http://therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Stuy-Town-offering-book.pdf
And remember, this was back years ago, before Tishman-Speyer bought the property! Matters have progressed far more to tenants' detriment.
"We believe ongoing deregulation will continue to allow new ownership to fully leverage the unparalleled competitive advantages of the Complex and take advantage of the soaring rental market."
"Over $320 million in capital improvements and apartment renovations since 2002 have reinvigorated and refined the image of the Complex."
"New ownership has infinite opportunities to personalize, improve and transform the Complex into the city's most prominent market rate master community." (Emphasis mine.)
"Building upon the Complex's unmatched name recognition, the PCV/ST 'brand' is being gradually transformed into Manhattan's most desirable market rate master community. The City's dramatically appreciating residential rental market is aiding in this transition, as is the comprehensive capital improvement plan undertaken by current ownership. New owners will have the unique opportunity to put their personal stamp on the City's largest and most famous apartment complex, utilizing a variety of creative strategies to maximize investment returns."
(Emphasis mine.)
After you read this, you will understand that the downfall of STPCV started with Met Life. Tishman-Speyer just picked up the ball and ran with it big time.
This will make it plain that NO ONE who purchases this property is interested in long-term rent affordability for people of moderate means.
56 comments:
Build it up, buy low, sell high. That's their only interest. They could care less about anything else. It's a business. More now, then ever. Sad.............
I saw this individual looking for a building address the other day, and he said he has not been here in only 15 years, and he doesn't even recognize this place.
Not only that but one of the things they suggest is for market rate apartments to be combination apartments. I know of a few market raters who are looking to take over the rent stabilized apartment next door, to combine it with the one they have, and for only $3200 more (per De Blasio) a month they would turn their apartment into a 5 bedroom apartment.
Now, I don't know what rules the apartment would be regulated under since it is a combination of 1 market rate apartment and 1 rent stabilized apartment. But they are aggressively pushing to be able to take over the RS apartments (and that means pushing the current RS tenant out by any means)
The push for market rate tenants to take over rent stabilized tenants puts this community at war with one another. It is a very bad idea, so no surprise Garodnick is one of its supporters.
PAGE 7
CREATIVE STRATEGIES
As the PCV/ST population evolves in response to
deregulation, new ownership will have a unique opportunity
to put its personal stamp on Manhattan's largest apartment
complex. Creative strategies could include:
• Creating combined apartments for families
The photo of the Oval before the strip mall show how nice this place used to be.
FAÇADE/EXTERIOR
The buildings of Stuyvesant Town present an understated
appearance, allowing residents to immerse themselves in the
beauty of the Complex's spectacular grounds. Exterior walls
consist of concrete-block masonry with a brick veneer.
Comprehensive façade repairs were completed in the 2000-
2005 period, at a cost of $39.1 million. Façade repairs
included isolated repairs to parapet walls, corners, spandrel
beams, and bulkheads, along with re-pointing. Additional
corner and spandrel beam repairs and re-pointing are....
Why the new exterior work MCI?
UPGRADED APARTMENT
INTERIOR FINISHES
Ownership is in the midst of an ongoing renovation program
to improve the level of finish for apartment interiors
throughout Stuyvesant Town. To date, approximately 25
percent of the units have been upgraded, at an average cost
of approximately $40,000 per unit.
$40,000 per unit sounds more believable for the apartment renovation work, so....what is the calculation, 1/60th of the cost gets passed to tenants in a rent increase or what?
"PCV/ST has the potential to exceed current market rate averages
due to the property's inimitable advantages, including spacious
layouts, pre-war features, no abutting buildings, and easily combinable
units."
A big selling point was the combinable units. Allowing market raters to take over rs apartments will only open the door for the angry market raters to either harass the rs tenants out of their homes to move in or to combine the rs apartment with their own.
The "combinable units" is being offered by CW to a lot of the market raters and they will stop at nothing to get their 2nd apartment combination.
Be aware! Watch out for this development!
Above quote is from page 57.
EASE OF COMBINATION
A typical Two-Bedroom
floor plan in Stuyvesant Town matches up with its neighbor
for efficient combination into a four bedroom/three
bathroom apartment. The ability to combine units in this
fashion presents new ownership with the flexibility to
respond to Manhattan's dynamic residential market,
targeting whichever segment is in greatest demand
Page 66
So in Stuy Town the A apartment would be combined with the B apartment.
The C with the D
The E with the F
The G with the H
It is a simple renovation plan moving the front door. They are already promising that to market raters, to take over the apartment next to them if they can get the tenant out of the RS apartment.
CREATION OF LARGER UNITS
While PCV/ST
has incredible inherent strengths, it also has areas that new
ownership will seek to improve. The majority of the Complex
is currently comprised of 5,744 one bedroom one bathroom
apartments and 4,977 two bedroom apartments. While the
two bedroom apartments at Stuyvesant Town feature one
bathroom, in Peter Cooper Village, all of the 1,252 two
bedroom apartments have two bathrooms. Families require
or prefer a higher bathroom ratio. Combining apartments
will allow for three and four bedroom apartments with three
bathrooms. This simple process could add immeasurably to
the rental premium and to the demographics of the
Complex. The improved demographics could lead to higher
retail sales and in turn, retail rents. It may also increase the
demand for parking, again, driving the income higher....
page 67
The combination apartments are in high demand by the market raters. They want the additional bathroom for the kids, the market rate families in the two bedroom apartments want the rent stabilized tenants OUT of the 1 bedroom apartments to take them over.
Using tenants to evict their neighbors is despicable, and is most definitely in practice in PCVST! The neighborhood has really gone down in the quality of tenants they allow.
The downfall didn't start with MetLife. It started with the so-called public/private partnership that was set up to create a middle income housing complex. If government cleared the way for MetLife to have an entire neighborhood demolished and allowed for various subsidies to get the complex built, why didn't they keep some skin in the game? Why allow MetLife to sell (even 60 years down the road) at a market price, when they have been enjoying enviable returns on their investment for almost 60 years? Why not keep a ground lease? Perhaps the thinking was that Stuy Town would have more than served its purpose if the returning GI's and perhaps their kids could have the benefit of a middle class neighborhood in NYC. Perhaps they could not envision a time when the middle class would find Manhattan unaffordable. Perhaps they thought that poorly structured rent stabilzation laws would protect the housing. Either way, the government powers at the time screwed up by not including a deed restriction on the sale of the complex if the intention was to preserve middle class housing in perpetuity. I think it can be argued that Stuy Town did indeed serve its intended purpose and it was time for the free market to take over. It probably would have made more sense, however, to give MetLife an out and a profit, but keep a restriction or ownership of the land in return for what government contributed to the development. In the end, MetLife did what it should have done and what their original deal allowed,,maximized their PROFIT!
Not for nothing, but for all the criticism of TS, CW, Blackstone, etc. (and I am no fan) it's Met Life that made out like bandits; for a property that they got for a song, paid minimal taxes on, and sold for a king's ransom. And they operated in the black all these years. I don't begrudge them for making a profit on the sale, but the margin was such that any new owner who paid their purchase price would have to do more than collect pre-market rate rents to justify their purchase. The city handed Met Life this windfall, when they awarded them the land and the tax breaks, and the city should have had more to say about the terms of sale (and thus the future of middle class housing) before Met Life sold it. Those horses have long left the barn...
"city's most prominent market rate master community."
"master"???? what is a master community? one with a charter school they want to build? combination apartments for the wealthy? rooftop sundecks for the idle?
Who are these "master" race?
The wealthy have always been jealous of the Middle Class because we are self made without silver spoon crutches. So they take and steal everything the Middle Class has, and that includes this once remarkable community.
Who are these master race master community people kidding? Did they relaly put that word in the pamphlet?
All the commercial development selling points are on the outer edges or converting the garages. Nowhere does it say the Oval can be developed. How did Dan and the DOB slide that through?
THIS is why tenant ownership was this community's only hope. Anything else, and you get Tishmans/BlackRocks/CWs/Blackstones, etc. They're all the same. I'll always keep my head high knowing I was 100% for it.
If you read the memo, you will see that tenant ownership, in limited fashion, was a possibility, but it would have benefited the buyer of the property and left most of the property under the boot of the owner.
The next destructive phase of the community will be the market rate families who are already strategically moved into two bedroom apartments -- harassing and pushing out the rent stabilized one bedroom tenants. There is a (junior high-school - like) clique of militant moms that are gossipy about each others efforts to push out their rent stabilized neighbors, laughing just a little too loudly. We hear you.
Blogger Stuy Town Reporter said...
If you read the memo, you will see that tenant ownership, in limited fashion, was a possibility, but it would have benefited the buyer of the property and left most of the property under the boot of the owner.
November 10, 2015 at 5:08 PM
Yup.
"This will make it plain that NO ONE who purchases this property is interested in long-term rent affordability for people of moderate means."
It's too bad Dan Garodnick and Bill de Blasio weren't interested in that either.
STR is the only place to get the truth about PCVST
Thanks STR!
This place was once nice with nice people. They just couldn't leave well enough alone. They aren't going to ever be happy or satisfied until they have taken every last drop of blood from us and replaced us with selfish greedy new stabilizers. Why couldn't they just leave us alone - it was perfect here. They looked down their noses at us and left us alone. we liked that they looked down their noses and left us alone. Now that they are here, everything stinks.
5:08 What? Elaborate please.
It really is the end of affordable housing. BTW, this is happening here, SF, Seattle, London, Paris, etc.
SENIOR FRIENDLY BUILDINGS
Another promising area of upside is to create entirely market rate buildings that can be re-positioned as luxury rentals or condominiums. A challenge to this strategy is the re-location of existing rent stabilized tenants. Since many of these stabilized tenants are elderly, one incentive might be to create senior-friendly buildings within the Complex with special services and amenities that would appeal to these older residents. Assisted living operators could run a number of buildings with a full array of services which would generate additional revenue. Improvements by the new owner might simply include redesigned community space for classes, the addition of apartment safety features, the utilization of second bedrooms for nurses' quarters or the inclusion of a live-in nurse. A win/win situation could be unlocked in which the seniors enjoy an improved living environment while new ownership pursues other goals in recaptured blocks of apartments."
MetLife offering plan - Page 68
REBNY goals and terminology
The goal is booting all RS out of their homes. The challenge is how? One strategy is the “re-location” of RS protected seniors by removing them from their homes and packing them into smaller spaces in a single undesirable building equipped with a nurse on call. RS resident homes are “captured” apartments ripe for exploitation. Booting, pushing, cajoling RS residents out of their longstanding homes delivers “recaptured” apartments unlocked for pursuit of $$$. Effective P.R. spin will make it look like a win/win situation for everyone if RS senior citizen eradication appears voluntary.
Blackstone read MetLife’s offering plan, liked it and intends to implement...
http://www.stuytownpetercooper.com/
“We will also add additional amenities and services including making an onsite social worker available, creating a senior community service, offering wellness checks, health screenings and senior activities.”
"SENIOR FRIENDLY BUILDINGS
Another promising area of upside is to create entirely market rate buildings that can be re-positioned as luxury rentals or condominiums. A challenge to this strategy is the re-location of existing rent stabilized tenants. Since many of these stabilized tenants are elderly, one incentive might be to create senior-friendly buildings within the Complex with special services and amenities that would appeal to these older residents. Assisted living operators could run a number of buildings with a full array of services which would generate additional revenue. Improvements by the new owner might simply include redesigned community space for classes, the addition of apartment safety features, the utilization of second bedrooms for nurses' quarters or the inclusion of a live-in nurse. A win/win situation could be unlocked in which the seniors enjoy an improved living environment while new ownership pursues other goals in recaptured blocks of apartments."
MetLife Offering Plan - Page 68
REBNY goals and terminology
The goal is booting all RS out of their homes. The challenge is how? One strategy is the “re-location” of RS protected seniors by removing them from their homes and packing them into smaller spaces in a single undesirable building equipped with a nurse on call. RS resident homes are “captured” apartments ripe for exploitation. Booting, pushing, cajoling RS residents out of their longstanding homes delivers “recaptured” apartments unlocked for pursuit of $$$. Effective P.R. spin will make it look like a win/win situation for everyone if RS senior citizen eradication appears voluntary.
Blackstone read MetLife’s offering plan, liked it and intends to implement...
http://www.stuytownpetercooper.com/
“We will also add additional amenities and services including making an onsite social worker available, creating a senior community service, offering wellness checks, health screenings and senior activities.”
The NYC-Blackstone agreement contains language providing for lodging PCVST residents at alternate locations while apartments are renovated. It didn't say who apartments will be renovated for or if re-located PCVST residents will return to their homes after renovations are completed.
This criminal enterprise with politician support to use courts as weapons against tenants has to stop.
Schneiderman had two options 1. help PCVST tenants like Cuomo helped Vantage tenants who were harassed or 2. help landlord Speyer/CW investigate PCVST tenants.
As the article says:
" But, it is a criminal enterprise sanctioned by the courts and the government."
They harassed PCVST who did not have support from a real TA forcing the landlord to backup claims. It is on the landlord to prove their claims, not tenants!
This has done too much damage to too many innocent people including half this community! It is outrageous!
"DHCR is accused of being filled with “cronies” carrying out agendas set during Pataki era...they are still heavily pro-landlord and politically skewed.
Even frivolous lawsuits must be considered. However landlords are using such lawsuits (eviction proceedings) as a weapon, they are essentially unfair and cynical in its use of courts—making judges tools of a corrupt endeavor.
It is as if tenants are fighting with wooden swords while the landlords are armed with bazookas.
..it is used against the very people city government claims it wants to keep – families, seniors, artists, writers, City workers. Even when DHCR finds landlord guilty of harassment, fines are limited to $5,000 for each violation. For landlords that’s laughingly cheap.
One solution which would get attention of landlords and their attorneys would be to criminalize initiation and prosecution of frivolous and baseless evictions.
For rent-regulated NY'ers, money and legal actions have become weapons of choice used by slumlords using courts to evict them as part of a systematic plan to eviscerate affordable housing in Manhattan.
By retaining expensive landlord-tenant lawyers or through politically expedient campaign contributions, wealthy landlords have deep pockets and invest large sums dedicated to systematic plans of evicting stabilized and rent-controlled tenants.
It is unethical, often illegal, and it works.
Tenant harassment is nothing new. In last 5 years landlord abuse has been identified in 2008 Tenant Protection Act that classifies misconduct which includes withholding heat/hot water, refusal to make necessary repairs and infliction of emotional distress.
Also included are “multiple instances of frivolous litigation,” as cited by NYC’s RGB. Landlords continue to bring eviction cases against rent-regulated tenants with little or no cause in order simply to initiate drawn out legal processes and force tenants to incur enormous legal costs. Often cases are frivolous and baseless..exactly the point.
Forcing a tenant into court in order to start the clock ticking on legal fees for tenants is corrupt landlord's sole objective. Tenants may be taken to court for “illusory tenancy”—“illegal subletting”—“clutter”—even, “failure to recycle garbage”—often, supported only by self-serving statements from landlord’s employees.
Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, LLP, whose partner was disbarred, is one litigation firm that feasts on landlord-tenant acrimony.
(Tishman Speyer used that firm on PCVST)
And, everyone knows this is happening.
Are there too many campaign donations? Are City Agencies all corrupt? Is there a plan to empty Manhattan of affordable housing while paying lip-service to keep votes flowing? After all, 900,000 votes is nothing to screw around with, is it?
The flaws in the system run deep. DHCR, agency responsible for reviewing violations, complaints and administering rental control/stabilization law, has long been accused of making judgments without reasonable measure of visibility. The courts never consider corruption...
http://www.sohojournal.com/content/assault-affordable-housing-0
Speyer spent millions of dollars assaulting tenants - how on earth could a middle class tenant protect themselves when the landlord is spending millions, the DHCR is corrupt, the politicians are helping the landlords, the housing corruption runs deep.
. "Despite millions spent on private investigators and litigation Tishman failed to increase significantly the number of market-rate units.",
Rob spent "millions" on private investigators, law firms to file frivolous baseless claims, harass tenants and nobody stopped them!
http://city-journal.org/mobile/story.php?s=9230
Partial chart of the deal
http://littlesis.org/maps/1079-blackstone-ivanhoe-cambridge-purchase-of-stuyvesant-town-peter-cooper-village
Lawyers doing the deal
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising longtime client Blackstone on the transaction, along with lawyers from Jones Day, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Rosenberg & Estis and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, according to sibling publication New York Law Journal.
Paul Hastings is advising Ivanhoé, the real estate arm of Canadian public pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Venable and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson are advising the complex’s seller, loan servicer CW Capital Asset Management
Terms of the Deal
http://www.garodnick.com/sites/default/files/NYC-BX%20Term%20Sheet.pdf
No one wants this under our windows anymore
Put that in your survey!
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/07/jay_reatard_the.html
Brad Hoylman has conflicts of interest and ethical conflicts between his former employer the Partnership for NYC
"Inexplicably, State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) was a signatory to the letter to Blackstone, even though he has conflicts of interest with Blackstone by virtue of their membership in The Partnership for New York City, State Sen. Holyman's former employer. Before State Sen. Hoylman became a state legislator, the disastrous, prior sale of Stuy Town-Peter Cooper in 2006 to a partnership between Tishman Speyer and Blackrock was made possible because of real estate mogul Rob Speyer's close business and government ties as former head or co-head of each of The Partnership for New York City and the Real Estate Board of New York, as reported by The New York Times."
Bill De Blasio has conflicts we are all to aware of from his birthday party with Rob and their funds and committee crossover.
"Mayor de Blasio is exposed to various real estate developers, big business interests, and even Mr. Gray, Blackstone's global head of real estate, by virtue of City Hall's many nonprofit arms, including the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, chaired by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and the Campaign for One New York, a political slush fund that raises money from real estate interests to pay political consultants with close ties to City Hall. Many real estate and big business executives also served on Mayor de Blasio's unsuccessful 2016 DNC Host Committee, including Mr. Gray."
Berlin Rosen is the most conflicted and ethically challenged (and possibly law challenged). Bizarrely the PCVST TA board was paying Berlin Rosen to spin the re developers (Blackstone) dealings to get tenants to accept it, instead of the TA board paying a PR firm to get the tenant's voice out there and represent tenants needs to politicians. The TA board paid Berlin Rosen to get the politicians voice bought by tenants. The TA boards was on the wrong side of the deal, the developer side. Berlin Rosen is also the firm for Blackstone.
"Reportedly, the politically-connected lobbying firm, BerlinRosen, which has close ties to the de Blasio administration and has been known to represent various real estate developers with business before City Hall, was working with Blackstone in respect of the purchase of Stuy Town-Peter Cooper. According to BerlinRosen's Web site, one of its professionals represents the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, placing BerlinRosen in a position to be able to persuade tenant advocates to accept terms of affordable housing protection that would be politically-expedient for the de Blasio administration."
According to supplemental information received by Progress Queens, BerlinRosen also apparently represents Blackstone Charitable Foundation, as evidenced in a Blackstone press release, where the media contact is a communications associate at BerlinRosen, placing BerlinRosen in a tripartite advisory role along side each of Mayor de Blasio, Blackstone, and the Tenants Association.*"
http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2015/11/7/officials-with-conflicts-of-interest-in-the-blackstone-ivanhoe-purchase-of-stuyvesant-town-peter-cooper-village
Are our billionaire landlords evading City and State taxes? Those questions have gone unanswered by City Hall and Paul Hastings lawyer Mark Eagan. If our landlord doesn't pay City and State taxes why should we? And doesn't that also hurt our City and State infrastructure, FDNY, NYPD budgets so tenants suffer from those budget cuts too. Is our landlord
"Furthermore, if the Canadian pension plan, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, were to provide equity into the joint venture, then it might be using foreign money that might expose pension plan assets to U.S. income taxes. Typically, when an investment fund is created that will draw on domestic and foreign investors, some kind of master fund structure is created with onshore and offshore feeder funds, to create separate tax treatments for investors in different jurisdictions. However, the Blackstone Property Advisors L.P. Form ADV indicated that Blackstone Property Partners L.P., was not a master fund in a master-feeder arrangement. A request made by Progress Queens to interview the Paul Hastings real estate partner, Mark Eagan, who represented Ivanhoé Cambridge, was not immediately answered.
It is not known if, by providing the financial sweeteners to the tune of several hundred million dollars, City Hall was consenting to the creation of a tax structure that would allow foreign investors to evade U.S. and New York state and city taxes. A request made by Progress Queens to the City Hall press office was not answered by Wiley Norvell, an administration communication official."
http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2015/11/7/officials-with-conflicts-of-interest-in-the-blackstone-ivanhoe-purchase-of-stuyvesant-town-peter-cooper-village
The City owes tenants a lot of explanations. but of immediate need, those of us whose lives will be disrupted and shocked from having to move to other apartments during a renovation are in dire need of details.
We have school, work, lives. Moving is a stressful ordeal. Having to do it twice while "workers" renovate our homes for 6 weeks is a disastrous term in the agreement, and extremely financially and emotionally costly to tenant's.
It is on page 6 and it is absurdly written with total disregard to tenants. It deliberately absurdly lists no "trailor park" while not addressing the DORMS! What about NO DORMS! Clearly tenants were not represented in the terms of this deal.
In August STR covered the politicians helping the landlords to destroy our rights to a peaceful home with mandatory months of redecorating and displacement -- Alicia Glen paved the way for Blackstone Ivanhoe to displace RS tenants.
Alicia Glen gave that to landlords over a year ago, but in the terms of this sale they had to make it look like it was part of a negotiation so they tacked it onto the prohibiting of illegal use of affordable housing eg hotels, trailer parks, etc. Those things are already illegal so really tenants got nothing and the politicians think middle working class are too stupid to see through a fake negotiated term.
Blackstone said we need the terms to include that we can displace tenants and wreak havoc on their lives and rifle through their belongings so Berlin Rosen/De Blasio/Glen said lets add a throw-away clause that Blackstone cant use the affordable rent stabilized homes in an illegal manner.
From STR last August
Anonymous said...
An earlier comment was posted on STR on who and how the politicians are helping the landlords displace residents from their homes for landlord renovations that will out price the resident from their home.
To the politicians: WE DO NOT NEED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAMS TO HELP DISPLACE US FROM OUR HOMES TO ONLY BE OUT PRICED BY SHODDY FRAUDULENT RENOVATIONS!
We need you to protect and preserve our homes, us, your constituents you serve. Let us opt in or out on renovations. Let us keep our homes!
We would be better off if instead of helping landlords evict us through renovations you cleaned up your own house at DOB and had them at least get all NYC buildings under DOB authority up to code equal to and no less than the best building in NYC (which is probably on the UES). Spend your efforts getting all NYC buildings up to safety code with zero outstanding violations instead of getting all apartments up in rent for landlords.
If what is happening at Yorkville is part of the de Blasio / Glen affordable housing plan - that is not OK.
FIX YOUR BUILDINGS instead of helping landlords cosmetically fix apartments to evict us!
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/real-estate/2014/06/8547130/glen-talks-housing-stuy-town-congressional-delegation
"Deputy mayor Alicia Glen on Thursday met with members of the New York's congressional delegation to discuss Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing plan, according to a statement from Rep. Carolyn Maloney's office.
Also in attendance at the meeting with Glen were representatives Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Yvette Clarke, Jerrold Nadler, Michael Grimm and José Serrano, according to Maloney's office. The lawmakers told Glen they believe it is important to create “'technical assistance teams' to work with New York City residents residing in affordable housing who may be notified of the need to move to another unit in order to update their current units,” Maloney's office said. Glen agreed to “follow-up on this important issue.”
Deputy mayor Alicia Glen on Thursday met with members of the New York's congressional delegation to discuss Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing plan, according to a statement from Rep. Carolyn Maloney's office.
“I’m so pleased that Deputy Mayor Glen joined us for a thoughtful discussion about the Mayor’s housing plan,” Maloney said in a statement. “This is really an effort that will require cooperation between federal, state and city officials,...
August 6, 2014 at 9:24 AM
http://stuytownreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/this-could-be-stuy-townpeter-cooper.html
"Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, LLP, whose partner was disbarred, is one litigation firm that feasts on landlord-tenant acrimony.
(Tishman Speyer used that firm on PCVST)"
CR still uses them as well. BTW, nice summary 11.09 PM of the horror show, depressing but useful.
It's chilling to read MetLife's proposals for seniors in RS units. I wonder if Blackstone has any such plans. Will they want to put us in a gulag? Send us to the ovens? Club us like baby seals? Who knows. I wouldn't put anything, and I mean ANYTHING, past these creatures. Maybe I exaggerate somewhat, but I am well aware that there is no end to the evil of people like Blackstone/Ivanhoe. The sociopathy of Rob Speyer made him an excellent choice of customer for MetLife.
Everything benefits the buyer. If it didn't, they wouldn't buy. At least tenant ownership also benefits the tenant - in the form of more accountability over how the property is run, QOL issues, etc. Beats what we have now any day.
Please stop all the freaking out and misinformation about MR renters and New Stabilizers wanting/trying to push out long-term RS tenants so they can "take over" their apartments. It's untrue. You're reading a document that was put together 10 years ago to entice a prospective buyer. It's sales B.S. It is not the reality now. And you're not helping move the community forward by spreading falsehoods about this happening right now, under our noses. MR tenants are not out "to get you." We are not the bogeyman.
"Despite millions spent on private investigators and litigation Tishman failed to increase significantly the number of market-rate units.",
Rob spent "millions" on private investigators, law firms to file frivolous baseless claims, harass tenants and nobody stopped them!"
-----
Never forget Dan/TA like-minded business partner Brookfield invested $25 million supporting and cheerleading Speyer's frivolous, scorched earth eviction war booting the middle class out of their longstanding PCVST homes. Dan/TA partnered with Brookfield so Brookfield could realize Speyer's dream. 100% Complete Botched Strategy
Is the TA-Brookfield business partnership active? What's next?
WTF TA? Hypnotized? Brainwashed?
I am RS, and I completely agree with 12:44. It is ridiculous to think that MR tenants are having secret meetings to concoct a plan to rid the property of RS tenants so that they can combine apartments. Many of the MR tenants are in situations where they are already paying more than they want to, so what makes you think that they want to add an additional $3,200 a month to combine apartments.
A 10 year old document comes out, and the conspiracy theorists read the document to mean that this is what will happen now. There are plenty of things to worry about… this is not one of them.
STR, some of the information or misinformation on this thread is truly terrifying to RS tenants, especially the older ones. I don't know if someone is trying to torment us by spreading rumors of forced relocation, etc., or if this is something that we should be prepared for. I do think that it will cause some people reading it to become very upset, possibly suicidal, if they think that such a scenario is really going to play out. I'm an RS tenant, though not a senior. I would put up a very vigorous fight against any attempt to relocate me, either temporarily or permanently, and I know that many of my peers would be ready to fight too, but some of the older, frailer people may just give up and die or kill themselves. Maybe that is what the landlord would love to happen, but I think that fear-mongering on this blog is not at all helpful.
These new landlords are not exactly, or anywhere near, the cream of the crop of society. Greed is good to them. Manage expectations, don't leave anything up to hope and don't assume anything, they are not like society, they lack a conscience
"vain yutz"
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2007/06/the_golden_ass.html
Stephen Schwarzman believes the populace is envious of him. Clearly he is the one jealous of us, the PCVST Middle Class, which is why he and Ivanhoe Cambridge / CW took away our community and our homes. We wanted nothing from him and nothing of him, not really even knowing who he is, but he knew us and he wanted PCVST. That is the definition of envious.
He whined at Sen Grassly rightfully proposing changing his taxes from 15% to 35% like the rest, and in true Cuomo philosophy wants to tax the poor and give tax breaks and loopholes to the wealthy.
Remember that when you deal with Blackstone. Don't use logic, they have none.
'
Stephen A. Schwarzman, head of the Blackstone Group, has already been prominently cited in two columns by Paul Krugman, the Nobel prizewinning economist and New York Times opinion page columnist, as an example of a plutocratic class warrior who believes that the 1% must retain their supremacy over the rest of society, winning at any cost.
(See: Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted, September 26, 2013 and Paranoia of the Plutocrats, January 26, 2014.)
You wouldn't think [Schwarzman would] have much to complain about. But, to hear him tell it, he's beset by a meddlesome, tax-happy government and a whiny, envious populace. He recently grumbled that the U.S. middle class has taken to "blaming wealthy people" for its problems. Previously, he has said that it might be good to raise income taxes on the poor so they had "skin in the game," and that proposals to repeal the carried-interest tax loophole-from which he personally benefits-were akin to the German invasion of Poland.
Is the bottom line that the wealthiest in society like Schwarzman should be living in fear that the political upper hand will be seized by those who will tax the rich (or simply eliminate the loopholes by which Schwarzman pays his income taxes at a preferential lower rate) to dispense “largess to the poor” or other strata of our society? Au contraire!
While class warfare is real, is not a matter of what the wealthy might fear from the rest of us, but what the rest of us have to fear in the way of predation from the likes of Schwarzman: What do individuals such as Schwarzman do when they have the political and the economic upper hand?
http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/10/plutocratic-class-warrior-stephen.html
His use of pensions is notorious. Its a good read.
Berlin Rosen relationship with Jon Gray and Blackstone is unsettling. Moreso than their relationship with Susan Steinberg Al Doyle which id deeply deeply dirty troubling.
Alicia Glen has no clue. She talks like a typical Goldman Sachs out of touch Bush era cronie. She talks about change - from bad unsafe neighborhoods to good safe ones. She talks about NYCHA, the very poor. She talks about the wealthy. But the middle class just does not exist. And the ponce safe peaceful PCVST that needed no change, no fixes, was perfectly safe and fine, she allowed to be taken out from under us. Plus doesn;t she line in a co-op? Why couldn't they arrange for PCVST to go co-op like Penn South? What is in it for de Blasio and Goldman Sachs for PCVST to be given to Blackstone instead of to tenants in a co-op? She does not understand the Middle Class. She is typical as all the politicians if the past 50 years, since the 70's. They understand what to do with the poor and the wealthy and have not a clue how to make our government work for the Middle Class instead of against the Middle Class.
New York government very much works against the Middle Class. Very much against us. In every way. Everyone of them. How can they all be so oblivious and ignorant of the largest population in the country?
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/we-asked-experts-if-nyc-can-be-saved-from-gentrification-111?utm_source=vicetwitterca
The relocation during renovation is very real or Blackstone would not have put it in the terms. They did not put anything in the terms that they are not serious about wanting and using. Relocating to renovate is in the De Blasio Glen terms. That being said I too would help in a fight to make sure such a thing does not happen to anyone here. Relocating tenants for renovation work is to stressful to put anyone through. They ought to remove that from the terms if they want it to look at all like tenants were considered in the deal.
The law regarding conversions states that no matter how many units are still owned by the developer, after 5 years control of the building(s) goes to the tenant owners. Tenant ownership was the only possibility that would have been truly helpful to us. I just hope that if by some miracle there is ever a chance for us to buy again, that there is at least unified agreement that tenant owner should be supported.
This is what we've come to. Greenwich Village begs politicians to keep open a Hospital for healthcare reasons and jobs,but the Politicians say No to the People and build luxury condos. PCVST is now begging for a food store to stay open so we can have access to food to eat, and the Politicians are saying.....
Time to stop begging and begin demanding, loudly, publicly, nationally. NY politicians care only about the billionaires, we cannot have them running NYC this way or running the whole country this way. What the hell kind of politician makes the People beg? What the hell type of person makes another beg?
NY politicians are treating all of us middle class like beggars - and making us homeless. They are our employees, they work for us, they deserve to be fired. Alicia Glen using the excuse that she has to work with when it comes to how good of a deal she can make for residents here the tools she is given is a load of crap; the Politicians job is to make the tools necessary for the People to live good lives.
The politicians are the tool maker, the policy, regulation, lawmakers. Alicia Glen made tools for Blackstone to displace People for decorating and increasing their profits.
For REBNY and Wall Street from Schumer to Glen, they make all sorts of tools (laws and loopholes)
For the People, from Schumer to Glen, they hmmmm and hawwww and say let me see what I have in my toolbox to help you not get screwed, gosh, not much in the toolbox for that. But I worked really hard and put sweat and blood into trying.......
The politicians are very successful in their work for the wealthy and very unsuccessful, getting piss poor results, in their work for the People.
Hospitals, Homes, and Food they have us begging for.
Time for ALL new politicians in the jobs of "leadership" for the City and State.
ALL NEW!
Nothing the landlords put in these agreements is without deliberate intent to execute.
The combining and the chopping of apartments for larger groups, whether frats or dorms or duggar-type families with lots of kids, is obviously a big selling point.
Combining apartments is in the MetLife terms no fewer than 5 times. No doubting they already have tenants lined up for this business model.
The culture of PCVST has gone downhill fast. Commercialized, greedy, entitled, self-centered. There are a few good ones left, like the golf guy in PCV.
The good ones are a dying breed in PCVST, being replaced with a less attractive character.
A big sleazy loophole in the politicians tool box that makes developers richer and richer, communities poorer and poorer and takes away money for NYPD, Fire Fighters, and Schools, etc.
Dirty RE.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/posh-tower-proposed-for-struggling-new-york-neighborhood-central-park-south-1444728781
Sens. Charles Grassley and Patrick Leahy are trying to clean it up, stop the abuse by the billionaire developers that NY Cuomo et al aids and abets.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/11/real-estate-and-green-cards-eb-5-debate-heats-up-in-washington/
November 12, 2015 at 12:56 AM Had those tenants who wanted to buy shown unity by opposing the TA board and their lawyers unfairly allocating the last round of MCI charges then maybe there could have been unity for a tenant purchase. You are calling for unity only when it benefits you, and the way the buildings would be tenant-run was clearly demonstrated at the last round of MCI charges. Unfairly. With heavier burden put on renters when we all use the Major Capital Improvements equally.
Show unity towards others and maybe they will show it towards you. But sitting quietly while reaping unjust reward at the expense of your renting rent stabilized neighbors shows you will be the same type of owner as Tishman, Brookfield, Blackstone, Ivanhoe.
The MR who wanted to buy behaved poorly towards the rent stabilized who want to rent. And now you say it is our fault and you want our support in your tenant ownership! Audacity! It is your own fault.
If you want unity then act with equality, not inequality and entitlement.
. I'm an RS tenant, though not a senior. I would put up a very vigorous fight against any attempt to relocate me, either temporarily or permanently, and I know that many of my peers would be ready to fight too,
DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!!
THIS PLACE IS FINISHED, GONE, DONE, OVER, DEAD, MORIBUND!
So sad..the greedy, avaricious ghouls have won.
More frat boys, transients, chopping up of apartments, churning of apartment to raise rents, never ending MCI's, "amenities"...haha, garbage in halls and carriage room, rape of the trees and the Oval, "concerts", dog sh*t everywhere, noise, noise, noise...and the beat goes on.
BUT..as a long time RS tenant, I AIN'T GOIN' ANYWHERE.
9:10 AM: I am with you! Can't wait till the next election. Will vote for ANYBODY excep DeB and other incumbents. I'd vote for Putin before any of the current filth because nobody could be worse.
Stephen Schwartzman calls people nazis? I think he is one! He would havebeena Cappo in the camps.
No carpets rule! Why should I buy them if no one else is? I"M NOT
I don't have carpets because I have allergies. However, I do walk only in slippers or soft-sole shoes when I'm home. I would love to have carpets because they warm the place up, but I cannot deal with the constant sneezing and respiratory problems. There is no vacuum cleaner that works well enough to prevent this.
I don't have carpets and ST doesn't care. In fact, there are many of us who firmly believe they are happy with tenants who annoy the crap out of those who reside under them.
It's lower level living here. Those living west of us int eh real gramercy make fun of us.
nov 12, 7:58...this thread is on its way to being dead so i don't expect an answer, but honestly, your response shows me how difficult if not impossible getting unity is. Who was organizing a response to mcis so clearly and effectively that you could say the MRs were not joining in? Actually, since mRs are adversely effected by MCIs too, why would they want to fight these?
No, what I saw at this site in particular was division caused by RS supporters who variously said: We should not put our efforts behind a conversion; rather we should fight to strengthen RS laws. I dare say there was some socialistic type leaning...indicating that somehow everyone staying renters was philosophically correct even though we would still be at the mercy of some landlord.
I really would like to encourage STR to have a post about this unity topic in particular. Unless people can express their feelings and deal with each other, the divisions that came up during the conversion talk will continue to dog us. I'll say right now...I think one cause of the division stemming from the RS side was anger or say jealousy at some not being able to afford to buy. AT the risk of inflaming feeling, I would have to say that this would be something like a 'dog in the manger' attitude. That is, if you can't benefit as much, you'd see others not benefit at all.
None of us can help that there are unequal financial situations. I just fail to see how we're in a better position today than if we had been able to buy. I doubt that tenant owners would continue the senseless MCIs and would be in less accord with renters.
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