Steve Croman sells 8-building portfolio

115-117 Avenue A (photo source)

Steve Croman has sold eight buildings in the East Village/Lower East Side for a reported $61.7 million in a deal announced last week. 

According to @TradedNY, Croman's Centennial Properties sold 89 Clinton St., 115 and 117 Avenue A, 186, 188 and 222 Avenue B, 330 E. Sixth St. and 117 First Ave. The buyer: ABJ Properties. 

This was initially listed as a 14-building, $121 million portfolio, per broker Marcus & Millichap.

The Real Deal reported about this assemblage hitting the market this past December. As TRD noted: "Steve Croman is known for rarely — if ever — selling his apartment buildings."

However:

He's the latest in a group of old-line New York landlords who have moved to part ways with their properties in recent months as fallout from the state’s 2019 rent-regulation overhaul has combined with demand from investors eager to get in on the city’s recovery.

But unlike investments that were suddenly strained when state lawmakers limited landlords' ability to raise rents on regulated apartments, the properties Croman is offering are almost entirely free-market.

Croman was released from the Manhattan Correctional Facility in June 2018 after serving eight months of a one-year jail sentence and paid a $5 million tax settlement following separate criminal charges brought by the AG's office for fraudulent refinancing of loans and tax fraud. In a separate civil case, Croman agreed to pay $8 million to the tenants he was accused of bullying out of their rent-regulated apartments.

An independent management company is now reportedly overseeing Croman's residential properties — which, before this deal, included 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village — for the next five years.

Tenants: Pigeons have made empty apartment a health hazard in this Steve Croman-owned building on 7th Street

Tenants at 127 E. Seventh St. say that a "toxic health hazard" exists in this building owned by convicted felon Steve Croman between Avenue A and First Avenue.

According to the residents, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation by the landlord, four rent-regulated apartments remain vacant (since 2019) in the 12-unit building.

One of the residences, apartment 4A, is said to be in deplorable shape. 

Tenants say that someone left a window open inside the apartment. As the photos below show, the apartment is now home to several pigeons... as well as several dead pigeons. The apartment is also "filled with feces, flies and maggots on the dead animals," per the tenants, who have dubbed this space "Croman's Poison Pigeon Coop."

Croman's management company and the New York State Attorney General's office were made aware of these conditions on May 8. However, neither side responded to the conditions, the tenants said. (The tenants also said they were disappointed with the lack of action by the AG's Tenant Monitor, established as part of Croman's settlement with the State.)

Meanwhile, at least one city agency is investigating the conditions in the apartment... which you can see for yourself ... 

Croman was released from jail in June 2018 after serving eight months for mortgage and tax fraud. In a separate civil case with the AG's office, Croman agreed to pay $8 million to the tenants he was accused of bullying out of their rent-regulated apartments. 

Croman agreed to relinquish direct control of his 100-plus rental buildings — including 47 with 617 units in the East Village — for the next five years as part of a settlement agreement. NYC Management — a division of the Besen Group — serves as the property manager for the portfolio. 

According to a published report at The Real Deal in October 2019, "The notorious landlord is back in action and hasn't changed his ways" since his release from behind bars.

This East Village resident is holding a one-man protest against landlord Steve Croman

Updated 12/28:

The management company has replaced the toilet with a working one, and did some cosmetic paint cover up in the bathroom. However, the tenants say there are still 16 outstanding HPD violations to address.

Thomas Hasler lives at 127 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Hasler, a public high school teacher who has been working remotely, and his roommate, Brian Kenner, have not had a properly working toilet since Nov. 12 ... the latest indignity on behalf of the building's landlord, Steve Croman ... which prompted Hasler to launch a one-man protest outside No. 127 on Sunday.

"I will go out every day after I finish my remote teaching to let the neighborhood and folks in our building know," Hasler told me via email.

Aside from the toilet, Croman's management company also removed the lock from the building's front door at the height of the looting this past summer, Hasler said. (The reason given: "There were complaints that packages can not get delivered inside.")

Croman was released from jail in June 2018 after serving eight months for mortgage and tax fraud. In a separate civil case with the AG's office, Croman agreed to pay $8 million to the tenants he was accused of bullying out of their rent-regulated apartments. 

As part of a settlement agreement, Croman agreed to relinquish direct control of his 100-plus rental buildings — including 47 with 617 units in the East Village — for the next five years. ... with NYC Management — a division of the Besen Group — serving as the property manager. 

According to a published report at The Real Deal in October 2019, "The notorious landlord is back in action and hasn't changed his ways" since his release from behind bars.

"Harassing rent-controlled tenants in our building has a long history," Hasler said. "The goal is to get us out and to convert the last remaining units into market-rate units. That's it in a nutshell."

Kenner, the leaseholder on the apartment, has lived in the building for 36 years. During the holidays, he has been working seven days a week. 

"So Thomas was bold and fearless enough to organize himself," Kenner said. "I will gladly participate in anything that takes place after my work is done for the day."

According to the two tenants, NYC Management reps have stated there is a "process" to go through to replace the toilet, now scheduled for Christmas Eve. (After seeing our tweet yesterday about this, local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera's office contacted Hasler as well as the AG's office.)

However, the roommates aren't expecting much. "The date seems pretty meaningless," Kenner said. "Who is there to enforce this date? I believe [their] style would be to promise 'relief' on the day before Christmas, and then not show up."

And how have they been making do these past seven weeks?

"So we use buckets to flush the toilet with hardly any water pressure ... while the market-rent tenant below us who was flooded by our broken toilet on Nov. 11 or Nov. 12 got his damage repaired immediately," Hasler said. "So you end up feeling powerless and harassed. And they think they can get away with it."