Today Ackman hit a wall in his attempt to take over Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village.

I’m sure he’s not done yet, but he’s probably unhappy about it.

What I’m about is the possible co-op or condo conversion of the 11,000 units.

That’s a LOT of property to hit the market, but if you’re a renter in the property- there’s a huge incentive to an owner to sell the apartment to you at a discount.

A few thoughts.

First, there are the folks who have no interest in buying during a conversion, just like any rental-to-ownership plan.

They can’t be kicked out if they are rent-controlled or rent-stabilized.

They are part of the conversation anytime politicians mention “affordable housing for the middle class in Manhattan.”

People who don’t want the problems of owning, the risks of increases in costs each year- and why should they?

If they have a locked-in rent, I understand why they wouldn’t want to rock the boat- What I mean is that I can see from their perspective.
Whether I agree is a different story.

That said, there are the rest of people renting in Stuy Town who are either paying market rents or who would love to own their apartments.

They were built right after WWII, have great closets, large layouts, and are very comfortable living.

Bright, pleasant, etc etc.

Owners have done nice upgrades over the years.

I wonder what the pricing would be.

I wonder who is moving in right now with the possibility of buying their rental apartment?

It’s been done many times before.

Is it driving up the rental prices in the complex right now?
Will they submeter the electricity?

Right now, rent includes electricity.

Of course, this is terrible incentive to turn off your a/c in the summer.

Why turn it off if you’re not paying for it?

And if you have rent control, you’re not even paying indirectly?

I would be in favor of submetering the electric- better for the environment, and really- just more logical all the way around.
These conversions of rentals have largely been successful, depending on your definition of successful.

Take the complex on Third avenue in the 90’s – people purchased their rentals and then flipped the apartments the next day.

The developers paid off their loans,

the tenants-now-owners

walked away with large windfalls, and many moved away.

I don’t know that it preserves the affordable housing- clearly it wouldn’t- but it moves lots and lots of apartments into the free market- which I think would be a fun thing to see.