Stuyvesant Town

The Observer's Em Whitney peeks in on how spoof blog Lux Living and 51-year-old newspaper Town & Village are covering the controversy at Tishman Speyer's Stuyvesant Town and Cooper Village apartments. Full story here.

Lux Living is a neighborhood blog that focuses on coverage of Tishman Speyer's management of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. On its home page runs a graphic of a disheveled person in a hospital bed: "Closer to Bellevue than Belmont Park!" The graphic is a link to Stuy Town's promotional Web site.

Both Lux Living and local neighborhood newspaper Town & Village have been closely following Tishman's controversial new management style. The New York Times reported last week that the landlord suffered a $4.8 million loss in revenue last year on the roughly 11,200-unit apartment complexes and primarily attributed it to the landlord's legal costs in removing what Tishman described in the article as "illegal tenants.  read more »

On Tuesday afternoon, City Councilman Dan Garodnick called on Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village landlord Tishman Speyer to pay the legal fees of tenants who are proven to be legitimately occupying rent-stabilized apartments in the complex after contesting non-lease renewal notices from the landlord.

Under the proposal, which was endorsed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and State Senator Tom Duane at a press conference, Tishman would also agree to a set of ground rules for attempting to evict tenants for allegedly breaking rent-stabilization rules.

“Over the last two years, we have seen an aggressive pursuit of tenants by Tishman Speyer, claiming that people are not using their apartments as their primary residence,” Mr.  read more »

From the New York Post this morning:

To attract new residents, the complex is adding 200,000 plants, 10,000 trees and has put in a fancy new gym. Pets, which were once a huge no-no, are now everywhere. And the complex is offering more free movie nights, cocktail mixers, sports leagues and outdoor events.  read more »

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Curbed alerted us to a new satirical blog "Stuy Town's Lux Living" written by a resident of the rent-stabilized housing complex as it makes its transition to fully market-rate. Though Stuy Town's new landlord Tishman Speyer is never mentioned by name, the blog does a good job of taking the developer to task with sardonic, over-the-top posts about the gentrification process.

Our favorite post from May 3, "Illegal Immigrants? No way Jose," details the Stuyvesant Town management's effort to keep undocumented foreigners from "raiding the complex" with an "elaborately cloaked, rusty chain link fence."  read more »

New York City Councilman and Peter Cooper Village resident Dan Garodnick helped Stuy Town (square) dance its way toward landmark designation on Saturday night, as tenants of the 110-building, World War II-era housing complex officially (re)launched their landmarks campaign.

We stopped by the party after 6 before any real dancing had begun, but the Gramercy Park church hall was already packed with mainly elderly residents decked out in denim, flannel, and other Western regalia, fuelling up on dinner before the main event.

Gaining protective status for Stuy Town is not a new idea. The Historic Districts Council first endorsed the proposal seven years ago and five years later told the Tenants Association that the complex was eligible for honorary state landmark status.

But the square dance was the first push to get the landmarking process off the ground since Tishman Speyer paid $5.4 billion for the planned community in 2006, though the tenants we spoke to Saturday night insisted the campaign is not related to their new landlord.  read more »

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, Councilman Dan Garodnick, and assorted community groups are hosting a town hall meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the issues facing Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residents.

The non-renewal notices from landlord Tishman Speyer that are allegedly flooding the mailboxes of both legal and illegal rent-stabilized tenants will be on the agenda; so will rent protection for market-rate tenants, roof improvements, and development concerns for the Con Edison site along First Avenue, according to a release issued today.  read more »

The Speyers are pulling out all the stops to lease Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartments at market-rate rents.

The leasing office there is offering a free, all-inclusive trip to Cabo San Lucas to the broker who closes the most deals at the mega-complex, according to a report from brokerage The Real Estate Group. The five runners-up each win an iPhone.

• Moving in New York for the food.
[NY Times]
• A century of changes along East 63rd Street.
[NY Times]
• Living at the nexus that is Stuyvesant Square.
[NY Times]
• Tax assessments turn city spreads into bargains.
[NY Times]
• Slower market spurs seller financing.
[NY Times]
• Inside Stuyvesant Town, Cooper Village megadeal.
[NY Times]
• Clock winds down on Coliseum Bookstore.
[NY Times]
• Preparing New Yorkers for New York in 2030.
[NY Times]
• Expanding definitions for broker, agent roles.
[NY Times]
• What determines rent-stabilization?
[NY Times]
• At work and play in Google's Chelsea offices.
[NY Times]
• Ivanka, Don Jr. didn't want to be on Dad's TV show.
[NY Times]
• Over-$10 million Manhattan market tight now.
[NY Times]
• Speyer now chairman of a Fed Bank. [halfway down] [NY Times]
• Joshua Muss builds big in the outer-boroughs.
[NY Times]
• City construction permits set to drop for '06.
[NY Post]
• Worst of housing slump still ahead?
[NY Post]
• Where does Manhattanville begin and end?
[Daily News]
• Higher rents close Upper West Side bookstore.
[Daily News]
• Times Square hotel sells for $68.5 million.
[Crain's]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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Wow, that was fast - literally, one month to the October day that owner MetLife agreed to sell the apartment complexes to an investment group led by Tishman Speyer.

The new owner's official word: "Tishman Speyer is honored to become the steward of this wonderful property."

And MetLife's giddy announcement after the jump.  read more »

• Will the Stuyvesant Town, Cooper Village sale disappear?
[Crain's]
• Merrill Lynch casts "a wide net" for a new city location.
[GlobeSt]
• City plans for an expanded search for trade center remains.
[NY1]
• Empty terminal at JFK up for redevelopment.
[NY Times]
• City OKs two bills to crack down on illegal construction.
[NY Times]
• Coordinated construction hums at the trade center site.
[NY Times]
• Lawmakers vie to cut New Jersey property taxes.
[NY Times]
• Nike opens four-day pop-up store in Soho.
[NY Times]
• Cablevision acquires the Beacon Theatre.
[NY Post]
• Nancy Pelosi's daughter buys Fifth Avenue apartment.
[NY Post]
• Freedom Tower construction taking a big step forward.
[Daily News]
• Tenants, landlords vent against Buildings Department.
[Daily News]
• Ratner to add a public school to Atlantic Yards project.
[Daily News]
• South Bronx jail plan has locals worried.
[Daily News]
• Comptroller looks into Stuyvesant Town, Cooper Village sale.
[NY Sun]
• Conservancy plans changes for Park Avenue Armory.
[NY Sun]
• Nonprofits cash in on city real estate holdings.
[NY Sun]
• Green buildings make air flow.
[NY Sun]
• Debate swirls over the timetable for Atlantic Yards.
[NY Sun]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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8 pounds, 11 ounces  read more »

N.Y.U. Tisch Hospital