The real estate finance bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office has ordered a settlement that will permit about two-dozen "market-rate" tenants to remain in the Sheffield57 residential condominium at 322 East 57th Street.
The settlement also permits but limits a rent increase proposed by Kent Swig, one of the developers of the condominium building.
In 2007, Housing Court Judge David Cohen blocked the evictions of 23 market-rate tenants in the building but that decision was overturned last year and was appealed by the tenants.
Mr. Swig proposed that the tenants could remain in the building is they agreed to "significant rent increases," according to an article late this afternoon by David Jones in the on-line edition of The Real Deal.
"In a June 17 letter to Swig's attorney Stuart Saft, and obtained by The Real Deal," the article maintained that "Assistant Attorney General Marisa Peisman said that the rental increase proposed by Swig was well above comparable rates. 'After reviewing the numerous submissions both sides have made, we find that the rents sought by the landlord are unconscionable and that the monthly rents of the tenants in the proposed occupancy agreements should be fixed at $3.70 per square foot,' Peisman wrote. She noted that Swig wanted to raise rents to $4.42 per square foot, while the comparable rents for market-rate tenants were $3.70 per square foot, a figure proposed by lawyers for the tenants."
Mr. Swig bought the 50-story, 845-unit, brown brick apartment building in 2005 with Serge Hoyda and Yair Levy for $418 million and they let leases for many tenants expire. The article said that "About 35 market-rate tenants refused to leave and a total of 23 tenants fought the evictions in court."
The settlement also permits but limits a rent increase proposed by Kent Swig, one of the developers of the condominium building.
In 2007, Housing Court Judge David Cohen blocked the evictions of 23 market-rate tenants in the building but that decision was overturned last year and was appealed by the tenants.
Mr. Swig proposed that the tenants could remain in the building is they agreed to "significant rent increases," according to an article late this afternoon by David Jones in the on-line edition of The Real Deal.
"In a June 17 letter to Swig's attorney Stuart Saft, and obtained by The Real Deal," the article maintained that "Assistant Attorney General Marisa Peisman said that the rental increase proposed by Swig was well above comparable rates. 'After reviewing the numerous submissions both sides have made, we find that the rents sought by the landlord are unconscionable and that the monthly rents of the tenants in the proposed occupancy agreements should be fixed at $3.70 per square foot,' Peisman wrote. She noted that Swig wanted to raise rents to $4.42 per square foot, while the comparable rents for market-rate tenants were $3.70 per square foot, a figure proposed by lawyers for the tenants."
Mr. Swig bought the 50-story, 845-unit, brown brick apartment building in 2005 with Serge Hoyda and Yair Levy for $418 million and they let leases for many tenants expire. The article said that "About 35 market-rate tenants refused to leave and a total of 23 tenants fought the evictions in court."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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