Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Dividing Up Apartments To Get More Rooms

Certain Stuy Town apartments have been "divided" to give rooms an extra "room." We have talked about this, but now a "pilot" program is being introduced into Peter Cooper Village.

The TA has woken up, it seems, and this is their latest:

http://www.stpcvta.org/new_reconfiguration_of_stpcv_apartments


New Reconfiguration of STPCV Apartments

StuyTown Property Services recently informed the Board of Directors of the Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association that they are  embarking on an “experiment” to reconfigure vacant apartments. Although construction has already begun, StuyTown Property Services has not yet notified the community.

The new program will convert 40 vacant Peter Cooper Village units by turning the kitchen of a one-bedroom unit into a bedroom and moving the kitchen into the living room; combining adjacent one- and two-bedroom units to form a three-bedroom unit; and reconfiguring adjacent one- and two-bedroom units to create a three-bedroom unit and a studio. The new program will continue to divide Stuyvesant Town living rooms of 75 vacant apartments to provide an additional bedroom at the expense of living and dining space.

The Board of Directors of the Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association opposes the reconfiguration of the Stuyvesant Town apartments, which reduces living rooms to foyers in order to increase sleeping spaces. The arrangement, which degrades the time-tested, well-designed layout, will likely result in an increase in the existing transient rent-a-room lifestyle. This is the antithesis of the original concept of our community. This reconfiguration will most certainly exacerbate the dormitory and churn effects which tenants have been objecting to since subdivision of apartments began. It will add further pressure to our aging infrastructure. It will continue to destabilize our once-cohesive community.

However, we consider that, with the exception of the studio apartments, the reconfigured Peter Cooper Village units may attract long-term residents, the stated goal of both management and the Tenants Association.

The Term Sheet executed by the City and Blackstone when the latter purchased the property states in part:

"The agreement protects both the current tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, as well as the Property’s legacy as a home for moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers for the generation to come. The Purchaser and the City are committed to the good stewardship of this unique community, and its long-term viability.

"In addition, the Purchaser intends to maintain the unique characteristics of the Property . . . by creating an environment that is conducive to residents establishing a long-term connection to the community."

The Tenants Association believes the terms and the spirit of the purchase should preserve the functionality of the original Stuyvesant Town living spaces in order to maintain, not violate, a viable and gratifying living experience in an unusual urban setting.


*          *           * 
Right now, I do not have plans of these or Stuy Town rooms, but it appears that Management is creating more space by actually giving less space. More to come.

54 comments:

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I am curious about the TA's "however".... It this an escape clause?

Atomic Man said...

Let me see if I got this right...

The old living rooms are the new bedrooms. The old foyers are now the new living rooms. Which are about to become kitchens, too. And the kitchen becomes a bedroom. Can you still pee in the bathroom? Just don't get any on the Murphy bed.

Also, the kitchens are pretty small to begin with. You might be able to fit a twin bed and a dresser at most. Pretty fuckin' claustrophobic. Thanks to Big RE and the State Republicans, the next generation of New Yorkers will be packed in like those Undocumenteds in Queens with 30 in a one family house.

Blackstone says F*ck the Tenants said...

Why is this surprising?
The only surprise is what took these greedy, bloodsucking ghouls so long.
If they could get away with it, they would pack 15 students into each apartment, have a totally transient population, and suck every last nickel out of the tenants.
Do I hear a whole new slew of MCI's on the horizon? You heard it here first.
Blackstone has a rep on Wall Street as being vicious, take no prisoners, bottom line is the only thing that matters.
They will attempt to squeeze every last penny from the property.
Screw the tenants.
They are so vile that we will wish for the halcyon days of Tishman-Speyer.
Horrible, disgusting, vile!

Anonymous said...

There should be no "however" in the TA's stance. They know DAMN WELL that this will in no way bring stable long-term tenants to the property. This whole thing screams dorms, not long-term stability.

And we thought the infrastructure was already strained, just wait!

BIGMO said...

Way to go Blackstone or is it Flintstone?

What's next? Convert the bathroom to a bedroom?

Who needs a bathroom? Management will supply all tenants of these converted apartments with an unlimited supply of Depends Diapers!

Now that's outta da box thinking!

I'm waiting for one of these elevator cables to snap causing the elevator to enter 'warp speed' on its way to the basement smashing the hapless occupants!

Anonymous said...

Nothing about management surprises me anymore.

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to believe that the TA (at least Steinberg and Marsh), Garodnick and DeBlasio knew all about this at the time of the sale. Corrupt is too nice a word to describe this barrel of slime.

Blackstone certainly does have a terrible reputation on Wall Street and Main Street. Schwartzman is pure evil and would sell his nearest and dearest if he got offered the right price. I'd love to see them all get tripped-up and land in jail.

Anonymous said...

From a property with a ten year wait list to this, 100 empty apartments being reconfigured. They took this property from true luxury to over-packed slums.

Anonymous said...

I like that someone had the balls to call out the TA on all of this on their FB thread. The TA is as much to blame for all of this.

Anonymous said...

How are there people on the TA Facebook page that still think that Slimy Dan has the community's best interests in mind? To those people, I have an easy Google search for you - DAN GARODNICK REBNY. Then click on images and a few of the links.

I hope the person who gets voted into his council position is the complete opposite of Real Estate Dan.

STR- maybe it's time post another thread showing Dan's real estate ties and the ways he has betrayed his constituents? A few people need a history lesson...

Anonymous said...

As far as ST is concerned, haven't they been doing this for a long time? What's new about this?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

https://www.stuytown.com/floor-plan-comparison

Anonymous said...


https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trump-seeks-sharp-cuts-to-housing-aid-except-for-program-that-brings-him-millions/2017/06/20/bf1fb2b8-5531-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html

Well there you have it. Starret and Stuyvesant Town are or were one in the same. Trump is nothing more than an extreme version of the deomocrats and republicans. They are all the same in that they take from the Public to enrich themselves and their friends. Stopping Trump just may inadvertently stop a lot of the past 30 years of corruption by democrats and republicans too.

Anonymous said...

I would actually be onboard with the TA if they were to initiate a lawsuit against Blackstone to update the room count on this property for MCI purposes. They have had so many opportunities to do this already, so I'm not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

holy fucking shit, more rooms ? more rooms? and one bathroom - how totally gross. This is all legal since they are all in bed with DHcr and DOH. Peace out. We're moving and we're MR, uncomfortable here and not safe.

Anonymous said...

The DOB is on Blackstone's payroll.

Anonymous said...

If the TA would bring a lawsuit against Blackstone for this atrocity, I would gladly pay the $50 fee and make a generous donation. And sign their pledge. Unfortunately, I think that, as usual, this is just a show boat stance on the TA's part because they know that most tenants despise them and believe them to be in bed with management. I suspect that they have known about this for a long time and have carefully timed their "outrage."
I very much hope I am wrong.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

https://therealdeal.com/2017/06/20/does-the-proposed-midtown-east-rezoning-incentivize-pfizer-to-skip-town/

Can someone make sense of this? I will note that "This was the strongest criticism that the council member has leveled against the proposed floor price, joining the laments of the Real Estate Board of New York and other public officials."

Stuy Town Reporter said...

"It follows a telling bill that Garodnick introduced earlier this month, that would require the city to audit every air rights sale in Midtown East once it’s rezoned."

Yeah, once the area is rezoned (more air rights given away), then it's time to get serious!

Barry Shapiro said...

Maybe management will attempt to qualify these among the 5000 "affordable" apartments.

Anonymous said...

Check out the Stuy Town management email. What a joke. I like how Rick doesn't tie his name into this because he knows it's a bunch of crap, and he doesn't want to deal with the backlash that's going to come.

Anonymous said...

This whole thing is so backwards.... how the hell do they expect us to believe they are focusing on anyone but students? What family is going to move into an apartment with LESS LIVING ROOM SPACE??? Absolutely none.

This is nothing more than a way to squeeze more NYU students into an apartment.

Anonymous said...

Is this planned construction even legal????

Nobody will fight it anyway. Get used to noise for the next decade.


Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

hanks to Big RE and the State Republicans, the next generation of New Yorkers will be packed in like those Undocumenteds in Queens with 30 in a one family house.

State Republicans??? Last I checked Dirty Dan and the entire city council except 1 or 2 from Staten Island are ALL DEMOCRATS. I call bull on your statement. Nice attempt to deflect the blame from where it belongs. This is precisely why NY will never get better. Liberals continuing to blame Republicans when the entire blame should be on those Democrats they keep re-electing election after election. Sad!

Anonymous said...

"As for the TA’s concerns about the units contributing to the dormification of the property, Hayduk disagreed.

“Our interests are aligned,” he said. “We too want stability in the community, but we must meet the needs of today’s residents.”

Such BS.

https://town-village.com/2017/06/21/115-apts-in-stpcv-being-reconfigured/#more-16118

Atomic Man said...

State Republicans??? Last I checked Dirty Dan and the entire city council except 1 or 2 from Staten Island are ALL DEMOCRATS. I call bull on your statement. Nice attempt to deflect the blame from where it belongs.

I call bull on your bull, and raise you one. It was Pataki and Bruno who engineered vacancy decontrol on the final day of the 1997 legislative session. If not for that, PCVST would be very much the same today as it was then. And every time rent laws are up for renewal, the Senate Reps fight tooth and nail to weaken them. For sure, there are plenty of Dems taking cash from Big RE and talking up tenant rights while looking the other way while those rights are being trampled on (that's you Gov, if you're reading this). But the Reps make no bones about it, they outright promise to pull the rug out from under us.

Atomic Man said...

By the way, I'm pretty sure these conversions are already under way in Stuy Town.

This weekend, walking along the Ave C loop, I noticed an apartment with FOUR new in-wall A/C units under the windows. I thought "bedroom, bedroom, living room, and....kitchen? Why an A/C in the kitchen?"

Now I know...

Anonymous said...

If only we had a Tenants Association!

Anonymous said...

Let's leave the trumposphere and get back to reality, the republicans are the death of RS and regard you as a freeloading, welfare recipient for living in an RS apartment. Don't push false moral equivalency here.

Anonymous said...

Hayduk is fronting. These new configurations are designed for dorm living. Who is he kidding. The prices with 2 bathrooms will be sky high, I bet over 6 grand and most families will not pay that to live in this dump. How can people believe this guy or anything Blackstone says.

Anonymous said...

http://artuviale.com/2-bedroom/

Here is a building that just opened in the Bronx near Fordham university. It was built specifically for the student population. It looks exactly like what Blackstone is trying to do here. At least up there they don't sugarcoat things... they say its student housing. Down here you have Rick lying through his teeth saying it's not geared towards students.

Anonymous said...

Let's leave the trumposphere and get back to reality, the republicans are the death of RS and regard you as a freeloading, welfare recipient for living in an RS apartment. Don't push false moral equivalency here.

Once again, I call BULL. The problems here are NYC grown. Ain't no Republicans doing the damage here. It starts with Garodnick, DeBlasio and the city council. All Democrats. Keep smoking the K2 and re-electing the folks that are causing the problems. Then you can deflect and feel better about yourself even though you're part of the problem with your old thinking.

Anonymous said...

No need for kitchens once NYU opens a new dining hall on it's Stuy Town campus.

Anonymous said...

Does the TA have any leverage with SPS/Rick? If I were TA President Susan Steinberg and I had leverage with Rick, I would demand Rick add high end acoustical soundproofing to every new renovation/remodel - floors, walls, etc ...

Anonymous said...

You can't hide from the simple plain fact that, as a matter of faith,every GOP member opposes RS and will do everything in their power to end it. And, in their view, if you have an RS lease, you are a freeloading, welfare recipient, anti- American, communist.

Anonymous said...

History lesson: RS has been killed and watered down by the GOP in Albany....which is not one of the 5 boroughs.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg was a republican, as was Giuliani and they had no respect for anybody but the wealthy. Bloomberg, in particular, shares a lot of blame for the way the City has become an overcrowded, very dirtier version of Tokyo. People live in broom closets there, but they (the people) do tend to fit better because they are not as physically large as New Yorkers.

Anonymous said...

The issue at hand isn't RS its QOL. See if you can keep up. QOL is not a function of the state GOP it's a function of local pols. The blame lies on corrupt Dems, like De Blasio and Garodnick.

Anonymous said...

For the real Rent Stabilized tenants here in PCVST there is no fear of the GOP removing protections since the sale parameters protect it forever. No one in PCVST can blame the GOP anymore.

Anonymous said...

"You can't hide from the simple plain fact that, as a matter of faith,every GOP member opposes RS and will do everything in their power to end it. And, in their view, if you have an RS lease, you are a freeloading, welfare recipient, anti- American, communist."

Very true, but unfortunately we have a lot of Dems who are DINOs when it comes to REBNY. They preach fairness and sympathy for the middle-class while, at the same time, pocketing big dollars from developers and landlords to screw the people they are supposed to protect. I have no respect for any of them anymore. I refuse to sign those petitions to get them on the ballot, though if I get asked to sign one for Barry Shapiro, I will do so. I don't know if he has a chance against the corrupt sharks, though.

Anonymous said...

Trump's interest in Starrett City is as follows:\
He belongs to a Real Estate Group that has a 4% interest in Starrett City.
Get your hatred under control and get your facts straight

Anonymous said...

So wrong, RS is still subject to periodic renewal in Albany and the GOP will fight to kill RS yet again.

Anonymous said...

So wrong, without RS there is no QOL and GOP is looked big to end RS big time. Keep up.

Anonymous said...

"or the real Rent Stabilized tenants here in PCVST there is no fear of the GOP removing protections since the sale parameters protect it forever. No one in PCVST can blame the GOP anymore."

This statement is just plain dumb. Or an absolute lie. Every 5-6 years, the NYS RS law sunsets and must be renewed by the NYS legislature and then signed off by the Governor. This NYC sale deal with Blackstone deal has nothing to do with NYS RS law until the J-51 tax abatements expire on 6/15/2020. Then basically ALL renovated apartments lose their NYS RS protections. Non renovated apartments will keep their NYS RS status IF the NYS RS law is renewed as per my previous text. Again, you are either lying though your teeth or totally misinformed and clueless how “real” NYS RS law and regs work and how this so called "affordable” (a piss poor joke that will run out now in less than 20 years) housing deal with Blackstone and NYC was supposed to work. BTW, Danny Boy's latest newsletter lists this crap deal as him “saving” affordable housing for the middle class. How can a deal with a life span of only 20 years ”save" affordable housing in NYC?

Anonymous said...

"For the real Rent Stabilized tenants here in PCVST there is no fear of the GOP removing protections since the sale parameters protect it forever. No one in PCVST can blame the GOP anymore."

Not true. Albany could abolish RS with the stroke of a pen.

Anonymous said...

Anybody see the "Living" email blast from Management today? It shows a photograph of a master bedroom with twin beds, as was the convention in the 40s and 50s. They just couldn't resist that pointing out that this is why master bedrooms are "truly oversized." Is there a message in that, or am I just being suspicious of their motives?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, make no mistake, RS will not be around for much longer.

Anonymous said...

I took Danny Boy's flyer out of my mailbox, ripped it up and tossed it in the trash.

I didn't even read it. Goodbye and good riddance "Councilman" Dan.

Anonymous said...

"I took Danny Boy's flyer out of my mailbox, ripped it up and tossed it in the trash.

I didn't even read it. Goodbye and good riddance "Councilman" Dan. "

Did the same thing. There were at least a dozen of them discarded on the shelf by the mailboxes. Just put em all down the garbage shoot where they and he belong.

Anonymous said...

5000 apartments in PCVST are RS forever, regardless of what happens in Albany.

Anonymous said...

Wrong again, all stpcv RS spots are subject to periodic renewal in Albany. And the GOP will try to kill RS at every time.

Anonymous said...

"5000 apartments in PCVST are RS forever, regardless of what happens in Albany."

You could not be more wrong.

Anonymous said...

5000 apartments in PCVST are RS forever, regardless of what happens in Albany."

BS. The 5000 you speak are of the NYC so called "affordable" deal with NYC and Blackstone (not NYS) which ends now in less than 20 years plus old school RS (not renovated) apartments. As per 6/15/2020, ALL renovated apartments lose their NYS RS protections including the NYC/Blackstone “affordable” deal (not NYS) renovated apartments). NYS RS apartments which. again, can lose their NYS RS protections as per Albany’s whims. As I posted before, NYS RS law sunsets every 5-6 years. You have no idea how NYS RS law works. Stop posting lies.

Anonymous said...

Blackstone are greedy, avaricious bloodsuckers. They have a reputation for being the worst of the worst.