In December, a decision by Housing Court Judge Bruce E. Scheckowitz held that rents at 37 Wall Street should be stabilized because the residential conversion of the buildings took advantage of the 15-year tax incentives of a program known as 421-g that was created in the mid-1990s to revitalize Lower Manhattan.

The ornate and very handsome Beaux-Arts office building was converted to 372 rental apartments by Orin S. Wilf, president of Skyline Developers, the New York subsidiary of Garden Homes Development, which owns the building.

The judge sided with a tenant, Maverick Scott, who had argued that his $4,920-a-month, two-bedroom apartment should be rent-stabilized because the conversion was made with the 421-g program.

According to an article by Cara Buckley in today's edition of The New York Times, Mr. Wilf said "he surmised that because the rents at 37 Wall started at more than $2,000, the apartments were not stabilized," adding that "we were just following the law." The judge, however, disagreed.

"In his decision," the article continued, "Judge Scheckowitz cited as precedent a landmark October 2009 decision 'gainst Tishman Speyer Properties. In that case, the state's highest court ruled that Tishman Speyer wrongly charged market rents at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the sprawling developments on the East Side, while receiving tax breaks under the city's J-51 housing program. Tens of thousands of renters citywide stand to win rent reductions and possibly rebates."

Under rent stabilization, New York City apartment monthly rents can be raised only by an incremental percentage each year but those protections usually end after an apartment becomes vacant and rents are above $2,000 and tenants income exceed $175,000 in each of two successive years.

The building houses a branch of Tiffany's and has a marble-lined lobby, a screening room, a residents' lounge and a roof deck.

"The decision has led to something of a battle royal between landlords, who are pushing for the case to be reargued -- a judge will decide in the coming days -- and tenant advocacy groups. It also raises the question of whether wealthy denizens of plush apartments should receive rent protections intended for the middle and working classes. Not only could affected tenants have eviction protections, but some of them could also see cuts in their rent," according to the article.

"Among those supporting Mr. Scott is Harvey Epstein, director of the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center, which is representing three advocacy groups....Not every housing expert agrees. Harold Shultz, a senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, said Judge Scheckowitz's decision was incorrect. Legislators who created the 421-g program always intended for the units to be decontrolled when they hit the $2,000 mark, he said," the article added.