CWCapital Asset Management is planning to remove "swaths of trees that were recently planted at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village by Tishman Speyer nearly five months after Tishman Speyer stepped away from its failed $5.4 billion investment in the sprawling residential enclaves east of First Avenue between 14th and 23rd streets, according to an article today in the Wall Street Journal by Eliot Brown.
CWCapital Asset Management, which currently manages the complexes, plans to beginning to remove the trees this month "after residents complained that the new trees blocked their views and posed a security threat, among other criticisms," the article said.
The episode with the trees shows how Stuyvesant Town's politically powerful tenants present a challenge for the loan servicer that now controls the property, the article said, adding that "CWCapital Asset Management is charged by investors with recouping as much value as it can from the city's largest residential property."
CWCapital, the article continued, is in the midst of a legal fight with tenants over the proper rents for the more expensive apartments at the complex, and the company for months has been trying to bring to an end a 2007 lawsuit on the issue.
In 2008, the article said, as Tishman Speyer was planting the trees, "it publicized the move as a major upgrade that would enhance the property's look. But shortly after the trees went in, they sparked criticism from many residents."
"We think that they're presenting an opportunity for somebody of ill will to hide and potentially perform a criminal act," said Council Member Daniel Garodnick, a resident of Peter Cooper Village who sent multiple letters to Tishman Speyer about the issue at the time, according to the article.
Rose Associates, CWCapital's property manager, it continued, "is planning to remove about two-thirds of the trees in the densely planted areas that lead into Stuyvesant Town's central oval, along with bushes and shrubs around the property, said Adam Rose, the firm's co-president." He expects others will stay in place, the article said, and that many of those removed will be given to a nonprofit, adding that "they were overly ambitious," and "what you ended up with is a property with huge numbers of dense trees."
CWCapital Asset Management, which currently manages the complexes, plans to beginning to remove the trees this month "after residents complained that the new trees blocked their views and posed a security threat, among other criticisms," the article said.
The episode with the trees shows how Stuyvesant Town's politically powerful tenants present a challenge for the loan servicer that now controls the property, the article said, adding that "CWCapital Asset Management is charged by investors with recouping as much value as it can from the city's largest residential property."
CWCapital, the article continued, is in the midst of a legal fight with tenants over the proper rents for the more expensive apartments at the complex, and the company for months has been trying to bring to an end a 2007 lawsuit on the issue.
In 2008, the article said, as Tishman Speyer was planting the trees, "it publicized the move as a major upgrade that would enhance the property's look. But shortly after the trees went in, they sparked criticism from many residents."
"We think that they're presenting an opportunity for somebody of ill will to hide and potentially perform a criminal act," said Council Member Daniel Garodnick, a resident of Peter Cooper Village who sent multiple letters to Tishman Speyer about the issue at the time, according to the article.
Rose Associates, CWCapital's property manager, it continued, "is planning to remove about two-thirds of the trees in the densely planted areas that lead into Stuyvesant Town's central oval, along with bushes and shrubs around the property, said Adam Rose, the firm's co-president." He expects others will stay in place, the article said, and that many of those removed will be given to a nonprofit, adding that "they were overly ambitious," and "what you ended up with is a property with huge numbers of dense trees."
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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