woman who had given her address, but not the borough. Cops said that the operator tried to establish the cross streets, but the caller was too distraught to respond. But the 911 computer system automatically traces incoming calls made from house phones, FDNY sources said. The number that came in yesterday was from a 212 area code, and the address given by the computer was in Manhattan. The NYPD dispatcher manually changed it to Brooklyn when the call was relayed electronically to EMS, sources said.
EMTs arrived at the Brooklyn address at 9:10 am -- and determined they were in the wrong place. An EMS dispatcher called the incoming number back and asked the mom where she was. "She said, 'I'm here, I'm here . . . he's bleeding from the nose," and pleaded with them to hurry," a source said.
The dispatcher finally determined she was in Manhattan.
The NYPD said the woman called 911 again at 9:16 a.m. and told them where she was.
The child was dead by the time paramedics arrived six minutes later, sources said.
The NYPD said the incident was not related to problems that have plagued the controversial Unified Call Taking system, which went online last May.
Under that system, callers can speak only to 911 operators and not to fire dispatchers.
Union opponents of the unified system say it has led to a number of fatal blunders, including a Nov. 7 incident in which three men died in a Queens basement fire after a 911 dispatcher initially ordered six firetrucks to the wrong address. Later that month, firefighters were sent to the wrong address for a Brooklyn fire that killed two toddlers and their father.
The city said the tragedies were caused by glitches that had been worked out.
911 in tragic mixup [NY Post]
Related
Child Dies After EMS Responds To Wrong Address [WPIX]
A horrifying 911 bungle may have cost a young boy his life yesterday, sources told The Post.Firefighters and medics rushed to a call of a 6-year-old boy in cardiac arrest at 277 Ave. C at 9:04 a.m. But they were sent to Avenue C in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan.
By the time paramedics reached the boy's apartment at 9:22 a.m. -- 18 minutes after the family's 911 call -- the child was dead, the sources said. The boy's name was not immediately released.
A woman who opened the door at the family's apartment last night said, "We can't talk about it." A next-door neighbor, Nori Evoy, said what happened was "awful," adding, "He was the sweetest little kid."
A spokesman for the FDNY said the incident is "under review."
The NYPD said it received a 911 call from a hysterical woman who had given her address, but not the borough. Cops said that the operator tried to establish the cross streets, but the caller was too distraught to respond. But the 911 computer system automatically traces incoming calls made from house phones, FDNY sources said. The number that came in yesterday was from a 212 area code, and the address given by the computer was in Manhattan. The NYPD dispatcher manually changed it to Brooklyn when the call was relayed electronically to EMS, sources said.
EMTs arrived at the Brooklyn address at 9:10 am -- and determined they were in the wrong place. An EMS dispatcher called the incoming number back and asked the mom where she was. "She said, 'I'm here, I'm here . . . he's bleeding from the nose," and pleaded with them to hurry," a source said.
The dispatcher finally determined she was in Manhattan.
The NYPD said the woman called 911 again at 9:16 a.m. and told them where she was.
The child was dead by the time paramedics arrived six minutes later, sources said.
The NYPD said the incident was not related to problems that have plagued the controversial Unified Call Taking system, which went online last May.
Under that system, callers can speak only to 911 operators and not to fire dispatchers.
Union opponents of the unified system say it has led to a number of fatal blunders, including a Nov. 7 incident in which three men died in a Queens basement fire after a 911 dispatcher initially ordered six firetrucks to the wrong address. Later that month, firefighters were sent to the wrong address for a Brooklyn fire that killed two toddlers and their father.
The city said the tragedies were caused by glitches that had been worked out.
911 in tragic mixup [NY Post]
Related
Child Dies After EMS Responds To Wrong Address [WPIX]
Via The New York Post
A federal judge today denied Hiram Monserrate's bid to block his ouster from the state Senate over his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend.
"The question of who should represent the 13th Senatorial District is one for the voters, not this court," Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley Jr. wrote.
Pauley's 24-page ruling denied the Queens Democrat's request for a preliminary injunction that would have restored him to his seat and blocked a scheduled March 16 special election to replace him.
The judge said his decision was based in part on the "potential for success" of the suit Monserrate filed last week against the Senate, Gov. Paterson and other state officials.
Monserrate's lawyer, Norman Siegel, said he hadn't yet read the ruling and didn't know if it would be appealed, saying: "I have to talk to the client first."
He said an appeal is under "serious consideration" and could be filed early next week.
"We're disappointed and we respectfully disagree with Judge Pauley's decision," Siegel said. "Expelling a city senator without specific standards opens the door to unfettered government decisions that violate the rights of duly elected officials and their constituents."
The Senate voted, 53-8, to boot Monserrate on Feb. 2 as punishment for his conviction last fall on a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge.
The former city cop was acquitted of more serious charges stemming from a 2008 incident in his apartment that left his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, with a slashed face.
Continue reading "Judge Upholds Expulsion of Convicted Queens Senator" @ The New York Post
A federal judge today denied Hiram Monserrate's bid to block his ouster from the state Senate over his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend."The question of who should represent the 13th Senatorial District is one for the voters, not this court," Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley Jr. wrote.
Pauley's 24-page ruling denied the Queens Democrat's request for a preliminary injunction that would have restored him to his seat and blocked a scheduled March 16 special election to replace him.
The judge said his decision was based in part on the "potential for success" of the suit Monserrate filed last week against the Senate, Gov. Paterson and other state officials.
Monserrate's lawyer, Norman Siegel, said he hadn't yet read the ruling and didn't know if it would be appealed, saying: "I have to talk to the client first."
He said an appeal is under "serious consideration" and could be filed early next week.
"We're disappointed and we respectfully disagree with Judge Pauley's decision," Siegel said. "Expelling a city senator without specific standards opens the door to unfettered government decisions that violate the rights of duly elected officials and their constituents."
The Senate voted, 53-8, to boot Monserrate on Feb. 2 as punishment for his conviction last fall on a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge.
The former city cop was acquitted of more serious charges stemming from a 2008 incident in his apartment that left his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, with a slashed face.
Continue reading "Judge Upholds Expulsion of Convicted Queens Senator" @ The New York Post
Yesterday several Lux Living readers told us they were paid visits by goons representatives from Stuy Town's management office over some missing post cards. The post cards were to be filled out by tenants and mailed back to management to let them know which apartments have small children and may need window guards.
While management went door to door reprimanding what seemed like every apartment for not returning their post cards, several readers pointed out the return address on the cards was for a print shop in Jersey and not the management office.
Today a reader sent us the Spanish version of the card they received and sure enough, the return address is for NRI Color Graphics in New Jersey. Could that be why Stuyvesant Town management never received damn their cards? Maybe, but it's always easier to blame the tenants. We know, we know, "no comment."
While management went door to door reprimanding what seemed like every apartment for not returning their post cards, several readers pointed out the return address on the cards was for a print shop in Jersey and not the management office.
Today a reader sent us the Spanish version of the card they received and sure enough, the return address is for NRI Color Graphics in New Jersey. Could that be why Stuyvesant Town management never received damn their cards? Maybe, but it's always easier to blame the tenants. We know, we know, "no comment."
Yesterday, Stuy Town management went door to door, asking people to sign a form which lets them know if tenants have kids or not. The concern is that tenants may need window guards to keep their kids from tumbling out and to warn them not to eat the lead paint. The employee reprimanded tenants for not returning the post cards yet proceeded to ring the bell of every apartment on each floor. Then a Stuy Spy writes in:
"Did anyone happen to notice the address on the "postage paid' window guard response cards from a few weeks ago? I filled it out and when I was putting it in the mail I noticed it was addressed to a printing company and not PCVST mgmt office. I thought it was odd and put it in the mailbox anyway. Today I received a notice under my door saying that they never received it!
I am wondering if someone made a boo boo and didn't actually check the cards before they went out? Did ALL of the response cards go to the printer?"
New York Magazine found it hard to believe that a college kid defecated in a stairwell, so who knows what they'll think when they catch wind of this maxi pad pitched into a tree! A repulsed Stuy Spy writes:"I just discovered a used maxi pad stuck to the tree branches outside my window on Avenue C. 277 Ave. C. This is not a joke as I reported to management an hour ago. Wonder how long it will be before they take it down. Lovely people we have living here in Stuy Town!"
What's left to say. The once idyllic Stuy Town has been reduced to a gory scene straight out of a Chuck Palahniuk book.
Only a few weeks have passed since Tishman Speyer deemed Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village a failure and slithered away from the mess they created. Since Jerry and Rob's spineless departure, residents have become concerned about the property being properly maintained. With the recent round of snow storms it's becoming clear that Stuy Town is nothing short of an accident waiting to happen."During the first snow storm last week they started driving these snow plows around at 3AM when the snow was just getting started. They sounded like bone crushers and jolted us out of bed," said Alice, a resident of 449 East 14th Street. "They disappeared as quickly as they came letting the real snow accumulate for another five hours. Then they send their thugs back out around 8AM to shovel while they chain-smoke and bellow at each other outside my window. They did a half-assed job and left."
Plows and salt trucks were deployed during the last two storms and though progress was made in some areas, a number of buildings were left to fend for themselves. "They plowed up to the door outside 15 Stuyvesant Oval but on their second pass they left a two foot wall of snow at the end of the walkway," said a tenant who ask to remain anonymous. "They have no concern for elderly tenants who can't scale a snowbank in a walker."
"You wouldn't believe these people," says Wanda Wayward of 8 Stuyvesant Oval. "I came down to check my mail and the snow guys were having a snowball fight. One of them ran into the lobby quick and shut the door before it was pelted with ice and snow balls filled with dog feces. There was brown everywhere. And the language they used! Disgraceful!"
With the snow storms behind us, most of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village is in desperate need of a fresh layer of salt. "The snow melts during the day and freezes again at night leaving black ice everywhere," said a resident of 635 East 14th Street. On 23rd Street the only effort to do anything about the black ice seems to be an abandoned push cart full of rock salt which has been there for several days. "At first I thought it was Oval Concierge's 'festivities cart' because of the Tequila bottles in it, but there's nothing festive about this fiasco," said a tenant.
When asked for comment Tishman Speyer's spokesman, Bud Perrone, said "Oh no you don't! Ask the new guy."
Via Business Week
Trustees including Bank of America Corp., acting on behalf of senior creditors holding $3 billion in debt on Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartments, asked for court approval to foreclose on the 80-acre property and have it sold.
Bank of America and U.S. Bank National Association filed the complaint yesterday in federal court in New York against an affiliate of property owner Tishman Speyer Properties LP.
Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc. bought the development, Manhattan's largest residential enclave, for $5.4 billion in 2006 near the height of the U.S. real estate boom. The companies said Jan. 25 that they planned to hand over the complex to creditors after missing a $16.1 million debt payment. The plan was delayed in part because of questions over who would pay about $90 million in real estate transfer taxes.
"The borrowers have failed to make any payments of the outstanding principal," the trustees said in the complaint.
Any New York property transfer requires payment of city and state taxes, said Rafael Cestero, New York City's commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, in an interview last week. Tishman Speyer was negotiating with CWCapital, the special servicer representing senior debt holders, over who must pay the taxes, Cestero said.
The foreclosure lawsuit asks for the property, which runs from 14th Street to 23rd Street on Manhattan's east side, to be sold and the proceeds to go to the plaintiffs to cover the mortgage, late charges, exit fees and expenses including legal costs.
Continue reading "Bank of America Sues to Force Stuyvesant Town Foreclosure, Sale" @ BusinessWeek.com
Related
Bank of America foreclosing on Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village [NY Daily News]
Bidders Undeterred by Stuy Town Foreclosure [NYTimes]
Trustees including Bank of America Corp., acting on behalf of senior creditors holding $3 billion in debt on Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartments, asked for court approval to foreclose on the 80-acre property and have it sold.
Bank of America and U.S. Bank National Association filed the complaint yesterday in federal court in New York against an affiliate of property owner Tishman Speyer Properties LP.
Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc. bought the development, Manhattan's largest residential enclave, for $5.4 billion in 2006 near the height of the U.S. real estate boom. The companies said Jan. 25 that they planned to hand over the complex to creditors after missing a $16.1 million debt payment. The plan was delayed in part because of questions over who would pay about $90 million in real estate transfer taxes.
"The borrowers have failed to make any payments of the outstanding principal," the trustees said in the complaint.
Any New York property transfer requires payment of city and state taxes, said Rafael Cestero, New York City's commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, in an interview last week. Tishman Speyer was negotiating with CWCapital, the special servicer representing senior debt holders, over who must pay the taxes, Cestero said.
The foreclosure lawsuit asks for the property, which runs from 14th Street to 23rd Street on Manhattan's east side, to be sold and the proceeds to go to the plaintiffs to cover the mortgage, late charges, exit fees and expenses including legal costs.
Continue reading "Bank of America Sues to Force Stuyvesant Town Foreclosure, Sale" @ BusinessWeek.com
Related
Bank of America foreclosing on Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village [NY Daily News]
Bidders Undeterred by Stuy Town Foreclosure [NYTimes]
Dear Stivesant Town Residots,It's Manny again and I onlee have a small time to corespond with you all today because the plows have burried Oval Consearirge once again and I have to get to steppin with the shovel. But I did want to tell you how excited the Oval team is to let you know about our Private Events and Partyies.
Oval Private Events is the experts in all things festive, after all, in the three years we have been in operations we have hosted a dozen childrens birthday parties. I know, impressive right! The numbis speak for themselves!
Now, the interactive portion of mys email. How many value propisitions can you find in this next sentince: We can answer questions, work with you budget and call a caterer. Mad value, right? After all, your consierges know that you have a lot goin on already with the chopping of the firewood to heat your apartments and stuff.
And if you need entertainment, we can hook you up with fiesty latino kid in need of her next ritalin fix or hire a suspicuous masked man with a laytex body suit fetish. It's your call!
So please come see us at Oval Conseirge and book our Party experts to make your next ebent special!
Manny
OVal Conseirce
American Leasure
newarc Aiport
Fruit Frost
Via The New York Times
The lenders at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are expected to begin an uncontested foreclosure action on Tuesday against the owner of Manhattan's largest residential complex, according to bankers and real estate executives.
CWCapital, the company that is overseeing the complex on behalf of the owners of $3 billion in mortgages, plans to file the action in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, they said. The owner, a partnership of Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, announced last month that it would turn over the property after defaulting on a $16 million loan payment, rather than wage a battle for control.
The foreclosure action is unlikely to immediately affect the 25,000 residents of the two sister complexes overlooking the East River, between 14th and 23rd Streets. But it marks the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy process in which the lenders will take control of the 80-acre complex and run it for an unspecified period before selling it to a new owner. Still, tenants of the 110 buildings are concerned that services and maintenance could deteriorate over time.
Continue reading Worry at Stuyvesant Town as Foreclosure Draws Near @ The New York Times
The lenders at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are expected to begin an uncontested foreclosure action on Tuesday against the owner of Manhattan's largest residential complex, according to bankers and real estate executives.CWCapital, the company that is overseeing the complex on behalf of the owners of $3 billion in mortgages, plans to file the action in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, they said. The owner, a partnership of Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, announced last month that it would turn over the property after defaulting on a $16 million loan payment, rather than wage a battle for control.
The foreclosure action is unlikely to immediately affect the 25,000 residents of the two sister complexes overlooking the East River, between 14th and 23rd Streets. But it marks the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy process in which the lenders will take control of the 80-acre complex and run it for an unspecified period before selling it to a new owner. Still, tenants of the 110 buildings are concerned that services and maintenance could deteriorate over time.
Continue reading Worry at Stuyvesant Town as Foreclosure Draws Near @ The New York Times
Dear Stuyvesant Town Resdonts,Come see for yourself what Stuy Town events your consearged have cooked up for you this Febuairy, the most wintery of months. Manny appaulajizes for getting the word out so late. With business being slow at the OC the snow plowers thought we had closed up shop and piled three tons of snow in front of our door. After days of shoveling yellow snow and the occasional huff of air in the can, we are back in business!
Mardi Gras is right around the corner which is why we are hosting a Mardt Gras spectacular at Oval Lounge this Tuesday night. We know what you are thinking, the Big Easy in the Big Apple? Stuyvesant Town is a lot like New Orleans afterall both places had big storms blow in leaving people homeless and the landscape a disaster area. They say Katrina, We say Tishman Speyer.
So what better way to cheer things up than with a party? It will be just like the East Village on a weekend the difference being when you show us your boobs, we will hurl colorful beads at you. Does Drop off Service do that? manny thinks not.
Or are you looking for more klassy things to do? If so you should partake in From Opera to New Broaway night also at the Oval Lounge. We will have classically trained performers on hand to reinact the Dialogues of the Carmalites for you. We love these performers so much that we want it to be a suprise who they are which is why we didn't mention their names on the events page. Suspence!
You'll probably want to chillax after all that partying and drama so grab your passport and travel to the far side of the complex to take a Yoga class at Oval fittness! It sounds like residents are already familar with suchposes as downward dog, snake pose and corpse!
So please visit out Stuy Town Events page and see what your most prized consearges have in store for you. Don't forget to stop by the OC for yur free umbrella and tell them Manny sent you!
Manny
Oval Concerg
American Leasure
Newark Airport
Chillaxed to the max
Via ST / PCV Tenants Association
In a joint statement issued today, CW Capital and Tishman Speyer announced that Rose Associates has been hired to ensure "an efficient and seamless transition of property operations at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village." Rose, a New York-based company, managed the property prior to--and for a short time after--the 2006 sale of the property by MetLife.
Quoted in a February 12th report in Business Week, Tenants Association president Al Doyle said, "There are may tenants who will think that having Tishman out will probably be a positive thing." Councilman Dan Garodnick said, "While Rose has firsthand knowledge about the property, the real expertise is with the tenants themselves."
Transition Consultant Hired by CW Capital And Current STPCV Manager, Tishman Speyer. [ST / PCV Tenants Association]
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers. Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, please donate online. Or mail a check payable to:
ST/PCV TA,
P.O. Box 1202
Stuyvesant Station, NY
10009 1202.
Thanks!
For the most up to date information regarding Tishman Speyer's default on the property and Stuy Town's transition to it's new owners and management team, residents are encouraged to join the Stuy Town / Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association's e-mail mailing list. It's free to join and will keep you informed of the many legal issues facing Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village right now. (When you sign up don't forget to check your e-mail inbox for the confirmation link. You are not signed up until you confirm your subscription.)
In a joint statement issued today, CW Capital and Tishman Speyer announced that Rose Associates has been hired to ensure "an efficient and seamless transition of property operations at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village." Rose, a New York-based company, managed the property prior to--and for a short time after--the 2006 sale of the property by MetLife.
Quoted in a February 12th report in Business Week, Tenants Association president Al Doyle said, "There are may tenants who will think that having Tishman out will probably be a positive thing." Councilman Dan Garodnick said, "While Rose has firsthand knowledge about the property, the real expertise is with the tenants themselves."
Transition Consultant Hired by CW Capital And Current STPCV Manager, Tishman Speyer. [ST / PCV Tenants Association]
PLEASE: WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Your Tenants Association is run exclusively by volunteers. Please help defray the cost of legal, professional, communication, and meeting expenses. To save time and effort, please donate online. Or mail a check payable to:
ST/PCV TA,
P.O. Box 1202
Stuyvesant Station, NY
10009 1202.
Thanks!
For the most up to date information regarding Tishman Speyer's default on the property and Stuy Town's transition to it's new owners and management team, residents are encouraged to join the Stuy Town / Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association's e-mail mailing list. It's free to join and will keep you informed of the many legal issues facing Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village right now. (When you sign up don't forget to check your e-mail inbox for the confirmation link. You are not signed up until you confirm your subscription.)
Via Crain's
Rose Associates tapped to fill the gap as Tishman Speyer-led group prepares to hand over the keys to the sprawling residential project's creditors.
Rose Associates Inc. was tapped to help manage Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village's transition to a new owner as the Tishman Speyer-led partnership prepares to hand back the keys on its disastrous investment.
Rose managed the huge rent-regulated complex on the East side for roughly four years when it was owned by MetLife, which built it for returning World War II veterans and their families. MetLife sold the complex to the Tishman Speyer-led group in 2006 for $5.4 billion. The investment quickly unraveled as the partnership failed to meet its aggressive plan to deregulate units and raise rents as sharply as it had hoped. Tishman Speyer missed a $16.1 million payment last month and then announced it would relinquish the investment to creditors. CW Capital Asset Management, a special servicer firm charged with protecting the interest of the senior bond holders, will resume control.
Continue reading Stuy-Town transition manager named @ Crain's
Related
Stuyvesant Town Gets Rose as Transition Consultant [Bloomberg
Management firm to run Stuyvesant Town transition [Reuters]
Stuyvesant Town Gets Rose as Transition Consultant (Update1) [Business Week]
Rose Associates tapped to fill the gap as Tishman Speyer-led group prepares to hand over the keys to the sprawling residential project's creditors.Rose Associates Inc. was tapped to help manage Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village's transition to a new owner as the Tishman Speyer-led partnership prepares to hand back the keys on its disastrous investment.
Rose managed the huge rent-regulated complex on the East side for roughly four years when it was owned by MetLife, which built it for returning World War II veterans and their families. MetLife sold the complex to the Tishman Speyer-led group in 2006 for $5.4 billion. The investment quickly unraveled as the partnership failed to meet its aggressive plan to deregulate units and raise rents as sharply as it had hoped. Tishman Speyer missed a $16.1 million payment last month and then announced it would relinquish the investment to creditors. CW Capital Asset Management, a special servicer firm charged with protecting the interest of the senior bond holders, will resume control.
Continue reading Stuy-Town transition manager named @ Crain's
Related
Stuyvesant Town Gets Rose as Transition Consultant [Bloomberg
Management firm to run Stuyvesant Town transition [Reuters]
Stuyvesant Town Gets Rose as Transition Consultant (Update1) [Business Week]
Via Business Week
Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock Inc. haven't handed Manhattan's biggest apartment complex to creditors as they pledged two weeks ago, in part because of questions over payment of about $90 million in taxes.
The companies said Jan. 25 they would cede control of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to lenders after missing a payment on the $3 billion mortgage. Even in foreclosure, any property transfer in Manhattan requires payment of city and state taxes, and Tishman is negotiating with CWCapital, the special servicer for the senior debt, over who must pay them, said Rafael Cestero, New York City's commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development.
"The reality is they can't just turn back the keys," Cestero said in an interview. "There are some impediments."
Under New York law, the party that owns the property and is getting rid of it must pay the taxes on the transfer, according to Owen Stone, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Finance. Otherwise, the burden shifts to the receiver of the property, he said.
"CW doesn't want to pay the $100 million so they're going to have to negotiate this," said Cestero, estimating the taxes. "They have not initiated foreclosure proceedings."
Transfer taxes for the city and the state equal 3.025 percent of the "consideration," or the price of the real property, said Joshua Stein, a partner in the real estate practice group of law firm Latham & Watkins LLP in New York.
Continue reading "Stuyvesant Town Ownership Hinges on Payment of $90 Million Tax" @ BusinessWeek
Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock Inc. haven't handed Manhattan's biggest apartment complex to creditors as they pledged two weeks ago, in part because of questions over payment of about $90 million in taxes.
The companies said Jan. 25 they would cede control of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to lenders after missing a payment on the $3 billion mortgage. Even in foreclosure, any property transfer in Manhattan requires payment of city and state taxes, and Tishman is negotiating with CWCapital, the special servicer for the senior debt, over who must pay them, said Rafael Cestero, New York City's commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development.
"The reality is they can't just turn back the keys," Cestero said in an interview. "There are some impediments."
Under New York law, the party that owns the property and is getting rid of it must pay the taxes on the transfer, according to Owen Stone, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Finance. Otherwise, the burden shifts to the receiver of the property, he said.
"CW doesn't want to pay the $100 million so they're going to have to negotiate this," said Cestero, estimating the taxes. "They have not initiated foreclosure proceedings."
Transfer taxes for the city and the state equal 3.025 percent of the "consideration," or the price of the real property, said Joshua Stein, a partner in the real estate practice group of law firm Latham & Watkins LLP in New York.
Continue reading "Stuyvesant Town Ownership Hinges on Payment of $90 Million Tax" @ BusinessWeek
This morning, Stuyvesant Town management invited Stuy Town residents to join them in their usually vacant Oval Film for today's "snow day entertainment" - an event that's open to all residents. Shocking!
Property AlertPlease remember not to make any sudden moves or loud noises around Oval Film's staff, they spook easy due to their severe case of year-round isolation!
February 10 , 2010: Join Us for Snow Day Entertainment!
Snow Day!
Come one and all to Oval Film (12 Stuyvesant Oval) for some snow day entertainment! From 11am to 6pm, Wednesday, February 10, all residents are invited to enjoy an all-day program of kid-friendly movies on the big screen!
Please don't hesitate to tell your friends and neighbors.
Thank You,
Stuyvesant Town Management
Via The New York Observer
Looking to make a possible bid for the property themselves, the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants' association has found itself a corporate law firm. The association announced Monday that Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison would provide it representation as the imbroglio at the apartment complex moves forward.
"We believe that the tenants are the key to a successful solution to the ownership of this iconic housing complex--and we are looking forward to helping them achieve their goals," Paul Weiss partner Meredith Kane said in a statement.
The announcement said Paul Weiss "will represent the TA without seeking compensation from tenants."
There's a link here to City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who lives in Peter Cooper Village and who played a leading role when the tenants tried to buy the complex back in 2006 (they submitted a bid of more than $4 billion). Before he was on the council, he was a litigator at Paul Weiss.
Continue reading "Exploring a Bid, Stuy Town Tenants Lawyer Up with Paul Weiss" @ The New York Observer
Looking to make a possible bid for the property themselves, the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants' association has found itself a corporate law firm. The association announced Monday that Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison would provide it representation as the imbroglio at the apartment complex moves forward.
"We believe that the tenants are the key to a successful solution to the ownership of this iconic housing complex--and we are looking forward to helping them achieve their goals," Paul Weiss partner Meredith Kane said in a statement.
The announcement said Paul Weiss "will represent the TA without seeking compensation from tenants."
There's a link here to City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who lives in Peter Cooper Village and who played a leading role when the tenants tried to buy the complex back in 2006 (they submitted a bid of more than $4 billion). Before he was on the council, he was a litigator at Paul Weiss.
Continue reading "Exploring a Bid, Stuy Town Tenants Lawyer Up with Paul Weiss" @ The New York Observer
Via the ST / PCV Tenants Association
The Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association announced today that it has retained the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP to provide counsel that will help the TA meet its goals of preserving the property's long-term affordability and ensuring adequate maintenance.
Paul, Weiss is widely recognized as one of the top law firms in the country, with robust real estate and restructuring practices-expertise the TA is seeking for the upcoming complex negotiations over the future ownership and management of STPCV.
"This is a firm that is second to none, and we are proud to have them on our team," said Al Doyle, president of the Tenants Association. "If anyone thought the tenants were not a force to be reckoned with at the bargaining table, they will now realize that we are serious, we are organized, and we have the resources we need to determine our own destiny in this process and ensure we are treated fairly."
The TA selected Paul Weiss because of its experience in some of the most significant and complicated real estate transactions and restructurings of recent times. It has represented major creditor groups and other parties in the chapter 11 reorganizations cases of Lehman Brothers, General Motors Corporation, GMAC, Charter Communications, CIT, the New York Racing Association and Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest investor-owned public utility and the largest public utility in U.S. history to file for chapter 11 relief. Paul Weiss's real estate practice includes the representation of private and governmental clients in the proposed sale and development of MTA's West Side Railyards and Atlantic Yards, the lease and redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, the financing for the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle and the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, and the acquisition, sale, development and financing of thousands of units of housing and millions of square feet of office and commercial space in New York City and around the globe. The firm also represented the Miami Heat basketball team in the development of the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami and the Government of Hong Kong in the development of Hong Kong Disneyland.
The Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association announced today that it has retained the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP to provide counsel that will help the TA meet its goals of preserving the property's long-term affordability and ensuring adequate maintenance.
Paul, Weiss is widely recognized as one of the top law firms in the country, with robust real estate and restructuring practices-expertise the TA is seeking for the upcoming complex negotiations over the future ownership and management of STPCV.
"This is a firm that is second to none, and we are proud to have them on our team," said Al Doyle, president of the Tenants Association. "If anyone thought the tenants were not a force to be reckoned with at the bargaining table, they will now realize that we are serious, we are organized, and we have the resources we need to determine our own destiny in this process and ensure we are treated fairly."
The TA selected Paul Weiss because of its experience in some of the most significant and complicated real estate transactions and restructurings of recent times. It has represented major creditor groups and other parties in the chapter 11 reorganizations cases of Lehman Brothers, General Motors Corporation, GMAC, Charter Communications, CIT, the New York Racing Association and Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest investor-owned public utility and the largest public utility in U.S. history to file for chapter 11 relief. Paul Weiss's real estate practice includes the representation of private and governmental clients in the proposed sale and development of MTA's West Side Railyards and Atlantic Yards, the lease and redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, the financing for the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle and the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, and the acquisition, sale, development and financing of thousands of units of housing and millions of square feet of office and commercial space in New York City and around the globe. The firm also represented the Miami Heat basketball team in the development of the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami and the Government of Hong Kong in the development of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Currently there are a dozen or so FDNY / NYPD vehicles in front of 15 Stuyvesant Oval. The building and part of the First Avenue Loop are closed off as of 8PM with flood lights pointed directly at the building. Details to come.Update: Gothamist originally posted the incident in their News section as a "barricaded emotionally distressed person" at 6:10PM but it has since been changed to "Jumper" and given a new address of 2nd Avenue and 18th Street. More Stuy Town damage control? The photo doesn't lie, it's clearly Stuy Town.
Via Multifamily Executive
A $5.4 billion New York commercial real estate deal involving two huge apartment complexes -- Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village -- fell apart last week.
Among those who helped put together the deal was Rob Friedberg, a real estate investor who lives in Woodcliff Lake.
Friedberg, now managing partner of the Englewood real estate investment firm Capstone Realty, helped secure financing used to buy the massive 11,227-unit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complexes on Manhattan's East Side when he was a managing director at BlackRock Realty.
BlackRock, which Friedberg said he left in late 2008, partnered with Tishman Speyer to buy the 110-building complex in 2006. But last week, the buyers announced plans to hand over "Stuy Town" to its creditors.
Some of the investors who provided debt or equity financing for the deal include, according to news reports: the Republic of Singapore, the Church of England, and CalPERS, the California public employees' pension fund.
The ratings agency Realpoint pegged the apartment complexes' current value at $1.99 billion.
Friedberg spoke with The Record about the ill-fated deal recently.
Continue reading "Anatomy of an Implosion" @ Multifamilyexecutive.com.
A $5.4 billion New York commercial real estate deal involving two huge apartment complexes -- Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village -- fell apart last week.
Among those who helped put together the deal was Rob Friedberg, a real estate investor who lives in Woodcliff Lake.
Friedberg, now managing partner of the Englewood real estate investment firm Capstone Realty, helped secure financing used to buy the massive 11,227-unit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complexes on Manhattan's East Side when he was a managing director at BlackRock Realty.
BlackRock, which Friedberg said he left in late 2008, partnered with Tishman Speyer to buy the 110-building complex in 2006. But last week, the buyers announced plans to hand over "Stuy Town" to its creditors.
Some of the investors who provided debt or equity financing for the deal include, according to news reports: the Republic of Singapore, the Church of England, and CalPERS, the California public employees' pension fund.
The ratings agency Realpoint pegged the apartment complexes' current value at $1.99 billion.
Friedberg spoke with The Record about the ill-fated deal recently.
Continue reading "Anatomy of an Implosion" @ Multifamilyexecutive.com.
Representatives of the current owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village and counsel for the plaintiffs, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP and Bernstein Liebhard LLP, agreed today to extend the interim agreement they reached last December to adjust rents in each apartment affected by the recent Court of Appeals decision in the Roberts litigation. Under the extended agreement, affected tenants will continue to pay the lower of either their lease rent or an estimated rent-stabilized rent through the month of June 2010. Each affected tenant will also continue to be afforded certain rights as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law, including renewal and succession rights.
In addition, the amounts that were deposited into the escrow account in connection with tenants' payments of their November and December 2009 rents will be fully reimbursed to the tenants, either by way of a corresponding reduction of current tenants' March 2010 rent bills or a refund check issued to former tenants who moved after paying their November and/or December rents. Finally, the owners have stipulated to permit the lawsuit to proceed as a class action. The parties expect that over the next few months the rents for the approximately 4,400 affected apartments will be calculated as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law by an independent consultant, who has been selected but not yet formally retained.
Related
Stuyvesant Town owners agree to class action suit [Reuters]
Stuy Town Residents Can Keep Lower Rents Until At Least June [WNYC]
In addition, the amounts that were deposited into the escrow account in connection with tenants' payments of their November and December 2009 rents will be fully reimbursed to the tenants, either by way of a corresponding reduction of current tenants' March 2010 rent bills or a refund check issued to former tenants who moved after paying their November and/or December rents. Finally, the owners have stipulated to permit the lawsuit to proceed as a class action. The parties expect that over the next few months the rents for the approximately 4,400 affected apartments will be calculated as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law by an independent consultant, who has been selected but not yet formally retained.
Related
Stuyvesant Town owners agree to class action suit [Reuters]
Stuy Town Residents Can Keep Lower Rents Until At Least June [WNYC]
Via Next American City
Image via The Mannahatta Project
The biggest, most offensive real estate deal in history has gone belly-up! Tishman Speyer properties--along with BlackRock--has forfeited Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village to investors. They bought the historic 80-acre postwar housing development for $5.4 billion back in 2006, exactly 380 years after Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from the Lenape for about $24 in wampum (actually, it was about $1,000). They are completely unrelated, aside from the fact that they may go down in history together as the worst real estate deals to ever happen, ever.
Tishman Speyer's failure stems not only from making a massive purchase immediately before the market tanked, though that didn't help; their other mistake was buying a housing project and expecting to be able to treat it exactly like any other luxury housing development. Not only is a housing project not as appealing as a condominium (we will get to that later)--but people already live there. Lots of them.
Tishman Speyer saw this as a mere bump in the road; their plan for raising enough revenue to pay back their massive loans--the purchase was 80% leveraged--was to turn rent-controlled apartments into market-rate apartments. Curious what a market-rate one bedroom costs in a former MetLife housing project just above the Lower East Side of Manhattan? $2850 a month. With more than 11,000 apartments in the two complexes, ranging from one to five bedrooms, Tishman was poised to make a lot of money. But, on top of a recession-generated lag in the rental market, the rent-controlled tenants filed suit against Tishman, arguing their actions were illegal, and actually won. Tishman Speyer's business model was ruined, and they are now forced to default on $4.4 billion in loans.
For anyone familiar with San Francisco current events, this is a cluster-site, New York-scale version of what happened with the Lembi group. This confluence really makes one wonder how many real estate investors got the capital for their highly-leveraged purchasing sprees by telling their investors they would boot rent-controlled tenants.
Continue reading Stuy-Town: Worst Real Estate Deal Since 1626! @ Next American City
Image via The Mannahatta ProjectThe biggest, most offensive real estate deal in history has gone belly-up! Tishman Speyer properties--along with BlackRock--has forfeited Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village to investors. They bought the historic 80-acre postwar housing development for $5.4 billion back in 2006, exactly 380 years after Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from the Lenape for about $24 in wampum (actually, it was about $1,000). They are completely unrelated, aside from the fact that they may go down in history together as the worst real estate deals to ever happen, ever.
Tishman Speyer's failure stems not only from making a massive purchase immediately before the market tanked, though that didn't help; their other mistake was buying a housing project and expecting to be able to treat it exactly like any other luxury housing development. Not only is a housing project not as appealing as a condominium (we will get to that later)--but people already live there. Lots of them.
Tishman Speyer saw this as a mere bump in the road; their plan for raising enough revenue to pay back their massive loans--the purchase was 80% leveraged--was to turn rent-controlled apartments into market-rate apartments. Curious what a market-rate one bedroom costs in a former MetLife housing project just above the Lower East Side of Manhattan? $2850 a month. With more than 11,000 apartments in the two complexes, ranging from one to five bedrooms, Tishman was poised to make a lot of money. But, on top of a recession-generated lag in the rental market, the rent-controlled tenants filed suit against Tishman, arguing their actions were illegal, and actually won. Tishman Speyer's business model was ruined, and they are now forced to default on $4.4 billion in loans.
For anyone familiar with San Francisco current events, this is a cluster-site, New York-scale version of what happened with the Lembi group. This confluence really makes one wonder how many real estate investors got the capital for their highly-leveraged purchasing sprees by telling their investors they would boot rent-controlled tenants.
Continue reading Stuy-Town: Worst Real Estate Deal Since 1626! @ Next American City
Via The New York Observer
To flip through the pages of the 2006 offering book for potential buyers of the 11,200-apartment Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village-a deal that has devolved into the largest individual property default in modern history-is to immerse oneself in an historical delusion, one that, from today's privileged vantage point, appears as likely as Iraqi WMDs.
The book wove the strands of possible Stuy Town revenue into a real estate dreamscape, one in which the largely rent-regulated complex could become a wealthier community, complete with an elite private school, gourmet grocery shops, private spas, gated communities, Santa Cecilia granite countertops in every apartment.
"With the surge in market rental increases showing no signs of abating, there is immense upside potential, especially for stabilized units rolling to market rates," reads the 73-page offering book, prepared by Darcy Stacom, one of the city's top investment sales brokers.
If the failed $6.3 billion Stuyvesant Town deal-sealed in late 2006 by seller MetLife and buyers led by Tishman Speyer-is emblematic of nearly everything that went wrong with the real estate world during this most recent boom, the marketing of the historically middle-income property is emblematic of the unexamined contribution of top brokers to the era's fantastical mind-set.
As conversations with numerous executives involved with the bidding process illustrate, the role of Ms Stacom and other advisers was essentially to pour lubricant into an ever-accelerating dealmaking machine, one that would eventually implode.
Ms. Stacom, 50, is a real estate titan in her own right, as admired for her business acumen and salesmanship as she is feared for her mercurial temper.
New York born and Greenwich raised, Ms. Stacom, who declined comment for this story, was nurtured in real estate. Both of her parents, Matthew and Claire Stacom, were Cushman & Wakefield brokers. Her father most famously consulted in the development and leasing of the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower). When she was 14, she worked in the Cushman & Wakefield mailroom.
She began her brokerage career at Cushman & Wakefield, defecting in 2002 for archrival CB Richard Ellis. Her sister, Tara, remains at Cushman. Her husband is a broker at Jones Lang LaSalle. It wasn't easy being a woman broker in a real estate world where men, even now, behave like extras in Mad Men. In 1996, when she was pregnant with one of her daughters, Ms. Stacom pitched a deal to a potential client, only to be asked what would happen were she to have complications during childbirth. She didn't get the gig. In interviews, she prides herself on her eccentricities: She prefers colorful skirts to business suits, funky costume jewelry to the real stuff.
Continue reading The Selling of Stuy Town @ The New York Observer
To flip through the pages of the 2006 offering book for potential buyers of the 11,200-apartment Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village-a deal that has devolved into the largest individual property default in modern history-is to immerse oneself in an historical delusion, one that, from today's privileged vantage point, appears as likely as Iraqi WMDs.The book wove the strands of possible Stuy Town revenue into a real estate dreamscape, one in which the largely rent-regulated complex could become a wealthier community, complete with an elite private school, gourmet grocery shops, private spas, gated communities, Santa Cecilia granite countertops in every apartment.
"With the surge in market rental increases showing no signs of abating, there is immense upside potential, especially for stabilized units rolling to market rates," reads the 73-page offering book, prepared by Darcy Stacom, one of the city's top investment sales brokers.
If the failed $6.3 billion Stuyvesant Town deal-sealed in late 2006 by seller MetLife and buyers led by Tishman Speyer-is emblematic of nearly everything that went wrong with the real estate world during this most recent boom, the marketing of the historically middle-income property is emblematic of the unexamined contribution of top brokers to the era's fantastical mind-set.
As conversations with numerous executives involved with the bidding process illustrate, the role of Ms Stacom and other advisers was essentially to pour lubricant into an ever-accelerating dealmaking machine, one that would eventually implode.
Ms. Stacom, 50, is a real estate titan in her own right, as admired for her business acumen and salesmanship as she is feared for her mercurial temper.
New York born and Greenwich raised, Ms. Stacom, who declined comment for this story, was nurtured in real estate. Both of her parents, Matthew and Claire Stacom, were Cushman & Wakefield brokers. Her father most famously consulted in the development and leasing of the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower). When she was 14, she worked in the Cushman & Wakefield mailroom.
She began her brokerage career at Cushman & Wakefield, defecting in 2002 for archrival CB Richard Ellis. Her sister, Tara, remains at Cushman. Her husband is a broker at Jones Lang LaSalle. It wasn't easy being a woman broker in a real estate world where men, even now, behave like extras in Mad Men. In 1996, when she was pregnant with one of her daughters, Ms. Stacom pitched a deal to a potential client, only to be asked what would happen were she to have complications during childbirth. She didn't get the gig. In interviews, she prides herself on her eccentricities: She prefers colorful skirts to business suits, funky costume jewelry to the real stuff.
Continue reading The Selling of Stuy Town @ The New York Observer
Via Wall Street Journal
It might not be a political office, but there's still campaigning under way to run New York's sprawling Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complex.
Tuesday, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said on CNBC that the LeFrak Organization Inc., a Big Apple residential powerhouse, "is the ideal solution" for the 11,000-unit development. As we've detailed, the project was recently thrown into chaos after a group led by owner Tishman Speyer Properties dumped it on its creditors.
Mr. Ross also promised LeFrak would maintain the property as affordable housing for the city's middle class, addressing big concern for current tenants. "They're not looking at it as a 'flip' -to try to suddenly convert it to luxury apartments," he said. "They've been owning and operating rent-controlled and rent-stabilized (apartments) for generations."
Ross's W.L. Ross & Co., private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners and LeFrak are pursuing a joint bid to buy the complex. Still, dealing with bondholders who hold $1.4 billion in junior, or "mezzanine," debt beneath the mortgage on the property will be "immensely complicated," the investor added.
Continue reading Wilbur Ross: LeFrak Is Ideal for Stuy Town, Trump's 'Not Interested' @ Wall Street Journal
Related
Wilbur Ross: We Are Ideal for Stuyvesant Town [CNBC]l
It might not be a political office, but there's still campaigning under way to run New York's sprawling Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complex.
Tuesday, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said on CNBC that the LeFrak Organization Inc., a Big Apple residential powerhouse, "is the ideal solution" for the 11,000-unit development. As we've detailed, the project was recently thrown into chaos after a group led by owner Tishman Speyer Properties dumped it on its creditors.
Mr. Ross also promised LeFrak would maintain the property as affordable housing for the city's middle class, addressing big concern for current tenants. "They're not looking at it as a 'flip' -to try to suddenly convert it to luxury apartments," he said. "They've been owning and operating rent-controlled and rent-stabilized (apartments) for generations."
Ross's W.L. Ross & Co., private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners and LeFrak are pursuing a joint bid to buy the complex. Still, dealing with bondholders who hold $1.4 billion in junior, or "mezzanine," debt beneath the mortgage on the property will be "immensely complicated," the investor added.
Continue reading Wilbur Ross: LeFrak Is Ideal for Stuy Town, Trump's 'Not Interested' @ Wall Street Journal
Related
Wilbur Ross: We Are Ideal for Stuyvesant Town [CNBC]l
Met Council on Housing's Chair, Scott Sommer, has a radio program weekly called "Housing Notebook" on WBAI, 99.5 FM.
This Monday, February 1, Scott will be joined by Al Doyle, President of the Stuy-Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, a 110 building complex, where the owners recently defaulted on their mortgage, and turned over the development to their lenders.
Housing Notebook, produced by Met Council, airs Mondays on WBAI, 99.5 FM, from 8 to 9PM in the New York metropolitan area, and on the World Wide Web at http://www.wbai.org.
This Monday, February 1, Scott will be joined by Al Doyle, President of the Stuy-Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, a 110 building complex, where the owners recently defaulted on their mortgage, and turned over the development to their lenders.
Housing Notebook, produced by Met Council, airs Mondays on WBAI, 99.5 FM, from 8 to 9PM in the New York metropolitan area, and on the World Wide Web at http://www.wbai.org.
Via NY Magazine
When I moved to Stuyvesant Town in 2003, I had just graduated from college, I was terrified about living in Manhattan, and I had an assistant job that paid $28,000 a year and made me cry once a week--really, all I needed was a place to go where nobody would yell at me. I couldn't have cared less about the historic postwar experiment in middle-class housing I was living in or even the lovely little oval-shaped park behind my building. Then again, not one of my older neighbors, probably wary of the college-age kids who had just been plopped into their midst, bothered to introduce himself to me. For six entire years.
If you ask long-term residents of Stuy Town or Peter Cooper Village why they like living there, they'll tell you it's because of the convenience, the quiet, the safety. In fact, if you Google the phrase "middle-class oasis," the complex pops right up. The "middle class" part has been around since Metropolitan Life first built Stuy Town in the forties. Originally rent regulated, it was designed to be a sensible place to raise a family, sort of like Levittown. But post-Giuliani, Manhattan became more of a yuppie oasis than like anything resembling what MetLife was originally catering to. And Stuy Town looked like an underutilized, somewhat threadbare asset of big apartments renting for cheap. Which is what a group led by Tishman Speyer was thinking when it bought the complex for $5.4 billion in 2006. The experiment, of course, failed. Early this year, Tishman defaulted on its loan payments, and last week, the company handed ownership over to its creditors.
Now that the future of the neighborhood is up in the air, you hear politicians talking about preserving this "middle-class oasis." But it's hard to see what they're protecting. Thanks to Tishman, the complex now features a concierge service and a gym, a Greenmarket, fancy landscaping, and even a screening room. Stuy Town "was built as an enclave for middle-class people in New York City, and if it were to lose that character, it would be an enormous loss," City Councilman (and Peter Cooper resident) Dan Garodnick told me. "It has historically been home to teachers, firefighters, court officers, and many of them still call it home today."
That's true, but a growing percentage of the population doesn't fit that description, and won't, even if a nonprofit organization takes charge or the tenants buy it. Sure, when you pay a lower, stabilized rent you can actually afford, you may indeed call yourself middle class. But when you are looking for an apartment and you find a low, stabilized rent, you just call yourself lucky, whether you're a firefighter or a gaggle of former sorority sisters with lingering Carrie Bradshaw fantasies.
Last fall, looking to move, I searched all over the East Village and saw a bunch of extremely expensive, and often exceedingly strange, apartments (I could have lived next door to D.J. Paul Sevigny, if I hadn't needed a sink in my bathroom). In the end, I stayed in the complex. The price was nice, but this time, I picked it for what it has become rather than what it was. I liked the quiet that came with living in a park. I liked the kids playing outside and the proximity to the river. I'm glad for the teachers and families who've spent their entire lives there, but I picked it because I also liked the new people who called Stuy Town home. People on a budget who might otherwise be living across the river.
On my second day in the new apartment, I ended up waiting for the elevator with a neighbor. His name is Mark, and he lived with his wife and child right next door--facts I know because, wonder of wonders, he introduced himself. It might have been because I'm a bit older now, less obviously postcollegiate. Or it might have been because he was simply friendlier than my previous neighbors. But I'd like to think it was because residents of Stuy Town in general are beginning to realize that its blessings don't have to be reserved just for firefighters for it to remain a "middle-class oasis." Or, as a non-politician might put it, a community.
How Stuy Town Became an Oasis for Manhattan's New Middle Class [NY Magazine]
When I moved to Stuyvesant Town in 2003, I had just graduated from college, I was terrified about living in Manhattan, and I had an assistant job that paid $28,000 a year and made me cry once a week--really, all I needed was a place to go where nobody would yell at me. I couldn't have cared less about the historic postwar experiment in middle-class housing I was living in or even the lovely little oval-shaped park behind my building. Then again, not one of my older neighbors, probably wary of the college-age kids who had just been plopped into their midst, bothered to introduce himself to me. For six entire years.
If you ask long-term residents of Stuy Town or Peter Cooper Village why they like living there, they'll tell you it's because of the convenience, the quiet, the safety. In fact, if you Google the phrase "middle-class oasis," the complex pops right up. The "middle class" part has been around since Metropolitan Life first built Stuy Town in the forties. Originally rent regulated, it was designed to be a sensible place to raise a family, sort of like Levittown. But post-Giuliani, Manhattan became more of a yuppie oasis than like anything resembling what MetLife was originally catering to. And Stuy Town looked like an underutilized, somewhat threadbare asset of big apartments renting for cheap. Which is what a group led by Tishman Speyer was thinking when it bought the complex for $5.4 billion in 2006. The experiment, of course, failed. Early this year, Tishman defaulted on its loan payments, and last week, the company handed ownership over to its creditors.
Now that the future of the neighborhood is up in the air, you hear politicians talking about preserving this "middle-class oasis." But it's hard to see what they're protecting. Thanks to Tishman, the complex now features a concierge service and a gym, a Greenmarket, fancy landscaping, and even a screening room. Stuy Town "was built as an enclave for middle-class people in New York City, and if it were to lose that character, it would be an enormous loss," City Councilman (and Peter Cooper resident) Dan Garodnick told me. "It has historically been home to teachers, firefighters, court officers, and many of them still call it home today."
That's true, but a growing percentage of the population doesn't fit that description, and won't, even if a nonprofit organization takes charge or the tenants buy it. Sure, when you pay a lower, stabilized rent you can actually afford, you may indeed call yourself middle class. But when you are looking for an apartment and you find a low, stabilized rent, you just call yourself lucky, whether you're a firefighter or a gaggle of former sorority sisters with lingering Carrie Bradshaw fantasies.
Last fall, looking to move, I searched all over the East Village and saw a bunch of extremely expensive, and often exceedingly strange, apartments (I could have lived next door to D.J. Paul Sevigny, if I hadn't needed a sink in my bathroom). In the end, I stayed in the complex. The price was nice, but this time, I picked it for what it has become rather than what it was. I liked the quiet that came with living in a park. I liked the kids playing outside and the proximity to the river. I'm glad for the teachers and families who've spent their entire lives there, but I picked it because I also liked the new people who called Stuy Town home. People on a budget who might otherwise be living across the river.
On my second day in the new apartment, I ended up waiting for the elevator with a neighbor. His name is Mark, and he lived with his wife and child right next door--facts I know because, wonder of wonders, he introduced himself. It might have been because I'm a bit older now, less obviously postcollegiate. Or it might have been because he was simply friendlier than my previous neighbors. But I'd like to think it was because residents of Stuy Town in general are beginning to realize that its blessings don't have to be reserved just for firefighters for it to remain a "middle-class oasis." Or, as a non-politician might put it, a community.
How Stuy Town Became an Oasis for Manhattan's New Middle Class [NY Magazine]
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10/23/09 While NYC Renters Rejoice, More Pain for Tishman and Co. [WSJ]- 10/23/09 Tsk, tsk, Tishman [NY Post]
- 10/23/09 Why Jerry's $5.4B gamble failed [NY Post]
- 10/22/09 Stuyvesant Town Ruling Worries Tenants and Landlords Alike [NYT]
- 10/22/09 Court Deals Blow to Owners of Apartment Complex [NYT]
- 10/22/09 Tishman Rent Rise in Manhattan Voided by New York’s Top Court [Bloomberg]
- 10/22/09 Court Shakes Up New York Landlords [WSJ]
- 10/19/09 StuyTown Tenants Fear Inspections [WNYC]
- 10/15/09 Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association seeks second chance to buy building complex [NY Daily News]
- 10/15/09 Commercial Real Estate Watch: Stuyvesant Town Set To Implode [Business Insider]
- 10/15/09 An Apartment Complex Teeters [WSJ]
- 9/11/09 Stuy Town Down [NY Post]
- 9/10/09 Tishman Speyer's Stuyvesant Town Lost $3 Billion [Bloomberg]
- 9/10/09 Stuy Town Owners in Court Over Rent Boosts [NBC NY]
- 9/10/09 When a Real Estate Deal Goes Bad [NYT]
- 9/9/09 Tishman, BlackRock, Could Default on Stuy Town Loans [Real Deal]
- 9/9/09 ST / PCV on the Verge of Ruin [Gothamist]
- 9/9/09 Bloomberg's Rich Friends, and His Silence on Affordable Housing [The Awl]
- 9/1/09 Florida Lost $250 Millionon New York's Stuyvesant Apartments [Bloomberg]
- 8/31/09 Fitch: Stuy-Town Debt Reserve May Run Dry [Globe St]
- 8/25/09 Cash Crisis for America's Most Expensive Housing Complex [Multi Family Investor]
- 8/22/09 Stuy Town Cash Crisis [NY Post]
- 8/6/09 Welcome to Stuy Town U [NY Press]
- 7/21/09 Rape in Stuyvesant Town [NY Post]
- 7/15/09 Targets Elderly Men [The Villager]
- 7/14/09 East Side Attacker Of Elderly Re-Emerges [CBS News]
- 6/12/09 Police release video of suspect in muggin spree [NY Daily News]
- 6/4/09 I Really Don’t Think People Defecate in the Hallways of Stuyvesant Town [NY Magazine]
- 5/27/09 Now It's War [Curbed]
- 5/22/09 Group of Stabilized Tenants File $10M Suit [Curbed]
- 5/21/09 Landlords Could Soon be Responsible for Indoor Air Quality [Epoch Times]
- 4/7/09 Tishman Speyer Victory: Can Appeal Stuy Town Rent Ruling [Huffington Post]
- 5/18/09 Protections Sought For Foreclosed-Upon Renters [City Limits]
- 5/6/09 Stuy Town Woman Fondled by Teen [NY Post]
- 4/23/09 Gang Violence Leads to Mounted Partol in ST [Town & Village]
- 4/9/09 Perv Plea: Save My Stuy Apt [NY Post]
- 3/6/09 Stuy Town Owners Set Back on Rents [Metro]
- 3/6/09 Big Landlord Found to Have Wrongly Raised Rents [NYT]
- 3/6/09 Stuy Town Rent Win [NY Post]
- 3/5/09 NY court deals landlords huge setback [Crain's]
- 3/3/09 Study Questions Whether Cameras Cut Crime [NYT]
- 2/25/09 Stuyvesant Town Debt May Be Cut If Rent Law Changes [Bloomberg]
- 2/25/09 Fitch may downgrade New York City apartment CMBS [Reuters]
- 2/5/09 Proposed Rent Rules Stir an Owner Outcry [NYT]
- 2/1/09 Clash of the Utopias [NY Mag]
- 1/20/09 Illegal walls turn NYC apartments into firetraps [MSNBC]
- 1/14/09 Apartments Try to Stay Afloat [WSJ]
- 1/11/09 STUY TOWN OWNER SUED OVER 'EVICTION SPREE' [NY Post]
- 12/31/08 Tishman Close To Figuring Out If Stuy-Town Was Worth It [NY Observer]
- 12/16/08 A List a Landlord Doesn’t Want to Be On [NYT]
- 11/21/08 NYPD Daily Crime Blotter [NY Post]
- 11/13/08 Unclear why E Side water runs brown [NY Daily News]
- 11/13/08 Brown tap water plagues NYC residents for weeks [WCBSTV]
- 11/11/08 Will Tisnman Speyer Buckle [The Real Deal]
- 10/28/08 No gas for one week steams Stuy Town [NY Daily News]
- 10/26/08 Tishman Speyer up against residential rout [Crain's]
- 10/26/08 A Shift in Albany Could Avert Higher Rents [Gotham Gazette]
- 10/21/08 Heat's on Tishman [NY Post]
- 10/17/08 Stuy Town Fight Club [Curbed]
- 10/13/08 Managers facing ‘Survivor’ challenge [PI]
- 10/7/08 What the Other Half Thinks [City Limits]
- 9/29/08 Big Squeeze on Affordable Housing [NYP]
- 9/28/08 More City Apartments Facing Foreclosure [Crain's]
- 9/27/08 Stuy Town Blues [NYP]
- 9/17/08 Stuy Town a Money Loser for Tishman? [WNYC]
- 9/8/08 Out of Control [Barron's]
- 8/27/08 From a Doorman to Dorm Rooms [WSJ]
- 8/26/08 Fear of Defaults After a Flurry of Apartment House Sales [NYT]
- 8/3/08 Tishman's Stuy Buy Hurting [New York Post]
- 7/23/08 Revenues at Stuyvesant Town are Down [Gothamist]
- 7/23/08 Stuyvesant Town Revenues Have Fallen, Report Says [NYT]
- 7/15/08 Stuyvesant Town Renters Rally in Wake of WallGate [Curbed]
- 7/14/08 Stuy Town Wall Woes [New York Post]
- 7/5/08 A Very Stuyvesant Town Fourth of July [Gothamist]
- 7/2/08 Tishman Speyer Canceled Pressurized Wall [Curbed]
- 6/29/08 Life After Tenements [NYT]
- 6/22/08 Far From the Fairways, Unpopular Visitors [NYT]
- 5/27/08 Stuy Town Follies: Now It's War [Curbed]
- 5/27/08 Tenants Roiled by Challenges on Residency [NYT]
- 5/27/08 Renters Forced Out of Stuyvesant Town [NYT]
- 5/22/08 Preserving Stuyvesant Town [NY Sun]
- 5/8/08 Everybody's Sexy in Stuyvesant Town! [NYMAG]
- 3/5/08 Stuyvesant Town, Desperate for Renters? [Gothamist]
- 5/27/07 Tenants Blast Stuy Town 'Spying' [NYP]
- 5/27/07 Landlord probes tenants in fight over apartments [WABC]
- 10/21/07 Child Pornography Arrest Stirs Previous Allegation Against Therapist [NYT]
- 1/16/07 After Sale, Rent Increases Give Some Sticker Shock [NYT]
- 9/23/06 Complexes’ Seller Pushes Profits, as Critics Fear Higher Rents [NYT]
- 7/12/06 An Earlier Case of a Gas Explosion After a Broken Relationship [NYT]
- 7/6/06 A Surprise Lurks at Stuyvesant Town - Luxury Rentals [NY Sun]
- 11/5/03 Stuyvesant Town tenants wary of N.Y.U. influx [The Villager]
- 10/23/02 Sniper Hits a Teacher at Stuyvesant Town [NYT]
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