Debunking a landlord's harassment tactics

In an earlier post today, we recapped the Page 1 story from the Times yesterday in which tenants of Raphael Toledano's 444 E. 13th St. secretly recorded conversations with the landlord's alleged agent who was trying to scare them into leaving their rent-stabilized apartments.

As a response to this, Brick Underground spoke with a real-estate lawyer to get a point-by-point takedown of every approach used in the recordings. As writer Virignia K. Smith notes, the situation provides "a learning opportunity for anyone facing illegal scare tactics from their own landlord."

To the article:

"These are classic harassment techniques, they've been around for decades," says Sam Himmelstein, a lawyer who represents residential and commercial tenants and tenant associations. "It's almost like the guy read the DHCR's standard harassment complaint form and said let me 'do all the things they list there'." (Indeed, a good amount of what's said on these recordings flies directly in the face of recently-enacted laws designed to protect regulated tenants from harassment.)

The Brick Underground piece goes on to have Himmelstein debunk claims made in each of the recordings published by the Times, including "The whole building is being de-stabilized, so your rent will increase regardless."

A lesson here: Don't "take anything a landlord (or representative) tells you at face value, even if it all sounds very official and above-board."

Read the full article here.

More about alleged harassment and landlord visits via Brook Hill Properties

[Photo from May by Stacie Joy]

Raphael Toledano and his Brook Hill Properties continue to make headlines. Here's a look at two recent published reports…

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In case you missed the Page 1 story in The New York Times yesterday … the paper published additional recordings between rent-stabilized tenants of Toledano's 444 E. 13th St. and one of his alleged brokers.

In an ongoing legal fight, the tenants submitted audio and video recordings to housing court depicting the agents trying to scare them into leaving their apartments.

“The building is going to be shaking; the vermin will start running,” one agent, who identified himself as Newton Hinds in a cellphone audio recording, said about the planned demolition.

According to the Times, Toledano denied harassing the tenants, and blamed Goldmark Property Management, which he subsequently fired, for all the problems. (Lawyers for Goldmark have denied in court papers that Hinds worked for them.)

In any event, the state's Tenant Protection Unit and attorney general's office are reportedly investigating the situation at No. 444, which Toledano bought in January for $6.1 million ... "and had subpoenaed information on Mr. Toledano's properties."

Toledano's East Village portfolio has grown substantially in recent months. In September, Brook Hill Properties completed the purchase of 16 East Village buildings from the Tabak family, paying $97 million for a portfolio that amounts to 301 apartments and 15 retail spaces.

The current issue of The Villager has a detailed article about the encounters residents of the recently acquired buildings on East Fifth Street have had with the 25-year-old Toledano, who often goes by Raffi.

To date, tenants in six of Toledano’s E. Fifth St. buildings have documented more than 140 interactions, altercations and outright threats by Toledano and his camp during the two-month period from this July 8 through Sept. 8. Some have reported being followed in the street by Raffi’s cousin Isaac Toledano, while others report encounters with a group of men dressed in black stepping out of SUV’s and insisting on entering and inspecting tenants’ apartments.

However, according to the article, there haven't been any "recorded complaints or reports of harassment by Toledano and his team" since Sept. 8. And as we noted on Sept. 23, some tenants in the buildings received welcome letters and boxes of chocolates from Brook Hill.

The charm offensive wasn't limited to residents. A volunteer at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden shared this letter with us:

By way of introduction, I work with Brook Hill Properties, a new landlord in the East Village. One of our commitments is to serve the community and its residents. As part of that, we are interested in partnering with organizations such as the 6&B Garden to explore ways in which we can work together in the East Village neighborhood.

We would welcome the opportunity to come to the garden and learn more about your vision and goals as a leading community group. In doing so, we are hoping to better understand the role we can play in becoming an active community partner.

Meanwhile, according to The Villager, Toledano is currently under contract to purchase an additional 11 buildings in the East Village, West Village and Murray Hill for $55 million.

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

Reader report: Large portfolio of East Village buildings ready to change hands

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal

Report: Raphael Toledano completes purchase of 16-building East Village portfolio

Brookhill Properties launches chocolate offensive

The monthly 9th Precinct Community Council meeting is tonight; plus 1 way to end a party

[Image via Facebook]

The 9th Precinct Community Council meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m.

We heard about one topic that residents will address during tonight's meeting. According to the East Fifth Street Block Association, there have been increasing complaints from residents on Second Avenue and on the southeast side of East Sixth Street and the northeast side of East Fifth Street who "are suffering from noisy, late outdoor parties."

Specifically:

"There was one in the yard of 237 E. 5th St. on Saturday and neighbors from various abutting buildings could be seen hanging out of their window entreating the revelers to quiet down. Police were called and did not show up ... the whole thing finally was shut down when someone hosed the party down."

The meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., is at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

About the #helloicp installation at the future home of the International Center of Photography

[Images via helloicp]

We recently caught up with East Village resident Frank Franca to discuss his installation at 250 Bowery, where the International Center of Photography (ICP) will call home next spring.

Franca, a photographer and longtime faculty member at ICP who has lived in the East Village since 1982, calls the project #helloicp. Participants can go to the #helloicp website or to Instagram (adding the hashtag #helloicp to their photos) and upload images, which will then live stream to the installation in the front windows at 250 Bowery, which is just south of Houston.

He shared a few thought about #helloicp with us.

About working on the project:

The opportunity to see photographers from all over the world presenting themselves and their cultures without any context or filters from media sources or institutions has been very revealing. It has shown me that what makes us all the same is far greater than our differences.

No matter where one lives, we all want the same things and live remarkably similar lives even though the circumstances and surroundings might be very different. Politicians can be at war with each other, but the people wherever they are all want the same things. They want to build their lives with their families and to thrive. They want to be left to live in peace.

As a photographer, the opportunity to interact with other photographers from all over the world who share my same passions has made all of this even more pronounced and remarkable.

About the new ICP space:

I am doing this in great part to welcome ICP into the neighborhood. ICP is planning to embrace our community in a big way. They have many plans for being a dynamic and active force in the neighborhood. The first floor of the center on the Bowery will have large public areas which will be free and open to the public without requiring buying a ticket for the museum exhibitions further inside.

These public areas will include a cafe with indoor and outdoor sidewalk seating and a bookstore. There will also be a gallery in this public area dedicated showing new contemporary works that push the limits of the newest technology and challenge the notion of what contemporary photo based work is about. This area will be a lively and thought provoking meeting place for our community.

About the new Curator in Residence at the 250 Bowery space:

Charlotte Cotton has a background as a curator of photography in London's Victoria and Albert Museum and also the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is an intelligent and innovative curator with her pulse on the rapidly changing times in photography when billions of people around the world with mobile phones carry a hi-definition camera in their pocket. She understands how image savvy young people are today and ICP, in part, will be addressing that. It will be fascinating and a lot of fun to see what she does with the new space.

#helloicp is on view through Nov. 1. New viewing times are 4 p.m. to midnight daily.

City on pace for a record year with rat complaints

Here's the report from the Associated Press via The New York Times:

The city's complaint hotline is on pace for a record year of rat calls, exceeding the more than 24,000 over each of the last two years. Blistering audits have faulted efforts to fight what one official called a "rat crisis."

But does this mean that there are actually more rats in the city?

New York officials who have been fighting the battle for decades say rising complaint numbers don't mean there are more rats, and they argue the rat population has actually been holding steady the past few years.

A Columbia University doctoral student using statistical analysis last year estimated the number of rats in the city at 2 million, claiming to debunk a popular theory that there is one rat for each of the city's 8.4 million people. But scientists and city officials say it's impossible to accurately estimate the number.

Anyway, what's the city's plan to combat the rats?

Mayor Bill de Blasio's new "rat reservoir" plan targets communities with the highest number of rat complaints and seeks to dismantle habitats and food sources. That effort includes setting traps, installing rodent-resistant trash cans and working on legislation that would require restaurants to hose away sludge from dripping garbage.

We noted the rat reservoir plan back in August 2014. The East Village was to be one of the testing grounds for the program. But aside from some rat academies, we don't recall much else in the way of rat battles.

A Daily News piece from May reports that the seven neighborhoods that got the pilot program — including East Harlem, the Upper West Side and the East Village — saw a roughly 80-90 percent drop in rat sightings, according to the city.

Updated 8:30 p.m.

Because we started talking abut trash in Tompkins Square Park in the comments... two photos via Derek Berg from yesterday...



... squirrels seem to like it...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The East Village will be testing ground for a 'rat reservoir pilot'

Rat photo in Tompkins Square Park Bobby Williams

[Updated] Reports: Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village will be hitting the market

According to published reports, the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex is being prepped for a sale.

Per the The Wall Street Journal:

CWCapital Asset Management LLC, a special servicer that represents bondholders of the property’s debt, has hired Doug Harmon at Eastdil Secured LLC to advise it on the sales process, according to a written statement issued by the company on Sunday. The statement said that the owners are able to move ahead with a sale because CWCapital has “finalized in principle the settlement of the outstanding litigation.”

A CWCapital spokesman declined to comment further, but people familiar with the matter say the owner is hoping to sell it for at least $5 billion.

And here's more from Bloomberg, who first reported on the potential sale on Saturday:

A sale of Stuyvesant Town, home to about 30,000 New Yorkers, would end the squabbling and litigation that has plagued residents, bondholders and politicians since 2010, when Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc. gave up the property after its value plunged in the financial crisis and they were unable to raise rents.

Guess this is why the owners of Associated aren't having any luck negotiating with CWCapital for a lease renewal on East 14th Street.

Updated 9:39 p.m.

The Blackstone Group is partnering with Canadian investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.3 billion. Read more at The Real Deal.

Image via

More about David's Cafe, opening soon at 110 St. Mark's Place

The space is shaping up at 110 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Here's more about the venture and the people behind it via the cafe's website:

David’s Café, in the heart of the East Village, serves French-American food … in a casual environment. Opened by Chef David Malbequi (Les Enfants de Bohème, Summit Bar, BLT, Alum of Daniel Boulud), Daniel Rivera (Crooked Tree, Les Enfants de Bohème), and Hamid Rashidzada (Summit Bar), the restaurant is designed to be a comforting way-post/eatery for neighbors and visitors alike.

Our starting hours are from 5pm to midnight every night and until 1am on the weekends, we’ll be open from lunch and brunch in the coming weeks. Reservations are accepted for parties of six or more, otherwise just come in and grab a seat.

The site notes that all three partners in David's live in the neighborhood.

Paprika, which specialized in Northern Italian cuisine, quietly closed here back in the spring.

Updated 10/23

David's is now open…

East 1st Street Juice Press expansion looks official

The signage/brandage has arrived on the empty storefront adjacent to the flagship Juice Press on East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue…



Several weeks ago, handwritten messages began appearing on the front windows … including: "The East Village is the only hope I have left of being fucking cool. This store is the incubator for my next food concept. I hope I don't fail" along with the Juice Press hashtag.

The Juice Press empire — now 25-plus strong — opened its first location here in April 2010.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Juice Press is up to something on East 1st Street

New cafe in the works for 42 Avenue B

Just some very preliminary information out of 42 Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street… where word is a cafe with coffee/pastries/etc. will open in the next two months… we'll update when we receive more information about the new venture.

The address was previously home to Coyi Cafe, which closed in January 2014 after five years in business.

Chipotle announces itself in Stuy Town

[Photo by Gwen Deely]

The conversion of 286 First Ave. into a Chipotle continues… the signage arrived late last week here in Stuy Town near East 17th Street.

The storefront last housed the PCVST Broker Welcome Center, which moved up the block. Seems like maybe they could have combined these two ventures in the space?

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Chipotle for Stuy Town

Today in trash can fires on 2nd Avenue

This afternoon on Second Avenue at East Second Street... and the FDNY was quickly on-hand to extinguish the flames...



Photos via Danielle Baskin

Week in Grieview

[Photo on East 5th Street by Derek Berg]

Three new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports (Monday)

Reports: Contractor under investigation for Second Avenue explosion guilty in unrelated bribery case (Wednesday)

Moishe's Bake Shop has a new front window (Thursday)

Them bones on First Avenue (Wednesday)

Report: Associated owners not having any luck shopping for a lease renewal on East 14th Street (Thursday, 34 comments)

Arepa Factory has opened on Avenue A (Monday)

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St. (Tuesday)

Picturesque ivy coming down on East Eighth Street (Tuesday)

Out and About with Mickey Davis (Wednesday)

Sixth Street Yoga Junction now open in the Sixth Street Community Center (Tuesday)

Some day, the East Houston Reconstruction Project will end, but not anytime soon (Thursday)

Variety shop taking over the AK Shoe Repair space on East Ninth Street (Friday)

Le Café Coffee adding new location on Fourth Avenue (Wednesday)

East Village spotted from plane (Friday)

Buy a condo on East Fourth Street, get a photo of graffiti art (Monday)

New city site let's you know about real-time transit delays and disruptive banging and pounding noises (Friday)

Attention business owners with bicycle deliveries (Thursday)

Organic Avenue on Third Avenue has closed (Thursday)

After nearly four years empty, 37 St. Mark's Place may be getting new retail tenants (Monday)

Revisiting "Bettie Visits CBGB" (Thursday)

Last days for Allied Hardware on Second Avenue (Wednesday)

Former Avenue A Wine & Liquor space for rent (Wednesday)

An explanation for the wire above Avenue A (Monday)

According to TripAdvisor, this East Village pizzeria is the best restaurant in NYC (Friday)

Feltman’s of Coney Island bringing its hot dogs to St. Mark's Place (Friday)

So long Sounds (Sunday)

@NYPDTWEETTOWER recognized for serving and protecting the Twittersphere (Wednesday)

Fonda debuts sidewalk cafe (Thursday)

… and we heard from a concerned reader… who's worried that the latest sculpture (that arrived mid-September) on the northeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place is starting to lean… "it looks like it's about to fall down. I'm worried it's going to hurt somebody."

ALL the Marble cemeteries are open to the public today in the East Village

Today (right now!) the New York Marble Cemetery — the oldest public non-sectarian cemetery in New York City — is open to the public at 41 1/2 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street…



Meanwhile! Around the corner on East Second Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue… it's Day 2 of the Fall Open Weekend at the New York City Marble Cemetery… you have until 5 p.m. (to visit) …

… and here's a scene from there yesterday via Derek Berg …

A look at Centre-fuge Cycle 18 on East 1st Street

Work wrapped up last week on cycle 18 of the Centre-fuge Public Art Project … the rotating outdoor gallery/construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue …

As BoweryBoogie pointed out, the artists this time are Jet, Andy Golub, Below Key, Zero Productivity, Leon Rainbow, Rez Shoalin and a collaboration between Key Detail & Yu-Baba.















Cycle 18 will remain here until early January.

Find more info about Centre-fuge here.

The Earth School Fall Fair is today in Tompkins Square Park

Noon to 5 p.m. today… enter on Avenue A at East Ninth Street…

Some highlights via The Earth School website:

• The Amazing Maze!
• The photo booth with a selection of crazy costumes to choose from for a wacky portrait
• A green market selling herbs and greens from the school’s rooftop garden
• Rummage and used book sale
• International foods, both homemade and from East Village restaurants
• Face painting, craft table and cup-cake decorating
• The Pocket Lady (check out her Tinder profile here) and her pockets full of mystery prizes

It's a Fall Open Weekend at the New York City Marble Cemetery

This weekend at the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... via the EVG inbox...

Fall Open Weekend, with historic displays, photos and artifacts
Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 17-18
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Read more about the cemetery here.

Girl ComicCon today at the Lower Eastside Girls Club

Via the EVG inbox...

Girl ComicCon, Sat., Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, 402 E. Eighth St. at Avenue D...
Free admission

Girl Power Comix, Mini Zines, Comix Jewelry
Presentations and Panels at 1 p.m. - 3 p.m., featuring the legendary Marguerite Van Cook

There will be venders tables in the Gallery space with super hero sandwiches and girl power bars available

Friday ender

Photo via Bobby Williams...

Meet the METZ

Tickets went on sale today to see METZ at the Bowery Ballroom this coming January. Until then, here's "Wasted" from the Canadian trio's self-titled debut from 2013.

Feltman’s of Coney Island bringing its hot dogs to St. Mark's Place starting today

After peddling hot dogs this past summer at a pop-up in Ditmas Park, the owner of the revived Feltman’s of Coney Island brand is bringng his franks to St. Mark's Place.

Starting today, Feltman’s of Coney Island owner and Brooklyn native Michael Quinn will be selling hot dogs at Augers Well, the bar at 115 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Per the Coney Island Blog:

Instead of serving $2 hot dogs as they did all summer Feltman’s will be serving up enormous franks for $5 each, along with their very popular homemade apple cider vinegar mustard, which will be whipped up daily in the Augurs Well kitchen.

Feltman's is named after Charles Feltman, purportedly the inventor of the hot dog as well as the restaurant that was located in Coney Island from 1870-1954. (Read more about Feltman at the Coney Island History Project here.)



Quinn reportedly still plans to reopen a restaurant in Coney Island... but, as the Coney Island Blog notes, "right now he’s having fun telling the Feltman’s story and creating brand recognition." And he will be doing so right next door to Crif Dogs. Of course Feltman's and Nathan's co-exited for more than 40 years in Coney Island...