Monday, October 19, 2015

Deal Forthcoming That Will Perserve Nearly Half of ST/PCV for the Middle Class

PLEASE NOTE: Due to this breaking news and its importance to our community, I expect a substantial amount of comments coming to this blog. I'm will try to monitor the comment section expeditiously, but I am at work for most of the day, so bear that in mind if your comment does not appear as swiftly as you may like.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/nyregion/stuyvesant-town-said-to-be-near-sale-that-will-preserve-middle-class-housing.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com&_r=0

Major news. According to Charles V. Bagli, NYTimes' real estate writer (and author of an eye-opening book on ST/PCV), the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to Blackstone will happen this Tuesday. Of particular note:

"The agreement will preserve nearly half the 11,232-unit complex for middle-class families."

And:

"The Blackstone deal includes a remarkable regulatory agreement with the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio that would ensure that a block of 5,000 apartments would be affordable for the next 20 years for families of teachers, construction workers, firefighters and others who traditionally made their homes at Stuyvesant Town."

While this is potentially good news, I do feel we shouldn't be celebrating yet. One wonders, for instance, just how this agreement will deal with the pattern of apartments going out of "affordable housing" when old time residents move or die out, and how the agreement will deal with the dramatic progressive upswing of student housing in this community. I also am somewhat suspicious of the term frequently used: "middle class housing," which can be defined in a number of ways. Will a rent of $4,000 or more for a single bedroom apartment be considered "middle class housing"? And what happens after 20 years? In some ways, this could be an illusory victory for the true middle class and real affordable housing. Blackstone would have made a serious evaluation of the future of this complex and realized that the progressive turn-over of apartments to unaffordable, coupled with the 20 year time limit (that may erase rent-stabilization protections), is a great boon for it. Yes, we could be getting screwed again.

Hopefully, Blackstone will take their ownership of this property very seriously in terms of maintenance and enforcement of rules. In other words, hopefully we will be seeing the last of CWCapital and CompassRock.

MAJOR UPDATE 10/20/15:

More details about the deal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/nyregion/stuyvesant-town-said-to-be-near-sale-that-will-preserve-middle-class-housing.html?_r=0

Of note: "Under the new agreement with the de Blasio administration, 4,500 apartments would be reserved for middle-income families. A family of three earning up to $128,210 a year, for example, would pay a rent of $3,205 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. An additional 500 apartments would be set aside for families making less. For example, a family of three earning up to $62,150 a year would pay about $1,553 in rent for a two-bedroom."

So, wait.... Does that mean if one's rent is higher than the amounts mentioned, one's rent is lowered??? Surely not.

And the question still remains: What happens after 20 years to these affordable apartments?

An aside: A shout out to Times' Charles V. Bagli for these reports.

115 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blackstone are bloodsuckers. DeBlasio is a complete moron. He "saved" 5,000 apartments that were already stabilized anyway. And for 20 years. So what happens in year 21? And what of the 6,000+ apartments that are market rate? Wow what a joke of a mayor we have if he thinks he's done anything remarkable here. Complete dope. Bought for $5.6 billion? That equals -- tenants will be getting screwed again the same old way in the years to come. What a sad turn of events. You sold us all out DeBlasio.

Anonymous said...

Wait, what? I don't get it. Firefighters? We have none living here. They left long ago.

What does this mean?????

Anonymous said...

Wall Street Journal

http://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-nears-deal-to-buy-stuyvesant-town-housing-complex-1445293748

Another take with more details. Anything that involves GE is always bad news.

Anonymous said...

5,000? WHATE ABOUT THE REST OF US? nada?

Anonymous said...

OK, so half of the apartments will be rent stabilized. Does that mean that the other half will continue to be dorm/hotel dumps? How can they put a number out like that! Sounds like the same old thing, although I'm not sure whether half are rent stabilized now. Seems like less. It needs to be 100% affordable so we can get rid of these dorm/hotel dump apartments. This does not sound promising.

Anonymous said...

About 5,000 units are occupied by the original tenants with rent-stabilized leases that protect against steep hikes. Those tenants will be able to stay there under the present rent laws, the people said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-nears-deal-to-buy-stuyvesant-town-housing-complex-1445293748

Anonymous said...

We deserve an honest disclosure on the deal but I doubt anyone involved will be honest with us.

Anonymous said...

Some good news - some Stuy Town residents took matters into their own hands - last week neighbors in Stuyvesant Town spoke with UPS and they are going to help residents in Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town make sure our packages and medications are all safely delivered.

On the other news - first STR thanks for keeping us in the know.

Second, Blackstone? That can't be good. They are hoarding rental properties all over the country and they have a big problem with managing them well or even with decency.

Anonymous said...

Oh! Wowsie Wow! Another photo op for Garodnick! Please fuck off Mr. Councilman. You have done more harm than good to your constituents and, especially, our community. You and the so-called "Tenants" Association. Just go away. We don't want you, need you or like you. You have done NOTHING to help us and everything in your power to harm us. Just do the honorable thing and go away. That is a polite way of telling you to .... see above!

Anonymous said...

I wonder if DeBlasio's main supporters and Big Donors were Rastafarians, would he be down in Jamaica extolling the virtues of Kingston? It's not sheer coincidence that he is in Jerusalem doing his pandering. It makes me sick!

Anonymous said...

Devil will be in the details.

"He "saved" 5,000 apartments that were already stabilized anyway"

Don't you realize that many of these non-renovated apartments have seniors as tenants and would have been lost and been converted anyway as dorm style, still NYS RS renovated apartments when these seniors died if the status quo was not changed? And as I have posted in another thread, ALL renovated apartments would have been lost to NYS RS as of 6/2020 as per the Roberts ruling. Not really happy at first glance with this deal (remember how good the Roberts ruling was supposed to be) but let's see the details.

Anonymous said...

"Wait, what? I don't get it. Firefighters? We have none living here. They left long ago."

The 98% of the ones who are left are retired NYPD, FDNY, PAPD, etc. with a couple of actives who are the chidren of these retirees who were able to get succession rights.

Anonymous said...

Is this block of 5,000 units inclusive of the real RS units or is it the Roberts faux RS units? Those of us in real RS units are protected by the RS laws anyway, aren't we? This is very confusing and I'm sure it is intentionally so.

Anonymous said...

BTW, most of the pro tenant comments in the article say its a bad deal.

Anonymous said...

A couple interesting things from the Times article:

"Blackstone also agreed not to pursue a condominium conversion or to build new towers on the tree-lined property."

"Under the new agreement with the de Blasio administration, 4,500 apartments would be reserved for middle-income families. A family of three earning up to $128,210 a year, for example, would pay a rent of $3,205 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. An additional 500 apartments would be set aside for families making less. For example, a family of three earning up to $62,150 a year would pay about $1,553 in rent for a two-bedroom."

Anonymous said...

Guess what. Garodnick is holding a press conference! He's a slice off the Chucky Cheese Schumer block!

Anonymous said...

“This deal achieves our core goals of preserving the community as a stable home for New Yorkers today and into the future,” said Daniel R. Garodnick, a city councilman and lifelong resident of the complex. “This time, the buyer not only has a more patient and stable investment structure, but goes to great lengths to preserve long-term affordability.” - Dan Garodnick

Clearly, Garodnick-TA-Brookfield refused to consider the transaction Mayor de Blasio claims will preserve 44% middle class rent affordability for 20 years, thereby killing any short term possibility of a successful MR condo conversion.

So what does Garodnick do?

Double talking Dan declares victory of course, falsely claiming he shared the mayor's goal to maximize rent affordability all along.

Anonymous said...

Thank you STR for bringing us the news in a timely and straightforward manner and for giving tenants the platform to use our voices when we have no other platform and no representation.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

That's what this blog is about. And thank you!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Clearly, Garodnick-TA-Brookfield refused to consider the transaction Mayor de Blasio claims will preserve 44% middle class rent affordability for 20 years, thereby killing any short term possibility of a successful MR condo conversion.

So what does Garodnick do?

Double talking Dan declares victory of course, falsely claiming he shared the mayor's goal to maximize rent affordability all along.<<

Garodnick will spin this one for all it's worth. One assumes that he would have been notified of the deal, but it's curious that he was quoted the other day (before the details emerged of the deal) as putting pressure on Blackstone to listen to tenants. I wonder just how much he knew, when he knew it, and if he participated in the talks between the city and Blackstone. Whatever the case, he will place himself front and center as saving "affordable housing" in this complex.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Bottom line: The Garodnick-TA plan for this community, a plan that so much time was spent on and so many tenants had hopes for (not me, however), fell through completely. Tenants may still get screwed and become big-time losers here in the long run, but as of now one of the big losers is the team of Garodnick and the TA. They will not admit this, however.

Anonymous said...

How impressive! A deal protecting the units that were already protected! I LOVVVVEEEE THIS. Making fools of us all.

Anonymous said...

For example, a family of three earning up to $62,150 a year would pay about $1,553 in rent for a two-bedroom

What kind of math is this?

$62, 150 income
would conservatively pay $20,000 in city, state, and federal taxes leaving
$42, 150
the rent would be $18,636
leaving $23,514
divided by 12 is $1959.50 per month

That is less than $2000 per month food, clothing, school costs, medical costs, dental costs,
Not enough to cover the essentials of life let alone any quality of life

This is not livable for the Middle Class

Anonymous said...

The TA Garodnick Plan opened a door for colleges to buy up blocks of buildings and even the rent stabilized occupied apartments, and turn PCVST into 100% dorms. It opened the door for multiple owners buying up clocks of buildings for mini communities and it would have resulted in a fragmented complex impossible to protect tenants. Even individual condo owners would lose at the hand of multiple greedy owners who would use their votes to increase maintenance costs through the roofs.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

The churning won't stop, however. From the Times' article:

"Under the terms of the deal, Blackstone would phase in market-rate rents over five years for an additional 1,200 apartments when certain tax benefits wear off in 2020."

Anonymous said...

What the hell does phase in mean? Is this a joke?

Anonymous said...

So it is a foregone conclusion they will let the tax benefits expire as already determined by the politicians and the Blackstones of the world. Their ability to predict laws is as impressive as their ability to write them - they pull all the strings, don't they.....

Just further demonstrates the system is rigged and all the protests and rallying and "fake arrests" amount to nothing in these already done deals. Buses to Albany for photo ops NO MORE! Or BS phony arrests of politicians! Its not like all the rallying and protests got us anywhere with last summers disastrous Albany results for tenants.

The decades of career politicians and incumbents prioritizing career advancement of themselves over honoring the Office they occupy has to come to an end.

If you are not representing us, putting our best interests first and foremost, you will not only lose our vote, we will use our voices as powerfully, and with the greatest impact possible that will rival the REBNY money-bribes; to get the word out of the failed use of elected office to work for the people, by the people, of the people.

Anonymous said...

October 20, 2015 at 7:56 AM It means the Tenant Association, Dan Garodnick, Scott Stringer, Eric Schneiderman, Andrew Cuomo allowed and helped RE to kick out innocent tenants who did not have the means to protect themselves by figuring out the accounting crimes and why they rigged the Roberts deal (instead of making tenants whole again, they delayed the demise until 2020)

..so big RE could steal their home to turn and churn it into market rate housing stock instead of rent stabilized housing stock. Once the politicians stole the home for RE, the apartment was off the affordable housing track and on market- rate track permanently.

Anonymous said...

The other apartments which are not affordable will continue to be rented as NYU dorm dumps and hotel rooms. This place will still be a dump.

Anonymous said...

Read between the lines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/nyregion/stuyvesant-town-said-to-be-near-sale-that-will-preserve-middle-class-housing.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0

“The deal came together rapidly in the last few weeks, as Blackstone, whose real estate division manages $93 billion in assets, made clear to city officials that the purchase was a long-term investment. The company told CW Capital that it would do a deal only if the city and tenants approved. …”
(Reading between the lines that means major Wall Street predator Blackstone wanted the PCVST tenants’ and Mayor de Blasio’s exclusive access to Fannie/Freddie billions set aside for them by Senator Schumer.)

… According to several people involved in the negotiations, Blackstone was the only company willing to work with the city and the tenants, immediately offering to preserve a large block of apartments for middle-income tenants.”
(Reading between the lines that means the TA, acting under the guise of duped tenant-executed pledges, and Mayor de Blasio handed Fannie/Freddie billions to Blackstone.)

-----

It is only by reading between the lines that we can see how Garodnick and the TA (and Mayor de Blasio) secretly kept PCVST tenants ignorant in the dark for years about our exclusive access to Fannie/Freddie purchase funding worth billions. In fact, nobody pretending to represent us ever consulted with us about Fannie/Freddie billions available to fund a tenant purchase. Only in passing did Garodnick make a brief, oblique reference to how Senator Schumer setting aside Fannie/Freddie aside for tenants took the oxygen out of purchase bids by circling predators.

Even Bagli neglects to mention Fannie/Freddie in his NYT article.

So what is it exactly that PCVST tenants get after their exclusive access to Fannie/Freddie billions was diverted to a major Wall Street/REBNY predator in a transaction delivering NOTHING for tenants that they don’t already have – 2 distinct classes of weakening RS protections on a death march?

What PCVST residents get is certainty about when Blackstone will legitimately boot them out of their homes.

For the class of struggling RS tenants paying MR rents there is no realistic possibility of a PCVST future. In less than 5 years Blackstone will begin to force them out when they lose what’s left of their dying RS protections. The Roberts class action “victory” screwed them. Mayor de Blasio’s permanent affordable PCVST “victory” screwed them.

Under an “unusual regulatory agreement” between Mayor de Blasio and Blackstone, a “block” of 5,000 (44.4%) PCVST apartments, presumably occupied by longer term RS residents, will be “affordable” for teachers, construction workers, firefighters, etc., for 20 years. What happens to them after that is currently unknown.

To succeed, Speyer needed to boot the middle class out of PCVST in less than 10 years. By being patient, Blackstone will fully realize Speyer's dream in 20 years. That's what Mayor de Blasio claims is a "victory" for middle class PCVST residents.

In the end PCVST tenants having no honest representation lost everything.

Anonymous said...

In this country it is our right to have a safe, secure home.

If our home is in jeopardy then our government is failing us.

The government failed us in a BIG way. They lost over 6000 homes, over 13,000 people lost their homes.

They will spin it as if they "saved" the other half, but fact is if even one, let alone all the homes are in jeopardy then the politicians are failing at their jobs and probably deliberately; and if one let alone over a dozen thousand people lost their homes, then the WRONG people hold political offices.


Vote them all out!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>To succeed, Speyer needed to boot the middle class out of PCVST in less than 10 years. By being patient, Blackstone will fully realize Speyer's dream in 20 years. That's what Mayor de Blasio claims is a "victory" for middle class PCVST residents.<<

Well...yeah.

The question of what happens to the "real" RS residents and their succession rights kin after 20 years is crucial and MUST be answered. And answered truthfully.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

If this deal is just to placate tenants for now, give politicians something to crow about, and offer up major tax breaks to Blackstone, while the removal of affording housing continues, then it's a bum deal for sure.

Anonymous said...

"In the end PCVST tenants having no honest representation lost everything."

Exactly right.

No mention in the Bagli article on Fannie Freddie is revealing. The Bagli article solidly reads more like a press release then a piece of investigative journalism. A well timed press release with only the facts approved for release to the public and worded in politically crafted phrases.

Anonymous said...

Here we go again and again and again.

Pure BS.

Anonymous said...

Regular, middle class and poor New Yorkers have nothing to gain from this, and NYC taxpayers are funding De Blasio's Housing Plan paying more than $1 billion for some sorry deals, many or most of the apartments are only "affordable" for twenty years. A true win, again, for the real estate moguls.

Anonymous said...

Not good enough. Period.

Anonymous said...

General Question - As a long time tenant, is there any reason they can NOT renew my lease? I get anxiety every 2 years even though I know they have to renew me.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Nothing has changed. They have to renew your lease unless they can find something (like non-residency).

Anonymous said...

" I get anxiety every 2 years even though I know they have to renew me. "

The electeds are causing all our anxiety by selling out, letting the REBNY write the laws. Anxiety every two years, for months at a time is no quality of life.

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, the Blackstone Group. The same Blackstone Group that has amassed a portfolio of thousands of foreclosed homes that they're now renting out? I'm sure that they're going to make for great landlords. Looking forward to it.

Anonymous said...

And just to double down on the Tishman Speyer deja vu:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/blackstone-rental-homes-bundled-derivatives

Anonymous said...

Seriously the property needs to be inspected for the number of rooms (and not by dirty DOB or Stringer)


We are all owed money back on the room counts in our buildings and the division calculations on MCI charges per apartment. The landlord is taking in higher rents on chopped up apartments that add rooms AND the city is not calculating the additional rooms in the MCI charges. Shady and Shitty.

Anonymous said...

Also a concern are the handful of market-rate tenants who are quality members of the community, like me and my family (we do it for the P.S. 40 residency and the playgrounds). We, too, hate the NYU dorm life and I am betting this means that our rent will become astronomical. We paid a $400 increase last year. Who the hell knows what it'll be next year...

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Numerous things should be investigated here, including potentially false reporting to the DOB. But the chances of that happening are even below zero, it seems. The TA never wanted to take a look at this.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Also a concern are the handful of market-rate tenants who are quality members of the community, like me and my family (we do it for the P.S. 40 residency and the playgrounds). We, too, hate the NYU dorm life and I am betting this means that our rent will become astronomical. We paid a $400 increase last year. Who the hell knows what it'll be next year...<<

Another issue that needs to be answered.

Anonymous said...

Have we just been Garodnicked again? We've been Garodnicked so many times that I'm punch drunk. Is that what's going on here?

Anonymous said...

"The question of what happens to the "real" RS residents and their succession rights kin after 20 years is crucial and MUST be answered. And answered truthfully."

---

You assume RS is robust and will be around 20 years from now.

My take is Mayor de Blasio no longer believes RS will be preserved (forget strengthened) by corrupt Albany politics and he is setting up separate regulatory agreements with REBNY using vague, evolving, ever-changing definitions of "affordable" and "middle class" and "permanent" on a case by case or neighborhood by neighborhood basis. He can say he successfully preserved affordability at PCVST for 20 years despite the possibility RS may be killed off before that. It's the only way he can claim an agreement destroying affordable housing that gives everything away to a predator is somehow a "victory" for affordable housing. He's reduced to playing a re-election numbers game with REBNY that is guaranteed to end affordability on the next mayor's watch.

Anonymous said...

Thanks 10:19
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/blackstone-rental-homes-bundled-derivatives

Welcome to the next housing crisis. The Rental crisis replaces the mortgage crisis and again and again no one will go to jail because Cuomo et al will rig the justice system. He has to be the dirtiest politician in the history of America.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>You assume RS is robust and will be around 20 years from now.<<

It should be robust unless we lose more RS tenants city wide, and the non-RS tenants, who generally despise us, become the primary voting block in the city.

Anonymous said...

"Also a concern are the handful of market-rate tenants who are quality members of the community, like me and my family (we do it for the P.S. 40 residency and the playgrounds). We, too, hate the NYU dorm life and I am betting this means that our rent will become astronomical. We paid a $400 increase last year. Who the hell knows what it'll be next year."

---

You've just been informed there is no concern for you. You have no future at PCVST.

Billsville said...

The biggest loser here, besides the tenants that is, it's obviously the TA and Dan Garodnick. That pie-in-the-sky condo conversion plan that the TA had planned is now dead forever. But lets not forget that Gutterman had a $3 billion co-op conversion proposal on the table that also would've kept many apartments affordable for renters. The question is why didn't tenants lobby for a Mitchell Lama style deal when they still had the chance? And would the Guterman deal have been better for tenants than Blackstone, which is just biding its time until it can do an all out full luxury conversion?

In the end these issues may all be just moot points, but what is most amazing is that even with this large number of people living here, tenants seem to have no more clout in StuyTown than they do anywhere else in the city, and maybe now that this deal is done they have even less.

Anonymous said...

The guterman plan would have been best for tenants but Guterman got arrogant and insulted everyone here for not blindly following. We needed a Guterman plan that did not require tenants to be blind. Or worse the Brookfield "partner" that had no transparency doing everything a la "three men in a room"

A real tenant partner with a real co-op plan a la Penn South is what De Blasio needed to do in order to get our vote for re-election.

Anonymous said...

Latest News from the Tenants Association

Press conference: Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 11:15 a.m.

An important announcement for our community
Join us and Councilmember Dan Garodnick for an important announcement that's game-changing for the future of our community.

Where: 18th Street and First Avenue (Stuyvesant Town side)

If you can, please print out this message and post it on your floor to inform your neighbors who may not be on our email list.

-----

Let's all rally around demonstrating support for Dan and the TA slapping lipstick on a pig, claiming it's the victory they fought tooth and nail for without ever telling us anything about it.

Anonymous said...

DeBlasio and Garodnick make me puke. What happens after 20 years when many of us will be very elderly? We get put out on the street a la Rob Speyer and the elderly and disabled tenants that he so cruelly persecuted? There's nothing about this deal that is good news for tenants.

Anonymous said...

Amazon Sues 1,000 People Over Fake Reviews



WHY DON'T STUYTOWN RESIDENTS SUE OVER CR AND CWC FAKE REVIEWS?

Anonymous said...

I have a decent rent and have been here since 1994. So when I'm 69 years old, 20 from now, i'm fucked? great. Could be worse though, the really fucked , as usual, are the MR tenants, paying for all of this got screwed, again. again, again.

Anonymous said...

Here's what it means: get out the MR tenants, they're the only group 'we' can touch and manipulate - we can't do anything about the lower level of RS so let's get the MR out, get new MR in and students win, win win. Families lose, nothing new to see here. Move on.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Most of the apartments here appear to be market rate right now. Despite being rent-stabilized, their base rents can go up, irregardless of what entity runs this place--unless the new deal puts a cap on raising rents for MR tenants and MCI increases. Doesn't seem likely, does it?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

And I'm sure all of us would love to see the actual rental figures and projections of this complex. How many are paying MR, how many students are in how many apartments, how many seniors, etc. Could be very eye-opening.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amazon Sues 1,000 People Over Fake Reviews



WHY DON'T STUYTOWN RESIDENTS SUE OVER CR AND CWC FAKE REVIEWS?

October 20, 2015 at 11:36 AM

Great idea.

Anonymous said...

Same ?*#@!. Different smell!

Anonymous said...

Things are going to be soo much better now. Right?... WRONG!!

Anonymous said...

I just read that "1400 units who were protected through 2020 have now been extended to 2025". Does this mean the Roberts class, of which I'm one, is now guaranteed RGB-only increases until 2025?

Anonymous said...

How will MCI'S be allocated to keep these low income apartments affordable? What will be fair? It's really messed up living here. It's ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I think Otis Redding said it best:

I was born by a river in this little old tent
Oh just like this river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!

It's been too hard living, oh my
And I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there
Beyond the clouds

It's been a long long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!

Anonymous said...

I can't get over how sneaky this whole thing is. Blackstone signs the agreement today?!?! We were not even aware the place was up for sale. It is so suspicious to me that they kept things whole thing so quiet. Where was the TA, where were the journalists? Someone had to know this was happening. They obviously knew there would be a negative public reaction so they kept it quiet.

Anonymous said...

YES! to anon at 9:18 am!

Anonymous said...

What triggered the rush to this deal?
I smell cover up.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Amazing reactions from some on the TA Facebook to the De Blasio/Garodnick/TA press conference:

"Thanks Dan Garodnick for your hard work. Great press conference today! And the Mayor hugged me!"

"I just came from the press conference announcing the terms of the sale. WE WON! Current tenants remain stabilized. Over 6,000 apartments are reserved to meet affordable housing guidelines"

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Of course, the Roberts ruling put ALL apartments here under rent stabilization laws. Is this lost on the people who think that we won because "current tenants remain stabilized"?

Anonymous said...

October 20, 2015 at 12:36 PM Agree and the photo op provides who is involved in the suspicious panicked rush to sale - De Blasio, Steinberg, Garodnick, Brewer. If I had to guess I would think it has to do with the thing they have in common, the harassing AirBNB false accusations those four and that TA board woman who bragged about her hunting of tenants in the NY Times a short while back.
They did something really bad and rushed to sale to cover it up. Those four are bad news.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Perhaps in this agreement rent stabilization is in place forever???

Anonymous said...

Real sneaky people. The top 99% always huddle together and we the tenants, who pay for everything, always wind up finding out last. Thanks for the heads up, TA.

Anonymous said...

Blackstone harasses

CaDonna Porter moved into an Invitation Homes property outside Atlanta with her children in September. When part of her monthly payment was rejected because she tried to use a debit card, the company demanded that she deliver the remaining amount in person, via certified funds, by 5 p.m. the following day or incur a $200 fee and face eviction. Porter took time off from work to deliver a money order in person, only to be informed that the payment had been rejected because it didn't include the late fee and an additional $75 insufficient funds fee.

In a maddening string of emails, Invitation Homes repeatedly reminded Porter that it could file to evict her unless she paid the penalties. When she finally said that she would seek legal counsel, Invitation Homes agreed to accept her payment as "a one-time courtesy."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/blackstone-rental-homes-bundled-derivatives

Anonymous said...

October 20, 2015 at 1:09 PM Doyle too. He was behind Steinberg at the press conference. Doyle is the same as Steinberg. The name of the woman hunting tenants and making false accusations is the TA Board treasurer, Ms Salacan

They harassed and falsely accused my neighbor and friend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/nyregion/stuyvesant-town-sleuths-keep-vigil-against-illegal-hoteliers-in-their-midst.html?_r=0

Anonymous said...

Oh this is true. My ex worked for Blackstone. They are relentless full of legal bastards and will remove anyone in a ny minute. GL i'm leaving in 2018 for pacific.

Anonymous said...

What did danny boy say at the corner of 18th ? Some of us have to work to pay the rent and 11 am is just not in the cards dan.

Billsville said...

The Real Deal is reporting that a Canadian pension fund is partnering on the deal. If that isn't a sign of another big real estate bubble I don't know what is.

More details at The Real Deal

Blackstone, Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy Stuy Town for $5.3B

The Blackstone Group is partnering with Canadian investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.3 billion, The Real Deal has learned.

Ivanhoe Cambridge, one of the world’s biggest pension-backed investment funds, is the real estate subsidiary of Quebec’s public pension-fund manager, La Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, which has $200 billion in assets under management. Over the past five years, the firm has invested more than $3.8 billion in Manhattan properties, according to Real Capital Analytics — more than real estate giants like Related Companies or Brookfield Properties. In February, it dished out $2.2 billion for the office tower 3 Bryant Park in partnership with Callahan Capital Partners. The seller on that deal was Blackstone, and it appears the two firms developed a relationship.

Anonymous said...

In 3 weeks Blackstone and Wells Fargo moved money around to buy $23 billion of GE RE at the same time Cuomo gives huge tax breaks to GE and Chris Christie lets GE off the hook for polluting the Hudson.


"GE announced last week that it would sell $23 billion worth of real estate and financial-service assets to Blackstone and Wells Fargo. On the heels of that announcement, the company also said it would be drastically transforming its structure by spinning off its $200 billion financial arm, GE Capital."

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/04/15/ges-23-billion-deal-took-three-weeks-blackstones-jon-gray/

He touched on other big Blackstone deals, such as the company’s $14.5 billion fund and the nearly $2 billion sale of the Waldorf Astoria to Chinese insurance company Anbang, which is planning a condo conversion for a portion of the iconic hotel.

And moved chinese money through Canada.

Really this Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village deal is not a long term investment to provide homes. It is moving large sums of cash and foreign money for huge returns.

"The company’s “buy-it, fix-it, sell-it” model, he said, “is just the nature of our businesses and the nature of the funds we run.”

This is not about De Blasio saving homes. It is about a temporary headline. They put a band aid on the wounds they inflicted here.

Vote them all out, De Blasio, Brewer, Hoylman, Kavanaugh, Garodnick, Stringer, Cuomo, Hochul, Schneidermann.

What do we have to do to vote out Doyle and Steinberg?

And to the woman at the press conference complaining about her not being able to buy and sell her apartment, you are the same as Rob Speyer. Your plan to buy and sell your home would only work if your neighbors lost their homes. IO feel sorry for whoever lives in your building.


Anonymous said...

Basically at the press conference Blackstone and the Tenant Association and city politicians showed their alliance against tenants. Steinberg TA is now aligned with Jon Grey at Blackstone. She is a piece of work, that lady.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused - so for everyone currently playing maximum legal rent/preferential rent who are currently paying just the RBG increases, does this mean nothing will change?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Not sure. There will be a meeting with Blackstone at Baruch College this Saturday. Perhaps that will be answered then. BUT...now I'm reading that specifics have still not been finalized in this deal. Blackstone will officially take over in late December of this year.

Anonymous said...

The guys who brokered the overnight deal between the Mayor and Blackstone without Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village ever really going to market are Eastdil Secured LLC Roy March and Benjamin Lambert. Lunching with the gun dealers of the world and their real estate peers, the real estate elite called Roy March a "freak"

When the freaks are calling you a freak you are not in good hands. This overnight deal is freaky.


rew-online.com/2014/10/09/spielberg-wants-real-estate-liars/

Anonymous said...

TA Facebook propaganda
"Over 6,000 apartments are reserved to meet affordable housing guidelines"

-----

That TA claim incorporates Fannie/Freddie mission statement language to provide false justification for TA duping PCVST tenants out of their exclusive access to Fannie/Freddie billions dedicated to fund a tenant purchase by diverting billions to the nation's largest real estate predator Blackstone in a transaction delivering absolutely NOTHING for PCVST tenants that they don't already have and is absolutely guaranteed to permanently eliminate affordable housing at PCVST.

Take note how TA propaganda claims their most ripped off, most betrayed neighbors/constituents - RS tenants paying MR rents - get added to the 5,000 longer term middle class amount to "meet affordable housing guidelines" (doubtful more than 1,000 current RS paying MR will still be PCVST residents 5 years from today)

Anonymous said...

Seems like Compass Rock had to make a quick exit in the middle of the night. Where are they in all of this?

Anonymous said...

Amazing how quickly Steinberg got home from her "vacation" for todays photo-op! The TA and Dan are nothing but vultures that prey upon the older rent stabilized tenants that don't necessarily have the internet access to read up on all the shady things that they do.

This is partially the reason why this deal is so lucrative for Blackstone, and it makes Dan and the TA look like martyrs for the middle-class… They know the older generation will be dying off over the next 20 years with minimal Succession rights requests (which would probably be denied anyway). Even if that apartment remains "stabilized," it will probably become one of the stabilized apartment that go for $3200 instead of the $1000 it was.

Anonymous said...


When any prospective Landlord can raise permanent rent by MCI's rent stabilization is a joke and not "stabilizing" anyones rent.

The deal:

1) Makes it so current original rent stab tenants, (not roberts tenants) that have incomes under $128K cannot get their rent increased over $3,200 a month. With the MCI situation this is a victory which would in theory make units "affordable" for 20 years. Whats the definition of long term, I think 20 years can be considered long term. Forever is unrealistic.

Question: Is the $3,200/$128k per year a sliding scale, (ie: if your income is $100K is the cap maybe $2,700?)

Stuyvesant town is no place for families, I was there with my family for 5 years until
roberts rent stabilization increases became unaffordable.

Stuytown should be ran so the current old timers, 55 plus get to stay on and die off. I think that is what the deal is trying to achieve and given the environment the best you can hope for.

Anonymous said...

"Even if that apartment remains "stabilized," it will probably become one of the stabilized apartment that go for $3200 instead of the $1000 it was"

Wait,

So an apartment that currently has an original RS lease for $1,000 will, depending on income, be raised to a cap of $3,205?

Anonymous said...

Hey Senator Schumer. What happened to this?

http://www.briankavanagh.org/news/?p=9392

US Senator Charles E. Schumer said: “This is a crucial step forward for community residents as they seek to preserve, for the long term, the unique middle-class character and affordability that makes Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village the special place it is. If tenants have an ownership piece of these complexes it will be good not only for them, but will also help secure their affordability for future generations of middle class New Yorkers. I will continue to work in partnership with residents and community leaders to make sure tenants have a range of options to preserve the affordability and character of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village.”

REPEAT

"If tenants have an ownership piece of these complexes it will be good not only for them, but will also help secure their affordability for future generations of middle class New Yorkers."

"future generations" - plural with an "s"

What happened here Senator Schumer?

Anonymous said...

Did Susan Steinberg come back from vacation early for this? What was the rush to the announcement? Why couldn't this be announced when she returned? Why weren't tenants told anything before it hit the press in bloomberg.com? And why the meticulously controlled media in the Bloomberg then that NYTimes piece that definitely lacks all investigative journalism. After that obvious faux pas, never reading the NYTimes again.

Anonymous said...

anyone notice that there are ZERO apartments available - see site - for PCV now and beyond into 2016? Interesting.

Anonymous said...

2:39

I am not sure, but that is what I gather. Also, this only deals with original RS apartments that vacate during this 20 year period, not the original RS tenants that stay in place. If you are a RS apartment, your rent will continue to increase as per RS guidelines, not up to the $3,200.

Anonymous said...

HUH?? i don't get this. Here since 1989 and our income is 125k family of 3. I pay 1500 for a 2 br. Am I getting a huge increase now?

Anonymous said...

So much for having a range of options

Anonymous said...

3:32

If you have been here since '89, you are fine and won't see any crazy increases. My understanding is that if you were to move out, the next tenant would pay the $3,200 for your "stabilized" apartment.

There are a lot of unanswered questions.

Anonymous said...

3 32. ok, so what about those who are 3200 now? they get to stay near 3200 or what. thanks all.

Anonymous said...

let's get this all straight first ...

there are :

older RS tenants
Roberts tenants
non roberts

?????

Anonymous said...

3 32. Not exactly new news then eh?

Anonymous said...

They can't be serious. Our choices are move out or live under notoriously aggressive wall street firm. How much do De Blasio and Glen hate the working class here. And what nurses, firefighters, and police make that salary?

Anonymous said...

right O. Why do politicians and de blasio hate the working class? makes no sense.

Anonymous said...

My family and I need that lottery. Where do we fill out papers?

Anonymous said...

What about the renewals? City will vote 0% or 1% and we're NOT GETTING IT NEXT YEAR? WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN for THOSE OF US WHO DID NOT GET ON THE GRAET LIST OF CHEAP YEARS AGO?

Billsville said...

Question: Who pays $5 billion for a piece of property full of aging buildings?
Answer: An investor who expects it to be worth $10-20 billion in the not too distant future.

Anonymous said...

"right O. Why do politicians and de blasio hate the working class? makes no sense."

politicians love money
and secondly they love headlines for themselves
but mostly they love money
they love it so much they will do anything for it and they will take it from anyone and everyone

when a donator is caught being a criminal, some politicians may give the money back but most politicians keep the money anyway.

they really don't care from where the money comes as long as it keeps coming their way

they will do ANYTHING for money and the monied

Anonymous said...

Wow. From it all, the website, the press conference, Susan Steinbergs behavior of recent years on the Oval massacre, dorms, bunker and helping Compass Rock with the golub claims telling tenants to prove themselves instead of telling tenants to file harassment claims and telling the landlord to prove their golub claim , there is no doubt the duplicitous Doyle Steinberg Tenant Association is 100% aligned with Blackstone as they were aligned with Compass Rock (but they hid that).

They most definitely are not behaving like a Tenant Association. Probably best to not trust them on anything. Whatever advice they give you, get a second opinion or just do the opposite of what they tell you.

Anonymous said...

The more I read the more totally suspicious this all is. It is rushed. It is hidden from tenants until the politicians announce it along side Blackstone, Doyle and Steinberg.

De Blasio misses a much much more important appearance but makes it to this

http://pix11.com/2015/10/19/mayor-de-blasio-a-no-show-at-city-honor-for-slain-patrolman-phillip-cardillo/

The politicians are all available for this announcement either on short notice or this was in the works and they kept is secret for a long time. Either way it is sketchy.

If short notice then the appearance of this sale had to happen before a truth got out about the shadiness of the deal and the players or it was in the works for a long time and the TA kept it from tenants to keep us out of the deal and wrongfully take the Fannie Freddie money.

Knowing Brewer, Garodnick, Steinberg, their assault on tenants with fishing expeditions on golub claims and persecution of Airbnb to make it look like they are investigating city-wide when really they were sending subpoenas on PCVST tenants (which came up empty on most of the people they falsely accused without a care to our reputations).

The Airbnb Brewer Attorney General fiasco with 15,000 subpoenas and the overreach was to help REBNY evict rent stabilized tenants. They disguised it as otherwise, but it was pretty obvious. The AirBNB overreach was an assault on NYC tenants.

The last ditch attempt on the golub notices sent here was to get the numbers of rs apartments down without a care to what they were doing to the people in those apartments.

This overnight real estate deal is looking more and more like a very big cover up on a very big scam.

Anonymous said...

October 20, 2015 at 11:37 PM
Who pays $5billion in an overnight shady deal when their own advisers Credit Suisse put the value of the property over $1billion lower?

Anonymous said...

Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village was sustainable. The profits met the operations and it ran beautifully, families were healthy, happy and generations were successfully raised.

Tishman Speyer and BlackRock couldn't make their numbers because they couldn't meet the interest on the money they borrowed $300million. It had nothing to do with not making enough money to operate the property adn everything to do with Rob Speyer not wanting to pay interest on the money he borrowed to steal the land and homes.

The rental income in 2006 was $112 million and in 2007 was $108 million. Rob Speyer actually drove the rental income down his first year of leadership.

The large renovation budget Tishman came in with was carried out by the same Tishman employees but under different company names. Those players continued their deceitful scheme and scams to reach the goal of rental income tripled, at $350million per year. With the help of the politicians and the Tenant Association they reached their goal.

Here is an article from 2008 laying out the plan to triple the rental income. It also as STR points out, shows how Tishman Speyer and BlackStone are using the same fraudulent language to deceive "long term investment".

The overpaying by $1billion is to move money around to help the wealthy investors recover their dirty investments, and it is all at the expense of real people losing their homes, and the psychological and physical impact on a family when a home is lost.

Those with their hands in this deal are sociopathic and psychopathic criminals. It was and is only about helping Tishman Speyer and the REBNY make more money. It was always about getting to a $350million rent roll by any means, including political assistance with Airbnb investigations and golub claims.

It was never about keeping constituents safe in their homes. The sheer number of false accusations shows how far the politicians will go to help Wall Street and REBNY no matter the damage of false accusations on the innocent tenants.

Make no mistake, Margaret Salacan's admitted tenant hunting and Gale Brewer / Eric Schneiderman's 15,000 subpoena fishing expedition was all about helping the rent roll reach $350million. All the false accusations and reputations wrongfully harmed along the way are collateral damage to people like this.

Here is one example of how these people think and operate:

"In 2007, bond investors were willing to bet that the property would generate $24 million of operating income in 2011, six times the $4 million in 2007. The owners projected that rent-regulated apartments, which accounted for more than 90% of Riverton's rentals, would plummet to about 50% by 2011. In reality, Riverton's regulated apartments still produce rents of less than $1,000 a month, while market rents in Harlem, which has revived in recent years, often are $2,000 or more."

The politicians helped the billionaires reach their numbers on Riverton and Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town by any means, hook or crook.

"In sum, investors in some of New York's largest apartment projects face hefty losses because, while most rents in these complexes remain under control, lending standards were out of control in 2006 and 2007."

Wall Street lending practices to REBNY RE were out of control, so the incumbent politicians made deals to help the billionaires with their interest debts and property / homes thieving scams at Riverton, Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town and Savoy Park.

It is one big load of crap by a team of incumbents most if not all of whom are in a photo line up, smiling ear to ear grins, at the REBNY galas of the past years.

http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB122066888768606315

Anonymous said...

"Schneiderman’s office has subpoenaed a wide range of records on Airbnb's hosts in New York City in hopes of seeing who are potentially running illegal hotels as opposed to individuals renting out a room in their living quarters.

Airbnb has argued that Schneiderman is on a fishing expedition and that is supboneas are overreaching."\

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/ny-ag-eric-schneiderman-airbnb-making-cash-running-illegal-hotels-blog-entry-1.1767584


Airbnb was right. Schneiderman was fishing. He had no basis for his subpoenas, making a lot of false accusations and harming a lot of innocent people, their reputations, their integrity, their businesses and their homes. People who were not renting out their homes were dragged down by his fishing expedition of false claims against innocent constituents; to help REBNY and the Paul Weiss Meredith Kane Garodnick TA reach the $350million rent roll.

Anonymous said...

To cover up and evade reporters questions on his dirty Buffalo Billion, Cuomo admitted he abuses the office of attorney general by frivolously and recklessly issuing subpoenas and only gets it right 1 out of 20 times and that he sends hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of subpoenas from the office of attorney general.

That means out of let's say 2000 subpoenas sent (and reputations ruined) he only gets it right 100 times. That means he ruins the lives, reputations and businesses of 1900 constituents just to get 100 guilty people.

That is the definition of ABUSE OF POWER and ABUSE OF OFFICE.

Cuomo admitted his abuse of power, of office and assaults on thousand of innocent people, as a way to get out of suspicion from Preet Bharara's subpoenas on the Buffalo Billion, to somehow accuse Preet Bharara of being as Cuomo.

Harassment on false Golub claims by the landlord should be filed against the landlord, the TA, and all involved in the Golub fishing expedition for REBNY, all the City and State officials who abused their office.

Because really, a track record of getting it wrong 1900 times out of 2000 subpoenas sent is a lot of innocent lives ruined.


http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/10/8579002/cuomo-no-reason-question-buffalo-billion-contracting

Anonymous said...

So 5% of the time the Office of Attorney General gets it right and 95% of the time they get it wrong. That is a waste of taxpayer dollars on top of historic level of abuse of political office!


95% of the time Cuomo / Office of Attorney General get it WRONG! They are ruining a lot of innocent people's lives!

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, overreach with AirBNB is the tip of the unethical-and-illegal-overreach iceberg.....

Anonymous said...

Thank you Stuy Town Reporter! Our elected representatives don't represent us tenants; the T.A. was either complicit in this deal or left out of it; one of the last bastions of non-rich Manhattan soon will be given over to the wealthy. This deal is horrible and that the tenants it affects had no say in this outcome -- is maybe the worst aspect for me (at the moment). Community, home, stability: words that no longer apply to people of modest means in STPCV (or any big city for that matter). A very sad week for us.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good place to start standing up for our tenant rights is a class action suit against the golub harassment by those who received that fishing expedition. Just don't hire any lawyers that are in anyway connected to the Tenant Association or Paul Weiss Rifkind or the Roberts suit.