About Those 2,000 Student Apartments....

An article in the current Town & Village, titled "Student Town," clarifies and corrects certain impressions/statements that got a considerable amount of attention on various web pages, including this blog, while at the same time leaving questions open about just what is really occurring here, or about to occur, regarding student housing. First off, forget about those 2,000 student apartments waiting to be filled this summer. The number, according to Kyle Freedman, the young CEO of My Student Apartment, is near 300 (that he "expects to close"), but, as of now the article states that "he's arranged dozens of his clients to move into Stuy Town." We also hear from the grapevine that things may not be going so smoothly for Mr. Freedman and his intentions toward student housing in Stuy Town. So, at this point, it appears that the news item we all got upset about may have been just wishful thinking on the part of a start-up business.

I should also clarify and correct certain impressions/statements made by someone in the commenting section. Regarding all night "raves" at Stuy Town, if the calls are made to Public Safety/Security, the "raves" get shut down. I've repeated this several times, but tenants have to call Public Safety if they feel neighbors are too noisy in the middle of the night. By its very definition, a rave is an extended loud party, and it's hard to believe that Public Safety would do nothing if such a rave continues after the first warning.

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Update 2/26: Over at the TA Facebook, there's an open letter from our councilman Dan Garodnick, addressed to both CW and Rose Associates, stating concerns over whatever arrangement ST/PCV has with colleges and student brokerage firms and demanding (or almost demanding) answers. We may be in for a couple of interesting weeks, or then again, CW and Rose could just ignore Dan's letter, as I'm assuming such information is kept close to the vest. It would be good to know just what the reality is concerning student housing in ST/PCV. Student housing here is one of the issues that will have to be addressed in any serious conversion offer, a conversion offer that seems less and less likely to sway CW or most older tenants, in my opinion.

The way I see it is that student housing is a Manhattan reality, and not just in Stuy Town. If you step outside the perimeters of ST/PCV, you should have noted the tremendous increase in students these past years and businesses that cater to students. The old businesses that catered to a more permanent NY resident have closed down and are closing down. It's all tiny Asian fusion bars and bistros, Starbucks, etc. Students are not heading to Jewish delis or Ukrainian butcher shops. The demographics are changing rapidly. CW needs students as renters, because that seems to be the largest pool of applicants (true?) for renting units here and willing to share. Any talk of condo conversion has to face this reality.

Fresh Direct Vending Machines Coming to Stuy Town?

Fresh Direct Vending Machines coming to Stuy Town? Not yet, and perhaps never. But Rose Associates does have them at another property they manage. I don't believe the above Stoler Report Show has been linked before, but, even though it's over a year old, it still is of considerable interest, particularly as one of the guests is Robert Scaglion, Senior Managing Director, Residential Marketing of Rose Associates. Despite the coziness of the setting with moderator Stoler, there's a "close-to-the-vest" aspect to many of the answers from the participants, who want to paint a positive picture of their holdings and gloss over problems, while gently admitting to some.

Some money quotes from Scaglion:

"Amenities are crucial. It's all about lifestyle. People work very hard to be able to afford the rents that they are paying and they want to come home and be able to go work out or go to the lounge or do some other social entertaining in their amenity space within their own home."

"I think you're going to see an evolution in lifestyle spaces in these buildings where not only will we be providing amenity spaces, we'll be programing the events for them. "

And my favorite:

"People want services very convenient to them and food is a big part of it. Not many people are cooking."

Can We Now Say that Stuy Town is a Dorm?

According to Wikipedia, Stuyvesant Town has 8,757 apartments. Together with Peter Cooper Village, the complex has 11,250 apartments. Zeroing in on Stuy Town, we now find out the following: that close to 2,000 apartments are/will be available via MyStudentApartment.com. These are apartments that are NOT part of the lease system from schools like NYU. If PCV is not included in the 2,000 student apartment figure, that means, taking into account apartments made available directly to schools, and other means of rental access, that we may be seeing at least 1/4 of Stuy Town apartments filled with college students.

While this should come as no surprise, considering all the seasonal moving trucks and discarded furniture we see in Stuy Town, the college crowds at the rental office, and the piles of pizza boxes tipping over in the recycling area, it is rather astounding to consider that Stuyvesant Town may have more college students as renters than Stuy Town residents who are members of the TA. The college population carries a heaving burden on the maintenance here and presents quality of life issues we are already familiar with. Importantly, the more student renters we have, the less we have of a more permanent body of tenants who are interested in the future of this complex. Whatever landlord owns this place gains by a student population in a speedier turnover of apartments and a decrease in the pool of a Tenants Association population. How this all translates into a condo/co-op conversion remains to be seen.

It's Happening All Over New York

Hipsters vs. Immigrants

No "war" really evident in this BBC clip, but if you watch it to the end, the pattern becomes obvious.

NYC neighborhoods: Immigrants > Artists > Hipsters/Yunnies/Whatever. Bottom line: The old "cheap" (ie, affordable) neighborhoods get eventually transformed into streets of highrises with high rents.

That's Three--No, Make that Four College Students in One Apartment

A three-bedroom affair, soon to be a fourth when the living room is converted to a make-shift sleeping area.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/roo/2843055769.html

Three full time college students in our 20's looking for a fourth roommate . We live in a 3 bedroom fully renovated secure building in beautiful Stuy Town. Ideally located on 16th and 1st close to the L train, bus and Union Sq. Great restaurants, nightlife and shopping. The room offered is being used as our living room currently and while no walls can be put up its a large space and comes with a huge closet and we will work with you to make it as private as possible.

Looking for someone between the ages of 20-27.

Can't wait to hear from you.

At first I thought this was a three-bedroom without partitions, but from the photo, it seems this once was a two-bedroom. (?)



So on the couch you go!