In reviewing the venture between the Tenants Association and Brookfield to purchase Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, I'm coming across a dead end in two important cases:
1) Has the agreement between the TA and Brookfield ever been made public to the tenants?
2) Has the TA/Brookfield proposal to CWCapital to purchase the property ever been made public to tenants?
I'm not interested in generalities, that were made public, but in concrete facts and documents related to the agreement between the TA and Brookfield, and the proposal that was sent to CWCapital.
To refresh minds:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/brookfield-joins-stuyvesant-town-tenants-in-bid-to-buy-manhattan-complex.html
I'm not sure that Brookfield or any other developer has formally presented to CW. As far as what TA/Brookfield presented to the community, I recall:
ReplyDelete- Non-eviction plan
- A condo format
- Maintaining open spaces
- Some number of units offered at lower prices for lower income tenants with caps put on for how much these can resold.
- There will be a flip tax.
No specifics about the lower priced units or about the flip tax. No specifics about target base prices. I believe they commented that giving out such specifics prior to the submission of a plan to the AG would be illegal.
Given that Paul Weiss law firm said they are not getting paid upfront but rather based on the deal its a good guess that the deal is a good one for the attorneys. Probably not the best deal for residents, both buyers and renters, as it has been hidden from them.
ReplyDeleteObviously anyone buying in would need to see the deal in entirety and have their own lawyer look it over as with any home purchase. Anyone trying to sell you a home but doesn't let you see the financials and the deal is trying to pull one over on you.
ReplyDeleteWe should also know the names of each and every person who has been involved in the crafting of this deal. They have hidden the deal and they have hidden their identities. We should know every person involved and what their input was on the deal.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to both questions is "no". Also several tenants have posted comments on the Tenants' Association website asking for information about the TA's current plan to acquire STPCV and how they intend to deal with Fortress' bid (should one occur). So far, no one from the TA has responded. I continue to be amazed that a group of about a dozen tenants (the Board of the Tenants' Association) continues to think that it has the right to plan and act in secret without any real input from the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, what the TA board overlooks is that under any condo plan that Brookfield would present, prices would be sufficiently high that a relatively low percentage of the community would be able to buy. Which means that Brookfield would hold the majority of the units during the required 5 year limit, and Brookfield would hold the majority on the governance board. During the first 5 yrs, Brookfield would have incentive to do everything in its power to force renters to move....so that it would have more units to sell at market rates asap. Any plan that doesn't make units affordable enough for a majority to buy is bad for tenants.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think this through, what do we really expect the TA to do. What can the TA ever do. Fighting huge corporations, unethical humans. It's really awful. Why even blame the Ta.
ReplyDeleteIts not blame - its accountability. They had us sign a pledge that we would allow them to fight all our battles with DHCR, DOB, and all the city agencies. They have us pay dues. This is what they are supposed to do so its not "blame" its expecting them to do what they are supposed to. If they can't then they are not the right person for the job. Their strengths don't match the needs of a TA board member job.
ReplyDeleteI'm over the TA. On one hand they want to be thought of as community leaders and when they fail, they play the "we're only volunteers" card.
ReplyDeleteAGAIN, how are these people qualified to do the work they allegedly do?!
Brookfield or any other developer has formally presented to CW
ReplyDeleteExactly. That's the problem. CWCap refused to discuss the sale with anyone while Roberts was unresolved. Roberts got resolved and CWCap announces a plan to either (a) basically hand us over to their parent company Wall Street uber-shits Fortress Investment Group or (b) to establish $4.7 billion as the baseline and open the auction that will put us back exactly where we were 8 years ago. Or maybe worse than 8 years ago, if all goes well for the bondholders.
Who knows how far back this shit goes. I suspect it goes back to the point when it began to look like TS could lose its grip on ST-PCV. CWCap was not gobbled up by Fortress until after TS handed it the ST-PCV special servicer account. Back in 2006, Andrew MacArthur was working with Apollo Realty to buy ST-PCV. There's lots on that in the Bagli book. Who knows, the way things are going, Bagli's probably planning a sequel.
But keep on fiddling about the TA and Garodnick or whatever while ST-PCV burns.
12:07 fortress was covered in comments several blog postings ago including fortress head meltdown at the Bloomberg secret society party when the Fortress head (whats his name again?) saw a reporter at the silly secret society party taking photos.
ReplyDelete10:02 PM
ReplyDeleteWhat's your point? What does any of that have to do with my comment?
This deal may have been long in the works. Maybe the Fortress acquisition of CW Capital after it was named special servicer of ST-PCV was merely a coincidence. Maybe it's a coincidence that the guy who was doing the deal for runner-up Apollo to buy ST-PCV in 2006 is now managing director of CWCapital. What we do know is that CWCap has refused all along to discuss selling the property to us or anyone and now we face June 13.
With the June 13 development, IMO we should be focused on slowing down or stopping by any means possible what are almost certainly the 2 worst outcomes imaginable.
I don't understand the signing of us over to the TA. ???
ReplyDeletePlease explain. You want me to put me in your hands, with my $$$ super high rent plus now added mc i s, plus more to come, plus now we pay for things like bulbs and what else? elevator fees and porter fees?
What have they done for me? Sign why?