Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tishman Speyer to Stuy Town: F.U.!!!

Below are some images taken of Stuyvesant Town yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving. It's been three years since Tishman Speyer took over Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. What used to be a coveted place to live and well-maintained has turned, in part, into something that looks like a slum. This change was occurring BEFORE the economy started to tank, and now it's just gotten worse, with a lessening of maintenance and a maintenance staff.

This is a view of Stuy Town at 14th Street:



I'd say the above looks like low-income projects.

Below, the dumpsters. What arrogance on the part of Tishman Speyer to continue traumatizing tenants in this area with the horrid screeching noise of these dumpsters in the night or early morning hours. This is a scandal that also touches our local politicians, who seem to be pathetically ineffectual here.



And let's not forget this beautiful dumpster on the other side of the Ave. C loop:



Nice pick-up, guys!



The worst looking area of Stuy Town is at the interior corner of Ave. C and 14 Street. Imagine paying market rate for this view when you come home:



With cutbacks in the maintenance staff, there appear to be not enough workers or time to pick up all those leaves:







Nothing better says that Tishman Speyer loves it tenants than the sorry state of the Oval grounds:






It was three years ago that Rob Speyer sent this Thanksgiving message to the tenants of Stuy Town & Peter Cooper Village:

I am writing on behalf of everyone at Tishman Speyer to express how honored we are to become part of your outstanding community. We are a business with deep roots in New York, a true love of our city and a great respect for the neighborhoods that make it special. We are committed to maintaining the unique character and environment that have made Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town such a wonderful place to live for so long. We look forward to providing you an extraordinary level of service and attentiveness that will be the source of pride and satisfaction for the entire community.

I think most of us knew this was bullshit at the time. Certainly it has been proven so!

So thanks for destroying this community and property, Rob. Thanks for proving that you are not capable of dealing with tenants with skill and respect. Thanks for proving that you are just a rich man's boy who is in a high management position only because of that and not because of any talent or intelligence. All of us hope to see you and your company leave here soon. I doubt that this community will ever return to what it was before your "stewardship," but we will try, we will try.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, at least you remember what your blog is about. No isolated shot of a living flower, no cutesy couples with dogs, no college anything, no "joy" of any kind. It looks like crap because the biggest turkey of all time turned it into crap.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Actually, since I created and write for the blog, the blog is what I think it's about--which includes all its content so far. Flowers, college, "joy," etc, included.

Anonymous said...

Actually, if you read what it's about, you may remember what it's about.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Give it up. It's not working for you--again. My blog, and I do what I want with it. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

What Rob really thought on that day:

It was three years ago that Rob Speyer sent this Thankstaking message to the tenants of Stuy Town & Peter Cooper Village:

I am writing on behalf of everyone at Tishman Speyer to express how ashamed we are to become part of your middle class community. We are a business with deep grabbing roots in New York, a true hate of our city and a great disrespect for the neighborhoods that make it cheap. We are committed to review the unique character and environment that have made Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town such a wonderful place to live for so long. We look forward not providing you an extraordinary level of low service and low attentiveness that will be the source of low self-esteem and dissatisfaction for the entire community.

Anonymous said...

One of the worst decisions made by Tishman Speyer was to allow dogs into Stuy Town. Just this morning I had to pass by two clods of dog shit that a Stuy Town dog owner didn't care to pick up. There are areas of Stuy Town that smell like a zoo from dog crap and dog urine.

Anonymous said...

I agree about the dog issue. Tishman set out a whole slew of regulations and rules about dog owner conduct, and then proceeded to refuse to enforce any of them.

Dogs are unleashed, and eliminate on almost every inch of the property. The walks are all urine stained, and the gardens are soaked with the same.

It's totally disgusting, and shameful that there are so many people that don't take any pride in their community.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Security is AWFUL about enforcing the rules here. For sure, they don't care.

Anonymous said...

Tishman Speyer has to be one of the biggest failures in the history of New York City real estate. Rob Speyer should go back to his paper round or whatever it was he did before Daddy gave him a job he couldn't handle.

Joy Garrido Ernanny said...

When did the deterioration begin?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Stuyvesant Town looked its best, and was well-maintained, when MetLife prettied it up for the big sale. I'd say it took Tishman Speyer less than a year (probably half-a-year) to start screwing things up, with things like building the "Essentials" (which, because of the non-stop noise and vibrations caused by the work, made everyone in that area suffer greatly), the over-planting of the complex (with many of the new trees and plants dying at the time), the removal of perfectly healthy trees that had been around for years, the allowance of dogs, the lack of care for the Oval grounds (which are now a shocking sight for those of us who've been here for a while), etc.

Anonymous said...

And students.

Anonymous said...

I think it's unfair to blame Security for non-enforcement of the dog rules. My impression is that they had to give up on enforcing all but the most egregious violations because they got no support from Management when they attempted stricter enforcement.

Anonymous said...

Security has a civic and legal responsibility to enforce the law. They have members of the force that are authorized as Peace Officers, and as such must legally uphold the laws of NY. To not enforce the law where violations are seen would constitute a dereliction of duty and would actually be punishable.

The fact that they are derelict in their duties has nothing to do with Tishman at all, and if in fact Tishman is preventing the force from acting legally, then an investigation should be undertaken.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the last poster. Security is undermanned and undermined by a "management" that is only interested in rent checks. They don't give a flying f*** about the quality of life inside or outside the buildings. I can't wait to see Tishman Speyer get the hell out of here. They have totally destroyed the morale of their tenants and employees. Bastards!

Anonymous said...

the Avenue C dumpsters were supposed to be moved in Feb 2008!

You can call management to complain.

You can call Dan Garodnick's off ice to complain.

It will get you nowhere!!!!!


This place is a HELL HOLE!!!

mottley said...

i lived in a renovated 2br in stuv oval for 3+ years in a market rate apt. we paid 2750 for the first couple of years under met life, which i didn't have a problem with.

then rob convinced his dad, jerry, to invest in residential real estate, which they had never done. if there was an specific day that you could have called the top of the market, it was the day they paid $5.4 billion for PCSVT.

our rent got jacked up to $3300, then they wanted $3900, which is when we decided we had to go.

I sent a letter to management asking why they were trying to squeeze families like mine: quiet, paid on time, didn't complain, etc...They responded that the NYC occupancy rate was close to 100% and they could charge what they wanted.

I told them that eventually, the majority of renters would be post-college kids putting 3-4 in a 2br, who would move out in a year. They would make noise, not always pay on time and some would cause damage to the apartments; just like me and all my friends did when we were in school. Deaf ears.

Epilogue: the complex is worth less than $2 Billion, Speyer will run out of money to service the debt and the maintenance fund has all but dried up; leaving us with what the Stuy Town Reporter took pictures of.

The biggest joke of it all is that Jerry Speyer only put up $52 million (less than 1% of the purchase price!) of his own money and he will probably make most of it back. CALPERS (california pension fund) lost over $500 million in their investment in PCSVT.

They bought it, jacked up rents, bled the complex dry and left it by the side of the road.

Anonymous said...

At last my laundry machines are working thanks to the person responsible

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake,this place is fast becoming a big mess here on 1st ave.I hope it get some attention real fast