NY City Council Tries to Subvert Sale of Stuy Town and Peter Cooper
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I have lived at Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan and loved it. A wonderful place to live and amazingly inexpensive if you can get a rent controlled apartment that has not turned over many times. Now tenants of the community have gotten the New York City Council to add legislation that essentially takes a half a billion dollars away from MetLife.
A group aligned with the tenants has submitted a $4.5 billion offer intended to preserve at least 40 percent of the complexes as middle-class housing, for buyers or renters. But it falls about half a billion dollars short of higher bids from some of the biggest names in real estate, including Apollo Real Estate Advisors and the Dermot Company, Tishman Speyer, the Related Companies, the Kushner Companies and Vornado Realty.
The legislation, introduced by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, would require the owners of large-scale apartment complexes where more than half the units are rent-regulated to provide 120 days’ notice of a sale. The city’s housing department, in turn, would asses the impact of losing large numbers of apartments for low-, moderate- and middle-income tenants. via the New York Times
First of all, giving the power of real estate transactions that are within the boundaries of the law over to a bureacratic housing department that is solely dedicated to serving a low income base has no logic. They will have such power over the sale that they could unilaterally hurt the sales price of the property and create an unfair playing field. Almost as abusive as some eminent domain powers city development groups have now.
But this proposed legislation gets even more fishy. We have a person who is an advocate for a low bidder who also is a city councilman. Talk about double dealing. Â
Councilman Daniel R. Garodnick, who lives in a market-rate apartment in Peter Cooper and is a leader of the tenant bid, and others hope to create a climate in which MetLife would take a lower offer from the tenants, or that other bidders would preserve at least some of the apartments for middle-income families.
Rent control is an insideous creature. It creates artificial pricing for properties that throw the market out of whack and create the opportunity for corruption. I watched the manuevering amongst tenants at Peter Cooper Village as apartments became available. That is a fact of life when things get skewed.
Let MetLife sell the property for the price they can get. It is their property, they built it, ran it, managed it, kept it up, and now want to sell the asset. And keep the greedy politicians out of the process. When a councilman is part of a buying group can also sit and make legislation DIRECTLY IMPACTING THE SALE OF WHERE THEY LIVE, that is wrong. Even more so where they are trying to buy the property at a discount from the market rate.
Councilman Garonick, you are living in an apartment subsidized by your neighbors, drawing a check paid by your neighbors, and now you want MetLife to cut you a check to preserve the artificial world you live in? At least you are consistant.
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Comment by Jonathan Lugo on 4 January 2008:
This is what the world should know about the Dermot Company and what they stand for. i am a tenant in a property owned by their southern region (The Timbers, Chlt, NC). I have an infested apartment with bed bugs. I told the property Mgt Jeannette Yatsko, The Regional Mngr, Chris Wilburn, whom refused my right as a tenant and said they would do nothing, while the bugs are eating me and my child alive. I then called the Housing Enforcement Rep and The Health Dept before they offered me to pay $250 to exterminate. a note was left in my apartment thus, violating my lease because she said she would have an exterminater look next thursday then went into my apartment that night. They then offered to exterminate and have my family and other families live in the unit while they tear the walls of the units up. We have had an epedimic of bed bugs in Chlt. The womens shelter here was evacuated for months until something was done and my family is living in it and paying rent on time. we are valued consumers and have the documentation to prove it. I also have all the documentation to prove everything i am saying as well. I wrote and called the President of the Dermot Corporations William Dickey; The Vp Kristen Neil; and the VP of Operations David Sorise, to have no contact at all. i understand these people are busy human beings however, the people they employ and what they stand for as a corp. all reflect one another. I am a loyal tenant, the small guy. However, when did it become the American way to have the big business guys not concerned with the consumers and the loyal consumers at that. I am not a selfish individual. i am glad people are able to watch the games and enjoy the area. i just hope it doesnt continue to be at the little guys expense due to major corp’s.
Posted By Jonathan Lugo 04 01 08
Thank you for commenting.