Sunday, October 18, 2015

Stuyvesant Town Up for Sale?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-17/nyc-s-stuyvesant-town-said-for-sale-with-blackstone-weighing-bid

One of the money quotes:

"Several parties have made a play for Stuyvesant Town in the past five years, including Brookfield Asset Management Inc., which worked with tenants on a proposal that included converting apartments into condominiums. Brookfield is no longer pursuing a bid, according to Andrew Willis, a spokesman for the Toronto-based company."

Meanwhile, our man Dan makes his usual statement on these matters when they arise:

“The tenants are going to insist that the owners work directly with them and with the city to develop a responsible plan to protect the long-term affordability of the place.”

And sorry, but Dan's statement has zero bite. Anyone who buys this place knows that and certainly knows how much of a hit affordable housing has already permanently taken and how, almost by choice, pathetically powerless is our TA...and Dan.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bummer to have to learn of Brookfield dropping out from a Bloomberg article, and not TA if/when they'd found out.
Double bummer if STPCV winds up going to some investment firm like Blackstone, and remains an ever increasingly expensive rental.
Thanks CW!

Anonymous said...

Some fun info about possible bidder Blackstone. Any of it sound familiar?

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/16/public-pensions-invest-big-in-blackstones-controversial-rental-properties.html

Hippo said...

Guaranteed that if any fool pays $5-6 BILLION for this dump, tenant harassment will make Tishman-Speyer tactics ( Golub notices, phony non-primary residence allegations, apartment "inspections" ) seem like child's play. But guess what? I am a rent-stabilized tenant, I know my rights, and I ain't goin' nowhere...hahaha...except feet first...lol...but then my young daughter will exercise Right of Succession so, God willing, these greedy ghouls will be on the hook for the next 50 years minimum. A royal F U to the greedy bastards who have ruined Stuy Town and neighborhood New York as we used to know it.

Anonymous said...

No doubt Brookfield, Tishman, and Blackstone, the original trio, all have money in the game they began in '07 and kept their hands in ever since. They just change the frontman.

Anonymous said...

How can our value-sharing white knight to the rescue partner dissolve our partnership without notifying us?

What about our financial advisor Moelis and our attorney Paul Weiss? They performed spectacularly, always keeping us informed about important developments and always acting to protect our best interests. Do they still represent us for free?

Anonymous said...

Shame on you ST Tenants Association and Councilmember Garodnick for concealing this Brookfield news from unity pledge signing, rally attending residents. Shame shame shame.

Anonymous said...

So sick of these predatory bloodsucking parasites. They should all go to hell. They strip people of their homes and their pensions and their hope in order to enrich themselves. Can they take it with them when they go? I don't believe so.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Shame on you ST Tenants Association and Councilmember Garodnick for concealing this Brookfield news from unity pledge signing, rally attending residents. Shame shame shame.<<

Not sure when the entities you mention knew about this, but the lack of transparency from the TA is both annoying and depressing.

Anonymous said...

Guaranteed that if any fool pays $5-6 BILLION for this dump, tenant harassment will make Tishman-Speyer tactics ( Golub notices, phony non-primary residence allegations, apartment "inspections" ) seem like child's play. But guess what? I am a rent-stabilized tenant, I know my rights, and I ain't goin' nowhere...hahaha...except feet first...lol...but then my young daughter will exercise Right of Succession so, God willing, these greedy ghouls will be on the hook for the next 50 years minimum. A royal F U to the greedy bastards who have ruined Stuy Town and neighborhood New York as we used to know it.


Thank nothing. Rent laws expiring - you're screwed in a few years. Have fun till then.

Anonymous said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-17/nyc-s-stuyvesant-town-said-for-sale-with-blackstone-weighing-bid

"Brookfield is no longer pursuing a bid, according to Andrew Willis, a spokesman for the Toronto-based company."

STR - Do you believe it's possible Garodnick and the TA didn't know Brookfield abandoned their scheme until financial news media reported it?

Anonymous said...

So how's that Unity Pledge working out for you Steinberg , Marsh and Garodnick? You've all been very quiet lately. No photo ops for Garodnick, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Relax. Brookfield is still in play. The game is for flippers who want to become "overnight semi-millionaires" by buying then flipping their apartments,
Blackstone Tishman Brookfield all their players on their team Cuomo Langone Schneiderman Stringer Garodnick with money in the Tishman Pot never left the field. Bloomberg may have said in a PR lie he was not getting involved - but what he meant was he is not getting involved on behalf of tenants. Andrew Kane's (of Rose Associates then Compass Rock who is doing all the evictions and internal dorm and external commercial construction) wife was on the Rob Speyer / Bloomberg Mayors Fund for New York under Bloomberg then early 2014 went to work for Bloomberg "philanthropies".

Kicking out middle class and working class from the East Village (for Kushman) and Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town (for NYU Langone) and giving the land to Bloomberg's dream of billionaires, oligarchs is still in play. All the resident pawns who are flipping will still get their chance to get-rich-quick in the Marsh Steinberg Hoylman Garodnick Stringer scam for Cuomo.

Anonymous said...

Don't anticipate support from Albany

POLITICO NEW YORK

Real estate invests in Wright congressional bid

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/10/8580013/real-estate-invests-wright-congressional-bid?top-featured-3

ALBANY — In its early months, the congressional campaign of Assembly housing chair Keith Wright has been heavily funded by individuals from the real estate interests that are regulated by his committee.

Over 43 percent of the $247,291 that Wright has raised for his 2016 campaign has come from individuals that work in real estate or construction, their family members or lobbyists, or trade groups focused on this sector, according to a POLITICO New York analysis of records submitted to the Federal Elections Commission.

Wright has a longstanding relationship with real estate.

In the last election cycle, Wright received $43,100 from members of the Real Estate Board of New York, more than any other assembly member.

But the donations for his congressional bid have come during a year in which Wright played a role in debates over 421-a tax breaks and rent control.

Wright has raised $16,300 from members of REBNY, including a $500 check from president John Banks that came when negotiations were still underway in May. Executive committee member Gary Barnett, the founder of Extell, has also given $1,000.

This isn’t the first time Barnett’s money has been connected to the assemblyman. In 2013, the last time 421-a was up for renewal, substantial donations he made to Gov. Andrew Cuomo included $100,000 to the state Democratic Committee that was co-chaired by Wright at the time. In a bill introduced by Wright, Extell’s One57 received one of five carveouts that were later examined by the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption.
---!!!!--- (“A source briefed on the situation” has previously denied that Wright knew what was in the bill he sponsored, and said he carried the bill at the request of former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver.) ---!!!---

... Lobbyists who represent developers before the Assembly gave Wright more than $7,300. This includes a $2,700 donation from Brian Meara, a friend of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver who received a non-prosecution agreement from federal prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation as a “fact witness” in the federal case against the former speaker. According to the complaint against Silver, Meara (who has also lobbied for a firm connected to the charges against former Senate majority leader Dean Skelos) served as a conduit between the former speaker and a developer widely identified as Glenwood Management.

... Michael McKee, of Tenants PAC, describes the Assembly as having been generally more supportive of his causes than either the Cuomo or the Senate, though he disagrees with claims that landlords weren’t the winners in this year’s tussles over housing issues, saying, "tenants got screwed again."

“They may be calculating that Keith will still be the chair of the housing committee,” he said. “If he doesn’t win his congressional primary in June, he could still run for his Assembly seat in September. I don’t think it’s just that they’re saying thank you; I think they’ve hedging their bets for the future.”

Anonymous said...

Does the Tenants Association still exist?

Anonymous said...

Instead of the TA wasting their time on this stupid Halloween Pumpkin Contest & Ticket Giveaway, how about filling us in on what's going on around here? Huh?

Anonymous said...

Well this explains a lot. How is it Compass Rock gets away with it all? How high up does it go and how far will those at the high levels go to cover up their inaction and involvement in Cuomo's scams?

http://www.investigativepost.org/2015/09/21/new-yorks-sleeping-watchdogs/

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>STR - Do you believe it's possible Garodnick and the TA didn't know Brookfield abandoned their scheme until financial news media reported it?<<

Perhaps some short time ago. Depends how much they are in the loop on these things. Garodnick's eyes are focused elsewhere these days, while the TA is just about a non-entity.

Anonymous said...

@9:53am

Do you know more than the spokesperson for Brookfield? It would seem so since you are telling us to relax and that Brookfield is still in play, but the company has come out specifically saying that Brookfield is no longer pursuing a bid.

I also know for a fact that Brookfield is out of the equation. How you may ask. Possibly that my husband works for them and it was rumored for a while and confirmed by the CEO via Andrew Willis.

Oh, and we live in PCVST.

Anonymous said...

The TA works for Dan and RE.

The TA are promoting Berlin Rosen client / Barclays events to this community. The job of the TA is not to promote Berlin Rosens PR clients to the Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town community. The TA is so compromised and commercialized it is pathetic. Barclays must be desperate for business and Berlin Rosen is preying on this community to win favor with their clients. Cheap tricks all around.

Anonymous said...

Garodnick is trying to distance himself from his crimes.

Anonymous said...

The TA's job is to keep tenants in the dark and take away our power with the unity pledge and distracted with stories of bikinis and circuses and Disney poppycock entertainment for the simple minded. They are still an entity just not as advocate for tenants.

The TA is trying to make money off of us just like Compass Rock. No way are we giving them a penny for their commercial garbage.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the TA was planning a big smoke and mirrors show at the next meeting. Pretending it is just about noise and packages, then shocking us with the latest news on Albany's plan for PCVST as if they are hearing it for the first time too when they knew all along.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

John Marsh probably saw the writing on the wall.

Anonymous said...

"The TA's job is to keep tenants in the dark and take away our power with the unity pledge and distracted with stories of bikinis and circuses and Disney poppycock entertainment for the simple minded. They are still an entity just not as advocate for tenants.

The TA is trying to make money off of us just like Compass Rock. No way are we giving them a penny for their commercial garbage."

And your proof is? This is insane. As I posted on another thread in this blog:

"The ignorance of current rent regulations and the acceptance of TA/CR/REBNY conspiracy theories (instead of basic TA incompetence-condo conversion trap) by long term tenants on this blog (full disclosure, I’m one) is astounding."

Yes the TA, that mega efficient organization that is part of the Illuminati. You can't have it both ways.

Anonymous said...

T&V posted a blurb about this today. Of course, we know that CW/CR will have no comment, but Steinberg is out of town and not available to be interviewed and Goradnick is also unavailable to be interviewed. Very convenient. Assholes!

Anonymous said...

I don't think they are equally applying the mci charges.

The students next to me share a one bedroom that is now a flex 2 bedroom which now has 5 rooms (2 bedrooms, kitchen, den, dining room). When it was a one bedroom the mci charge is based on three rooms. As a flex 2 bedroom the mci count should be calculated on 5 rooms.

The room count of the total building should have increased. People in unchopped apartments are paying more than they should on the mci calculatins.

Rent stabilized tenants in apartments that have not been chopped up are overpaying more than their fair share and the chopped apartments with 3 - 5 tenants and 5 rooms are not paying their fair share.

Anonymous said...

The New York Times is reporting that an agreement will be signed Tuesday (so tomorrow, I assume) that "will preserve nearly half the 11,232-unit complex for middle-class families." The article also says: "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."

There is no more detail in the article, but I am guessing the 5,000 apartments do not include former market-rate apartments. This is one former market-rater who is very glad to have moved out earlier this year.

The Times article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/nyregion/stuyvesant-town-said-to-be-near-sale-that-will-preserve-middle-class-housing.html

Anonymous said...

The TA is not incompetent. They consider themselves top of their game, best and brightest in their fields. They are not incompetent by any means. They are deliberate in what they do and who they do it for. They are no one's fool.

Anonymous said...

5:39 I think the proof the other poster is saying is the Barclays Center tickets the TA is always promoting to PCVST.

Anonymous said...

They cleared out 8 thousand homes of innocent people, on de Blasio's watch. This deal was in the works for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that Blackstone is a private equity firm. A pe firm will not hold on to an investment very long (7-10 years). No one should be fooled to believe this deal is good for anyone. The elderly tenants would have been protected by laws. This is all about greed and the politicians trying to look like they are protecting the middle class ( and by the way not all middle class are teachers or fireman).

Anonymous said...

It appears the Mayor may be at today's press conference. His team is already in the area on 18th & 1st Ave