Residents who arrived home to 189 Avenue C Friday had the following notices awaiting them… the landlord is converting the 10-floor rental building at East 12th Street to condos…
"It was very shocking," a resident there told us via email. The above notice accompanied a 200-plus page offering plan documenting specifics. On the top of this packet, it states, "This is a non-eviction condominium offering plan. No non-purchasing tenant will be evicted by reason of conversion to condominium ownership."
And the pricing? Studios for non-tenants are starting in the $700,000 range. (Existing tenants will receive about a 10 percent discount.) In the tenant's estimation, the pricing "seems outrageous — not affordable for me."
Interestingly enough, there's a listing for the building at Cushman & Wakefield. Asking price (following a recent cut) for the building that includes a vacant retail space: $32.5 million.
Rentals at the building, which has 35 units, hit the market in March 2011. Of the 35 apartments, five are studios, 13 are 1-bedrooms, nine are 2-bedrooms and eight are 3-bedrooms. Building amenities including a gym and washer-dryers in each unit.
According to Streeteasy, the average rent here is $3,171.
From reading this, I believe the following applies in this situation: It is a non-eviction plan, so every existing tenant has a right to remain in the building under their current leases and if they have a rent stabilized lease, that rent stabilized lease remains in effect as long as they wish to remain in the bulding.
ReplyDelete$700,000 for a studio? That seems, even in this crazy real estate market and in this overheated neighborhood, a wee bit pricey. Are the walls made of gold or something?
ReplyDeleteIt's expensive for that location - but not outrageous for the 'hood as a whole. Now in any rational reality, its fucking crazy, but condo studios have been listing and selling for that or more further west in the new buildings.
ReplyDeleteI would say, though, that the price is high given how far from the subway that location is and also for the amenities that I assume exist in the building.
You can get a large one bedroom, with a balcony below Grand Street for this amount. These prices do no even reflect other (and better located) buildings in the EV. Just greed plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteGojira - Asking doesn't mean paying.
ReplyDeleteLook up thhe Martin Act. Market rate tenants are not protected the same way rent stabilized tenants are during a conversion. Since their leases do not have to be renewed, and also since there are several loopholes in the law that favor the buiding owner over market rate tenants, being forced out after their leases expire is common.
ReplyDeleteHere's a good summary in the NY Law Review of the ugly battles New York tenants have endured:
Fair-Market Tenants and Condominium Conversions
Does anyone know anything about the history of the small two-story building down the street at 153 Avenue C?
ReplyDeleteFucking outrageous bullshit and blatant greed. After closing costs, taxes, and other fees, one is looking at dropping 900K. I'd say fuck it, move out and find something more attractive. I agree with the last commenter. While C is an upcoming area, it is still far from the subway. Even on Wall Street, where the hod is changing, you can find something for the same price, if not lower, in a much more modern building with beautiful views. What are the landlords thinking? Are they high?
ReplyDelete$700k for a studio is a shit deal. According to streeteasy, a studio is 575 sq ft in that building. That's about $1,200 per square foot. For Ave C. You can do way better than that in way better areas. I'm sure they will catch a few rubes, but there are going to be a lot of vacant spaces at that price.
ReplyDeleteIf I had 700K to spend, it wouldn't be on Ave C. The housing situation in NYC is a troubling situation. One either has to be extremely wealthy or make at least in the mid six figures range in order to afford anything or both. Even then, nothing is assured for anyone. Apartments go within seconds. Where is the justice and diversity this city claims to offer to all of its residents?
ReplyDeleteI think the point is they don't want to give any kind of a good deal to the existing tenants. It's possible the apartments will sell for less than what the tenants are offered as insiders.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:25 pm. The 'diversity' and 'justice' applies to people who already got their RS apartments or public housing etc. Less than half of the housing is available to the public. Make more than 20k and less than 250k? Nobody cares about you. You are too 'rich' for 'low income' housing and too poor for anything else. There is justice and diversity. Lots of rich and lots of low income/poor. Thats reality. Nobody cares because they got theirs.
ReplyDeleteThis will be us . i guess maybe i should borrob and buy so i don't have to deal with scummy landlords ever again.
ReplyDelete...also, $700K is the asking price. Taxes will continue to rise, and eventually the bough will break.
ReplyDeleteThere is a guy who lives in this building who is a spitting image of a young Nick Cave - what will become of him?
ReplyDeleteMy buddy lives here. Has a wife and small child. The rooftop is wonderful and has unobstructed views of the East Village.
ReplyDeleteHowever he can't wait to leave because, you know, the Campos Plaza shootings all the time. He doesn't feel safe lately.
$700,000 for a tiny studio apartment next to the projects way over on Avenue C?
Suckers.
The price is ridiculous but the difference between condos & coops is that condos do not need Board approval to sublet so my guess is that the owners will not live there and sublet.
ReplyDelete@8:07pm: So, basically, the non-resident condo owners can rent their condos out as they wish - to create a dorm (or post-dorm frat house) for those whose mommies & daddies believe that Ave. C is a great place to live - oh, wait, or they can just Airbnb their condos if they want.
ReplyDeleteI think this is why co-op ownership will never go out of style; at least in a co-op there is some level of accountability & control by the board of directors.
Yep I live in this building and it *was* nice when it was properly managed but lately they have begun letting out to NYU frat boys at discount rates who cram 7 people into a 2 bedroom apt who have noisy frat parties all through the week and leave half full beer bottles in the hallways and entryways. This is now managed by the amazingly terrible management company "Goldin Management" and is stuck with them for the next 3 years as per the offering plan. I was only almost shot on that corner by a stray bullet once... so probably don't want to get stuck owning something here. The management also installed unmonitored alarms on the stairwell roof exits which, once trigged, ring constantly for days. Check out the terrible reviews on Goldin Management here http://www.yelp.com/biz/goldin-management-brooklyn
ReplyDeleteThe entire building is under 421-a rent stabilization until 2020, so I doubt many of those units will be sold anytime soon. There are also plans to sell the SS Administration office next door and develop the property when the lease is up in a few years. According to the offering plan, they will be building directly in front of 1/5 of the units, blocking one of the 2 windows in those apartments.
ReplyDelete