Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Report: Half of the units in Raphael Toledano's former East Village portfolio remain vacant

Nearly three years have passed since Silverstone Properties, a subsidiary of Madison Realty Capital (MRC), took control of disgraced landlord Raphael Toledano's 15-building portfolio in the East Village.

As The Real Deal reported yesterday, due to drawn-out court proceedings, a bankruptcy plan has yet to be executed for the buildings. According to Met Council, a tenants’ rights group, half of the 279 units have been “warehoused” since 2016. Per TRD: "The portfolio includes 226 rent-stabilized apartments, according to tax filings."

This past December, Tenants Taking Control — the group formerly known as the Toledano Tenants Coalition — reported that there were 136 vacant apartments across the 15-building portfolio. At the time, the group called on MRC to sell the 15 buildings to a nonprofit preservation buyer.

In comments to TRD, an MRC spokesperson blamed Toledano for the delay, saying, “The owner of the properties demolished the vacant units a few years ago and therefore the vacant units are not habitable at this time.” She said that Madison still does not own the properties despite the foreclosure in 2017.

In June 2019, Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement with Toledano to put an end to his harassment of tenants and to prevent him from engaging in speculative real-estate deals designed to profit by violating New York’s rent-stabilization laws.

The AG's investigation established that Toledano engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and illegal conduct throughout his work as a landlord and real-estate developer. He harassed tenants through coercive buyouts, illegal construction practices and failed to provide his rent-regulated tenants with utilities, repairs and other necessary services, according to the AG's office.

Toledano had received $124 million in cash and lines of credit from MRC to finance his $97 million purchase of the buildings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Tenants call out Madison Realty Capital: Stop warehousing rent-regulated apartments

• Report: Raphael Toledano files for Chapter 11; $145 million deal for EV portfolio is off the table
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4 comments:

  1. noble neolaniJanuary 22, 2020 at 9:42 AM

    I hope he doesn't run President some day, he might win, fuckin rich bros always do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2020 at 12:24 PM

    I have the same thought, NN. Every time I hear about this guy I'm like, "Yup, future POTUS".

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2020 at 4:17 PM

    the agents who helped get all of the rent stabilized tenants out , both get FREE RENT for like 5 years then cheap rent stabilized leases as a thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2020 at 10:35 AM

    Madison Realty Capital are some bad hombres- they also lent to that $%@# Gregg Singer

    ReplyDelete

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