Fine Dining for Amenity Members: Water & a Lemon

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for Oval Amenity members, it has. Today, even "Sunday Spotlight" (the el cheapo replacement for Sunday Brunch) was canceled, with the only offering for Oval members at Oval Lounge being water flavored by lemons. The cancellation was ostensibly due to Martin Luther King Day, which falls, of course, tomorrow and not today. Every store that is traditionally open on Sunday was open today, including the catering stores in the neighborhood, so the Martin Luther King Day excuse was feeble, if not laughable. It was certainly insulting to those Oval Amenity members who have been relying on the Amenity Sunday meal as justification for their dues. At least in their monthly expenditure ledger, Rose Associates and American Leisure (responsible for the Amenity programs), can chalk this up to a good day for them. Otherwise, for everyone else, it just another valid reason to realize that they, the members, are being played for fools and that they should drop membership in this rip-off program.

Scandalous Stuy Town "Restoration" Charges Post-Move Out

The Lux Living blog has been shinning the light on the outrageous charges that one couple have to pay after moving out of their Stuyvesant town apartment. Not only was their $2,500 security deposit withheld, but they were told they had to pay extra charges of over $1,300 for leaving their apartment--in a clean state! (When you vacate an apartment, you have to leave it in the condition you acquired it.)

This couple did a smart thing before they moved, however. (Hey, they must have known how this place is run!) They photographed their apartment and even had Oval Concierge clean it!

Something is very wrong here and needs to be not only addressed by Rose Associates (and our old pals Tishman Speyer), but corrected.

UPDATE:

Thanks to the efforts of Lux at the Lux Living blog, the above issue has been settled in favor of the couple that was charged with a heft bill. Their security deposit will be returned and there will be no additional charges.

Of course this still leaves the question of how such a bill came to be in the first place--and another question--is this kind of excessive billing Standard Operating Procedure? I've heard it is among landlords, but whoever manages this complex should be above those kind of shenanigans.

Anyway, a positive end.

Another Rip-Off: Pay As You Go Amenities

Boy, Rose Associates and American Leisure are really trying to suck dry the Amenities concept. You will be glad to know that you can now pay $15 for certain Amenity events if you are not an Amenity member and just have to particulate in the Amenity excitement that's been thrilling Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper residents for a couple of years. Want to play poker with your fellow neighbors and eat some chips? Or watch The Fisher King via a bad DVD projection? And you are not a valued member of Oval Amenities--sorry, Oval "Essentials"? (You know, that valued member that now gets a muffin and a cup of coffee instead of brunch on Sundays.) Well, hand over just $15 per event and you can have the time of your life!

I can't wait to see what Rose Associates thinks up next to save money while separating you from your own.

That's All, Folks! And thanks for your money!

Subscribers to Stuyvesant Town's amenities were in for a shock this Sunday when, instead of seeing the normal breakfast/brunch meal that's been the staple of the amenities package for so long, their eyes were met by a choice of a muffin, mini-banana loaf or a bagel at Oval Lounge. Coffee or tea, included, thank you.

For many, the amenity $20 a-month package (plus $250 initiation fee) was only justified by the weekly Sunday breakfast/brunches. These folks will now have a choice of whether a muffin and a cup of coffee per week is a good deal for the money they offer up.

So, Rose Associates continues to push the spiral downward of this complex, even in these "valued" amenities. Pretty soon there will only be crumbs left.

Rose Associates Management: Epic FAIL

Terrible snow storm readiness and turning a blind eye to dog problems exposes Rose Associates as being either unwilling or unable to manage Stuyvesant Town and Peter Copper Village in a professional manner.



In case you thought that the return of Rose Associates as managers of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village would be a good thing, you may now be thinking that you were woefully wrong. We all know about the worst snow cleanup job in ST/PCV's history (it happened this past week in case you were hibernating) and for weeks the evidence has been accumulating that Rose Associates is doing nothing about the increasing dog problem in the complex. It's gotten so bad that now dogs are being walked freely, sometimes without leashes, right through the central Oval grounds, while close by the security guard in the booth monitoring the Christmas Tree (yes, the tree is nice) does nothing to stop dog owners and give them warnings. Dogs are now seen more frequently off leash, particularly in the back areas of buildings and dog feces/smears are like a mine field one has to be on the lookout for, a particularly burdensome chore at nighttime when visibility is poor.

Furthermore, many buildings are in need of painting of hallways and doors, missing tiles being replaced, and a better handling of the garbage situation. The descent of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village into a slum continues. Nothing coming up in the New Year points to a change in this dreary and depressing evolution.

Armed Thefts in ST/PCV Expose Security Faults

The story is here:

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101203/lower-east-side-east-village/police-tenants-building-profile-of-stuy-town-mugger

Those of us interested in security in our complex have known for a while that the high-tech security monitors over at the Management Office are fairly worthless in stopping or deterring crime. Boots on the ground, fellas. That means security walking the beat of ST/PCV. It's good exercise and may just lead criminals to believe there is a security presence here.

Dan Garodnick Okay with Hefty MCI Increase

Sometimes I think that the fix is in. Considering the donations that local politicians get from real estate and investment firms, the reality is that the connections between our politicians--like Scott Stringer and Dan Garodnick--and big monied real estate concerns are probably tighter than anyone realizes. Certainly this issue is NOT being talked about in meetings with ST/PCV tenants, nor is anyone covering this connection in any newspaper that I know of. We will examine these connections as best we can given our limited resources. Knowing the facts does give one pause: Just whose side are these politicians on?

Last week's Town & Village contained an article about the value of ST/PCV. Titled "ST/PCV said to be worth 2.8B, but questions about plumbing remain," the article was troubling for two reasons: 1) The assessment of the worth of our complex had the complex's senior holder reps, CW Capital, "in charge" of conducting the appraisal, which completely invalidates a true appraisal of the property. That's like letting the Big Bad Wolf make an assessment of the safety of the woods for girls wearing red hoods. Let's hope no one is taken in by this scam. 2) The article mentions concerns about the plumbing in this complex and the possibility that "major repairs or upgrades" would be needed. Who would pay for this? Why the tenants, of course, with a significant MCI increase. Our Councilman Dan Garodnick's position? We quote from the article:

"In the event the plumbing system that services ST/PCV is in need of major repairs or upgrades, Garodnick said an MCI could be the way to deal with that, 'although nobody's ever enthusiastic about an MCI.'"

While the reality presented may be accurate, Garodnick's glib response is troubling, as it just about invites CW Capital to go for an MCI hit on tenants with our councilman's approval. It also places a potential wedge issue between those who seek conversion, who would definitely want an MCI upgrade, and those pro-rent stabilized tenants who would not want another MCI hitting their wallets.

Lenders Take Over ST/PCV

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/nyregion/27stuytown.html?_r=1

Lenders formally took control of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Tuesday, ending a four-year odyssey that put this affordable middle-class enclave at the center of both the biggest real estate deal in history and a major financial debacle.

CW Capital, the company representing the complexes’ senior lenders, is now expected to begin negotiations with tenants over what could be the country’s largest conversion of rental buildings to a condominium or cooperative. That could start battles among the 25,000 tenants over whether the apartments should remain affordable or be allowed to trade openly on the real estate market.

The changes occur under strikingly different circumstances than in 2006, when a partnership of Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty bought the 80-acre property from the original owner, Metropolitan Life, for a record-breaking $5.4 billion.

The plain red brick buildings, built by Met Life more than 60 years ago for returning World War II veterans, were considered by investors to be a gem in the rough because of their Manhattan location and sturdy construction.

The buyers expected to triple their net income by 2011 by replacing longtime residents paying regulated rents with tenants paying higher market rates. But their plans fizzled after residents resisted and the partners failed to convert enough apartments to market rents. In January, they defaulted on a $16.1 million monthly mortgage payment.

The casualties from the ruptured deal spanned the globe, as analysts revised the value of the property to $1.9 billion, less than one-third of the acquisition cost. The Church of England, the government of Singapore and several publicly traded American companies lost hundreds of millions of dollars, while three public-employee pension funds in California and Florida saw their combined $850 million investment evaporate.

On Tuesday, CW Capital, which represents a multitude of investors who held the $3 billion first mortgage, effectively took control by buying out the interests of William A. Ackman, chairman of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, and Michael L. Ashner, chairman of Winthrop Realty Trust. The two had paid $45 million for a $300 million block of secondary loans with the hope of taking the property away from CW Capital.

Their strategy failed after CW Capital successfully blocked them in court, although Mr. Ackman and Mr. Ashner are getting back all but the legal fees they spent. By buying the men out for $45 million, CW Capital was able to avoid future litigation, but more important, it allowed them to structure the transfer in a way that avoids, or at least defers, upwards of $100 million in state and city taxes.

“This brings one chapter to a close,” said Gregory A. Cross, a lawyer for CW Capital. “We have control of the property, and we’ve resolved all the outstanding litigation. We now have maximum flexibility in dealing with the different constituencies, in particular, the tenants.”

Little will change immediately for the 25,000 residents of the sister complexes overlooking the East River; CW had already installed Rose Associates as the manager of the 11,226 apartments, garages and retail space at the complexes, replacing Tishman Speyer Properties. Rose had managed the properties for Met Life for several years before the sale.

But CW Capital has told the tenant association and real estate executives that its first priority is to try to reach a settlement over rents and overcharges for about 4,300 apartments at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Last year, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that the owners of the complexes had wrongfully deregulated and raised rents for those apartments while getting special tax breaks from the city.

More at the above link.