CompassRock Admits It Has No Solutions to Quality of Life Issues

In a bizarre, but at least truthful, admission, David Woodward, president of our new managing company, CompassRock, admitted in the latest Town & Village that CompassRock doesn't have a solution for the quality of life issues that have plagued Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, issues that T & V explained range from "dog policy to illegal hotels to concerns stemming from the ever-growing population of students." (The exact quote from Woodward: "I don't have a solution for any of those things.")

Well, here are some suggestions, particularly as Woodward is quoted as saying, "We pride ourselves on being open to suggestions and following up on solutions."

Dog policy: A moratorium on new dogs. New tenants have to sign a statement that they will not be acquiring a dog under penalty of eviction.  Public Safety extends its watchful dog-rule eye from the Oval Fountain to other parts of the property.

Illegal hotels: Just follow the listings (and the TA Facebook page).

Ever-growing population of students: Don't rent to hordes of students!  Also make sure you follow the law and do not allow three unrelated people to live in one apartment.

A red flag was raised in another part of the article, however....

"Woodward also said that while on a recent stroll through the complex with management staffers, the conversation turned to recreation 'and what activities tenants might like to see.'"

Stop it with the "activities"!!!  Everything is fine without imposed-on activities. Tenants have playgrounds, the Oval where they can relax, etc.  Don't push things to the ridiculous level.  Don't ruin the park (Oval)!

UPDATE (very interesting link posted on the TA Facebook page):
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20120328/CRED03/120329779/laramar-sues-ex-ceo-over-loan

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UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS, STUY TOWN REMOVES CABBAGE PATCH KIDS AND REPLACES THEM WITH ARUGULA PLANTS.

Sad to say, the Cabbage Patch Kids at Cafe Kubrick's Grand Canyon have been removed by swarthy Italians in the dead of night and were replaced, early morning, with arugula plants.  A spokesman for CWCaptial did try to mitigate the disappointment by promising a full line of cabbages (minus the Patch Kids) in the Fall, when the weather gets colder.

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And speaking of Cafe Kubrick....  If you passed by the cafe this morning, you may have spotted three splotches of dog turd right in front of the cafe.

The turds were removed later.  I wouldn't order anything chocolatey in Cafe Kubrick for a few days.

The Team That's Going to Take Care of Us

Here's the crew:

http://www.compassrockrealestate.com/regional-leadership

Note Fred Knapp is present and accounted for.

In case you don't know who Fred Knapp is, well, he was around during Tishman Speyer days when many residents had to go to court to prove their residency in PCVST. The NY Times called Knapp "the scourge of illegal tenants."  Perhaps he'll be dealing effectively with the illegal hotel situation in PCVST.  Or perhaps he'll have his sights set on different imperatives. More about Fred here:

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/private-eyes-will-prowl-apartments/48326/

UPDATE:

Interesting quote from here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120530-706050.html

"Critics of servicers also are concerned that they may sell assets to affiliates at lower prices than they could get on the open market. They also worry that servicers may be influenced by the fees they occasionally receive from borrowers or their use of affiliated companies to provide appraisal or other real estate services."

CompassRock is an affiliate of CWCapital.

CWCapital's View

This will explain a lot.  Including how CWCapital prides itself on reducing "management fee" by 33%. (CompassRock, the new management firm of PCVST, is joined at the hip to CWCapital, the latter being its financial partner. This crucial fact is left out of this PR piece.) And, yes, CWCapital states that it has "improved the resident experience."  That's the reason Oval Cafe was created, of course, and why you will see more "improvements" to the resident experience.  Never forget, these people don't care what YOU think but how they can promote the property.

Here goes the official statement from CWCapital:

New York – August 28, 2012 – CWCapital Asset Management LLC (CWCAM), a subsidiary of CW Financial Services, announced today strong financial performance at Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town. Since taking control of the asset in October, 2010, CWCAM has focused on stabilizing and creating value for the asset. Working together with current Property Manager Rose Associates, CWCAM has renovated and leased over 900 vacant units and successfully restructured the union agreements on the Property, resulting in labor stability for the next several years and enhanced flexibility to manage the union labor force. 

Early in 2012, CWCAM led a management restructuring that included re-assigning senior executives and re-ordering functional departments to better manage on-going projects and increase operational efficiency.   As a result of these enhancements, CWCAM has increased NOI since taking over by more than 45% on an annualized basis

“I am very proud of the results at Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town,” said Charles Spetka, CEO of CW Financial Services. “Since taking control, we have realized significantly improved financial performance and at the same time improved the resident experience. Our intent is to continue both trends.”

More here: 

http://www.cwcapital.com/News/Pages/DisplayItem.aspx?pid=120

UPDATE (for those who don't think there's a solid connection between CWCapital and CompassRock. Garodnick also has a say.):

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120829/REAL_ESTATE/120829870 

ANOTHER UPDATE - Much of the same info, but now we get a quote from Adam Rose:

http://www.globest.com/news/12_426/newyork/multifamily/CompassRock-Becomes-Property-Manager-at-Stuy-Town-324706.html

Nauseating

This particularly stood out for me: "During this time, resident programming was also enhanced through the launch of the PCVST Ice Rink, Oval Cafe, and continued presence of the PCVST Farmers Market."

These people do not understand the true value of PCVST.  Truly, they are strangers here.  It's going to get worse.

Rose Associates Exits, CW To Take Over

The rumors, it appears, are true.  On September 1, CWCapital will be effectively taking over management of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town from Rose Associates, which has been at the helm since Tishman Speyer left.  Expect more on this in the forthcoming Town & Village, but my guess is that, with much in place or being positioned to run relatively smoothly, CWCapital's move to gain operating control is a money saving measure, among other things.  Apparently CWCapital has more plans/ideas for this complex, too.  Stay tuned.

While there have been tenants who have vigorously railed against Rose Associates, Rose Associates was always the middleman in what goes on here and in a frequently uncomfortable position of needing to deal directly with unions, frustrated tenants and all the problems (illegal hotels, excess student population, furniture dumping, etc) that have arisen through the recent years in PCVST.  Now this is all going to rest on the shoulders of CWCapital.

I have had some minimal contact in the past with Adam Rose and have always felt that he was sincere in his desire to run this complex as best as possible for tenants (and, obviously, for the owner of PCVST).  For one, he made himself personally available to those whose problems were not being solved in the normal chain-of-command scenario.  Think back to the days of Tishman Speyer, and you will realize what a difference that was.  So the best to him and his crew.

How will CWCapital run this place?  As I started at the outset, I believe the company will fall into the groove, if they can, of how things are being run right now, but that we'll start seeing changes on the property.  Who knows?  Perhaps we'll see a Walmart, or its equivalent, here one day.  Or perhaps not.

Another interesting chapter in the history of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town begins.

Stuy Town: Dog Turd Town

So what does this man:

Have to do with this?--

Well, every time you come across a dog turd in Stuy Town or Peter Cooper Village or a pungent dog urine flow blocking your path, you can thank our previous landlord, Rob Speyer (pictured above--the first photo, no jokes, please), for throwing out PCVST's long-standing no-dog rule and allowing the presence of dogs in the complex. BTW, despite his embarrassing tenure here, Robbie is doing very well, thank you, having been selected by Mayor-for-Life Bloomberg, to chair the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City (!).  Adding to this accomplishment, Robbie is also now chairing the Real Estate Board of New York, may the good Lord help us all.  It just proves that if you are connected to wealth here in Manhattan, you get your ass kissed by the powers that be and you rise to positions of influence despite being clueless and quite possibly an idiot.

Back to dog tales....

Within just two days, I have come across in my relative brief walk to the outside of Stuy Town, dog turds and streams of dog urine a plenty.  The circular asphalt walkway around the Oval is now a scattered painting-in-the-works with the paints being wet dog turd smears, dry dog turd smears, and streams of dog urine that, many times, go from one side of the walkway to the other.  Below is the result of several piles of dog turd that a dog owner yesterday tried to clean up with a water bottle, unsuccessfully:

 

At least she tried, but this clown, or clowns, didn't:

The above was a photo taken today in front of 5 Stuy Town Oval.  Closer to the 1st Ave loop, another trail of dog turd was also in evidence:

Folks, this is just going to get worse.  Each month.  Public Safety makes what seems like a publicity attempt to put a dent in the dog infractions here, but after two weeks to a month, it's back to the same disregard and lack of enforcement.  And, so far, the enforcement seems to be just near the Oval Fountain area.  I still have yet to see Public Safety make it out beyond this area in any serious endeavor.  And the fact that there are now legally-registered prohibited dog breeds being walked about Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village with impunity, further damns the view that the dog rules are being enforced around here.

Amazing Video

The video, which I've never seen, is two years old, but the rules on aggressive breeds was in place here at that time also.  So where was the failure?

Mystery Solved

The mystery of the lengthy pit at the patio extension of Cafe Kubrick has been solved! Today workers began installing Cabbage Patch Kids inside the fissure. This project is expected to be finished within two weeks. Perhaps.

In a statement released early this afternoon, Joe DePlasco, spokesman for CWCapital and Rose Associates, stated, "We've taken very seriously the completion of this four-month project, and now with the insertion of the Cabbage Patch Kids, residents and their guests can finally enjoy the full luxury of Cafe Kubri--I mean, Oval Cafe."