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EVG file photo]
The tenant-landlord
drama continues at 170-174 E. Second St., the site of two walk-ups that developer/
New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner picked up during
his East Village buying spree.
Last night, CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee heard firsthand about allegations of tenant harassment and quality-of-life issues brought on by gut renovations.
Ahead of this meeting,
The Real Deal and
DNAinfo filed lengthy articles outlining what is happening now in the buildings.
DNAinfo put it this way:
Real estate scion Jared Kushner is using lawsuits, disruptive construction and neglect to force rent-stabilized tenants out of two buildings he owns in the East Village, as he converts them to high-end apartments, according to court documents and residents.
After the deal for the buildings was complete, Kushner's Westminster Management began handing out 30-day eviction notices, followed by buyout offers, tenants told DNAinfo's Lisha Arino. To date, tenants in just 11 of the 43 units in the two buildings remain.
Per The Real Deal:
[T]he Kushner ownership entity has also aggressively turned to the courts. Since acquiring the buildings, they filed suits in New York’s Housing Court against tenants in seven apartments among the 43.
Some have resulted in tenants vacating, while other residents have fought back.
According to The Real Deal, the average monthly rent per apartment was around $2,000 last fall. Today, StreetEasy shows nine active rental
listings, gut-renovated apartments with an average price of $3,987 per unit.
As for those renovations, NYC's Housing Preservation and Development agency has issued 34 violations, which remain active. ("Eight of them are for the most dangerous kind of violation — for instance for repairs to a stone retainer wall — which are supposed to be repaired within days, but remain on the HPD website weeks after they were issued," according to The Real Deal.)
However, in the estimation of Westminster, all is well here!
Nothing to see! They released this statement to DNAinfo:
"In the six months since Westminster has managed the building, they have been in frequent contact with the building's residents, been consistently responsive to their concerns, and have quickly sought to address them."
Updated 7:55 a.m.
The Daily News files a Kushner-is-bad-landlord story today too. Quite a headline:
Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner forcing residents out of East Village building so he can get higher rents: tenants
Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated
Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village
Two East 2nd St. buildings sell for $17.5 million; will new owner still honor Allen Ginsburg?
Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden