Getting to know Raphael Toledano

The Real Deal checks in with a profile on Raphael Toledano, the 26-year-old developer who has been buying up buildings around the East Village.

The feature delves into his controversial record, such as the eight lawsuits that he has been hit with since February 2014, and his heavy reliance on debt. (Per the article: "New York City multifamily deals are leveraged at an average 50 to 65 percent — Toledano’s deal, by comparison, comes out to 128 percent.")

The feature, not exactly an image softener, notes that Toledano made "frat-tastic boasts about his wealth."

“I’m worth a fuckload of money, bro,” he said.

The statement was all the more remarkable considering that just five years ago the New Jersey native was waiting tables.

In an industry known for colorful personalities, Toledano — who goes by the nickname “Rafi” — has emerged as an unlikely up-and-coming player in the city’s competitive multifamily market. Over the past nine months, he has become one of the East Village’s biggest landlords, after his investment firm, Brookhill Properties, agreed to buy 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a combined $140 million. He currently owns more than 400 units — counting only the buildings he’s already closed on.

Altogether, Toledano values his entire portfolio, the bulk of which are aging East Village walk-ups, at $500 million.

Toledano’s plan is to rehab the units, paving the way for destabilization and rent hikes. It’s a playbook move for multifamily investors. But listen to him talk, and he might as well be building on Billionaires’ Row.

“I consider myself the ultimate of developers because I’m taking a run-down, neglected building and developing it,” he said. “Gary Barnett has the easiest job — he gets vacant land, he gets an architect, a good contractor, and he builds up. For me, it’s not like that.”

The article notes that Toledano is also working to introduce a new line of shoes he designed in partnership with a Portugal-based shoemaker.

And while he has "recently sold a few buildings in Murray Hill and Gramercy Park for an undisclosed price, the core East Village assets, he said, he will keep "'for eternity.'"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: Residents at 444 E. 13th St. will receive a $1 million settlement over claims of harassment by Raphael Toledano

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Exclusive 1st look at the new Firbimatic Eco-Green machine at Alice Dry Cleaners

Moving day today at Alice Dry Cleaners on Second Avenue between Fourth Street and Fifth Street ... as the staff replaced its Renzacci Multisorb®, which, at its height, represented very impressive load capacities with button trap drying boosters ...




[NOT LINKNYC]

...and here's Alice's newest model... meet the Firbimatic Eco-Green — aka "The Alternative Solvent Leader."



Sources tell us this Firbimatic features two filtration circuits, a solvent heater and fractional distillation. (I think you're going to notice the difference.)

Photos by EVG Dry-Cleaning Correspondent Derek Berg

Noted

Branding on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street via EVG reader Ronnie...

(And a mattress that got away?)

Report: Joggers pull suicidal man from the East River

Three runners saved a man who tried to kill himself this morning around 7:30 after jumping into the East River near East 10th Street, according to multiple published reports.

The joggers, including an off-duty NYPD officer, jumped into the water and worked to keep the man afloat until a boat from the NYPD’s Harbor Unit responded.

The man who jumped was reportedly wearing a hospital ID bracelet. Police took him to Bellevue for observation.

You can read more about the rescue at the Daily News ... and NBC 4.

An EVG reader shared the above photo taken from behind the East River Park Track...

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village. East Village photographer Stacie Joy compiled today's post.



By Stacie Joy

Name: Ceasar Noel Soto
Occupation: 5th grade student (until June 28)
Location: Village View playground/basketball court
Time: 3:45 p.m. on Monday, May 23

I’m from Lower East Side and I was born in, I think, Beth Israel hospital.

I enjoy school. I play a lot with my friends after school and on the weekends, and I mostly play football and baseball. A little bit of basketball, sometimes. I just don’t get to play basketball that much, or that often. I play with a couple of my friends. My favorite position in football — I like to, like, run the ball, because I know I am big and I can take a bunch of hits. That’s offense. Offense is the people who have the ball. Defense is the people who are trying to tackle the people with the ball. So when that happens all you hear is big clashes and boom! Boom! Boom! And people falling, grabbing, throwing, stuff like that.

My parents don’t mind it because they know as a big kid I am not afraid to get scarred. I got scarred here and here [shows off scars], and then I cracked open this meat right here [points to bridge of nose] and it showed my bone. So I got 20 stitches. Yeah, I get hit a lot and I am used to it. That happened when I was 11, back in last summer, when a bike I was riding had no breaks. And I just blanked out and I was bleeding and I didn’t even know I was bleeding until I tasted the blood and it was just leaking out and it looked like I was crying blood.

I love playing sports at my school park at PS 140. It’s the best park you could ever play in with your friends. People know me around there, so if anything happens, they know where I live and stuff like that. A lot of my friends live next to there so if anything happens I can go straight to their house. There’s not that much drama, like at other parks. There’s not that much ruckus and you can do whatever you want as long as it’s not too loud. I haven’t gotten into trouble — not yet. But if my friends get into trouble they know where I live so I can help them. Any trouble, like if someone’s trying to attack them, or if my friend, he’s walking by himself and two people … he’s gonna come to me and then it will be an even fight. Not two versus one, which you can’t understand. If this happens, he knows I got his back.

My cousins are my best friends in the neighborhood because they live right there on Second Street. They don’t play sports with me ’cause they mostly like to hang. They don’t get to see me that often and I’m like a bigger brother to them. I’m 12 now and will be 13 next May. I do have a girlfriend but she doesn’t go to my school. We met over my Xbox and then we met up with each other inside of my school. We’ve been in a relationship for already a month. She’s 13, she’s only one year older than me. So when I hit 13, she’ll be 14. Relationship is good! No fights, nothing, she just loves me, ’cause of how I treat her.

My favorite places in the neighborhood are mostly my school and the store, Ben’s [Deli on Avenue B]. I like to go to my grandma’s house. She lives in the Baruch Houses. I also like Dallas BBQ. I love the bacon bar-b-que ribs! I also like to go Upstate New York with my dad. And he said when I hit 15, which is three years away, he’ll teach me how to drive, and when I am 16, he’ll come with me to get my driver’s permit. I’m kind of excited ’cause then when I have kids I can teach them how to drive, just like my dad taught me and my little brother. My brother has about 10 more years until he can do that.

Report: Fake Uber driver robs woman after a night in the East Village

According to the Daily News this morning, a 24-year-old woman used her Uber phone app for a pick up on East Houston at Mangin near the FDR at 1:30 a.m. on May 15 after a night in the East Village.

Police sources told the Daily News that she mistook a black sedan for her ride, and the driver played along.

When she realized the car was taking her north on the FDR Drive, away from Brooklyn, it was too late. The driver passed the 96th St. exit and demanded her cash, threatening to shoot and sexually assault her, authorities said.

She complied, handing over her iPhone, wallet, $20 in cash, a debit card, a MetroCard, a jacket and a pair of gold earrings. The woman managed to get out the car on E. 125th St. between Park and Madison Aves. The driver exited the highway somewhere in upper Manhattan, cops said.

The article did not offer a description of the suspect...only an artist's sketch of the suspect...



Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

What might become of this vacant lot on East 14th Street?

A few weeks back, rat-baiting signs arrived at the long-empty lot at 326 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



We didn't think too much about it at the time.

Still, we've always wondered, though, why this lot hadn't been snapped up by a developer. So we decided to look up to see who owns this property.

According to public records, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (of Mount Sinai) a few doors away has owned the property since 1975.

Facing mounting debt and an aging infrastructure, Mount Sinai Beth Israel officials announced last week that they are closing their facility on First Avenue at East 16th Street in the next four years.

Mount Sinai Health System reportedly plans to replace the existing facility by opening a smaller hospital on 14th Street and Second Avenue "with a full-service emergency department and 70 inpatient beds."

In addition, hospital officials have placed Gilman Hall, an apartment building it uses to house medical residents, up for sale. The 24-story property, at the corner of East 17th Street and First Avenue, could fetch as much as $80 million, per Crain's.

So this is just speculation. Perhaps Mount Sinai will sell off this chunk of real estate to help offset costs of the new facility a few buildings to the west. Or perhaps they will use this space to build a facility. Or maybe they are just rats here and the lot will remain empty.

Construction watch: 222 E. 13th St.

Checking in on the progress at 222 E. 13th St. near Third Avenue. The long-vacant building is undergoing a transformation to become the Bea Arthur Residence, which will "provide quality, safe, transitional housing for homeless LGBT teenagers and young adults, ages 18-24," per press materials on the facility.

As previously reported, Arthur, who died in April 2009, left $300,000 to the Ali Forney Center, an organization supporting homeless LGBT youth, in her will. In 2012, City Council as well as then-Borough President Scott Stringer awarded the Ali Forney Center and the Cooper Square Committee $3.3 million for the residence.

The property had been owned by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Here's what the building will eventually look like, per the rendering on the property.



The Cooper Square Committee has some recent interior photos of the building. There's no official word just yet on a completion date. The groundbreaking took place in July 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A haunted house on 13th Street?

Abandoned 13th Street building becoming the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth

Here's what the Bea Arthur Residence will look like on East 13th Street

Soon, the sidewalks might be free of discarded mattresses this evening

If this guy can just get a few more piled atop the van...to refurbish somewhere...

Photo on East Ninth Street this evening by EVG regular OlympiasEpiriot

You may now report your annoying Airbnbers directly to Airbnb

Back in March, Airbnb officials announced that they'd be launching a new website to let residents file complaints about guests directly with the company.

As DNAinfo reported, that tool is now live.

Here's the Airbnb blog with more:

Every time a host welcomes a guest into their home, they are also welcoming them into their neighborhood. We’re proud that since Airbnb got started, there have been over 80 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings and those guests have been welcomed by hosts and their neighbors in over 190 countries worldwide.

The overwhelming majority of Airbnb guests are respectful travelers, so complaints and issues are incredibly rare, but we always want to do everything we can to help our community members be good neighbors in the places our hosts call home. To help achieve that goal, today, we’re launching a new resource for neighbors of Airbnb hosts.

Starting today, anyone can go to airbnb.com/neighbors to share specific concerns they might have about a listing in their community. These concerns could include things like noise complaints. From there, our team will review their concern and, if necessary, follow up with the host regarding the issue.

Neighbors can submit information without having their name disclosed to a host or allow our team to pass along their contact information so the host can follow up with them directly. Once a neighbor submits feedback, we will send a confirmation email, along with a case number.

City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal wasn't impressed with the new tool, telling DNAinfo: "New Yorkers already have a way to file complaints against neighbor disturbances: 311. Airbnb's complaint submission page is a way to prevent its users from getting the fines for breaking city laws."

In New York, it is illegal to rent out an apartment for fewer than 30 days unless the host is present.

Today in posts about angled parking on 2nd Street

The DOT recently resurfaced East Second Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

And EVG regular Spike notes that the city put the angled parking on the north side of the block in the opposite direction of what it was...



We haven't heard about any plans on changing this section of Second Street from west- to east-driving traffic ... like it is between the Bowery and First Avenue.

Per Spike: "Either that's the eventual idea or the paint crew screwed up!"



Meanwhile, as for now, the Tacos Morelos stand is still facing the same direction...

Developers for post office-replacing project seek variance for a 12-story building

Crews have been at work at 432-438 E. 14th St., the former site of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office that is yielding to an 8-story, 114-unit (23 affordable, 91 market rate) mixed-use building here between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The renderings on the plywood could be a collector's item now, though...



Reps for the developers (Benenson Capital Partners in association with the Mack Real Estate Group) are lobbying to receive a zoning variance for a 12-story building.

On June 15, the reps will start with Community Board 3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee. Ahead of that meeting, there's a 300-plus page document (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website with background, analysis, engineering reports, etc.

For starters, the documents show that the East 13th Street portion of the proposed new building would be eight stories in height (80 feet), with a setback above the sixth floor. The East 14th Street portion of the building would rise 12 stories (124 feet) without setbacks. Retail space would occupy the first floor of the East 14th Street side of the building.

According to the documents, the site "is burdened by a combination of unique conditions that result in practical difficulties in complying with the applicable zoning regulations."

Specifically: "Unusually elevated groundwater levels and exceedingly soft and unstable soil (owing to the presence of an underground stream) ... result in extraordinary construction costs, which make a complying development with affordable housing infeasible." (An analysis of the project put the extra construction costs due to the substandard soil at $8.8 million.)

However, the developer's proposal of a larger building "would generate sufficient income to offset the cost of development and provide a reasonable return on investment."

The documents state that the proposed development "is contextual with the surrounding neighborhood" ... and will "provide 31 units of affordable housing." Overall, the new building would have 155 units.

In conclusion, the proposed larger development "is the only financially feasible project that can be constructed at the site."



The city's Board of Standard and Appeals has recognized substandard soil conditions "as a unique physical condition causing practical difficulties and unnecessary hardship in at least eight variances in the past seven years," per the developer's research.

The elevated groundwater levels and "soft and unstable soil" must be behind the ongoing foundation work at 500 and 538 E. 14th St., where Extell Development is putting up two 7-floor retail-residential buildings. (We have not heard if either building will include an affordable-housing component.) After more than a year, there still isn't any sign of the new buildings above the grade.

Updated:

The committee meeting on June 15 is open to the public. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. ... in the University Settlement at Houston Street Center — 273 Bowery.

You have mail! (but not here)

Via an EVG reader...

Has anyone else in 10009 found this kind of notice in their building?

The mail carrier could not gain entry into the building... and, "until further notice," residents will now need to pick up the undelivered mail from the USPS retail outlet on East 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

I haven't been to this USPS location in awhile. Do they have more than one person working at the counters now?

Charlie Parker's neighbor is for sale on Avenue B for the 1st time in 50 years

[Image via Halstead]

As we first reported last Oct. 2, 151 Avenue B — the landmarked building where jazz great Charlie Parker once lived, arrived on the market for $9.25 million.

Now its next-door neighbor at No. 153 between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street is for sale.

Here's the pitch via the broker Halstead:

On the market for the first time in more than 50 years, this 23-foot wide, 5-story townhouse poses a rare opportunity to own an authentic piece of New York history in the vibrant and evolving East Village. Dating back to 1849, 153 Avenue B (located on Charlie Parker Place between East 9th and East 10th Streets) offers grand proportions, a brownstone facade topped by a boldly protruding cornice, and 12 large double-hung windows with exterior shutters framing views of Tompkins Square Park which sits across the street.



Endless possibilities to invest or live in this impressive property. Currently configured as 5 floor-through free market rental units, this is an incredible opportunity to transform the entire building into your dream single-family home in a prime park location; create an owner's duplex and maintain the upper floor rental units; or keep as a fully tenant-occupied investment property with opportunity to renovate and create a strong rent roll.

The garden floor unit was gut renovated in 2015 and is configured as a 2-bedroom featuring a private front door entrance and a newly refurbished backyard patio for relaxing or entertaining. The parlor through fifth floor units are configured as grand 3-bedroom loft-like spaces with soaring ceilings, wood-burning fireplaces, and rich in pre-war architectural details. The fourth floor unit was gut renovated in 2014 ...

The roof offers dramatic unobstructed views of Tompkins Square Park and the surrounding neighborhood. Recent improvements to the building include a new coin-operated laundry room on the garden floor, updated hallways, new boiler and hot water heater, electrical system upgrades, and steel beam reinforcement project under the direction of a structural engineer and architect. Come visit 153 Avenue B this summer. This East Village treasure is not to be missed.

The asking price is $6.95 million.

As for No. 151, the listing is no longer active.