Blackstone Inc. lost a bid to end rent stabilization at Manhattan’s largest apartment complex, after a judge ruled in favor of tenants at Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village.
(Bloomberg) — Blackstone Inc. lost a bid to end rent stabilization at Manhattan’s largest apartment complex, after a judge ruled in favor of tenants at Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed said in a decision released on Jan. 5 that a state law passed in 2019 prevents the deregulation of thousands of units at the 80-acre development. The company bought the property for $5.3 billion in 2015.
The tenants association sued two years ago, asking the court to declare that the apartments were protected under the Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act. Blackstone had argued that the expiry of a 2013 settlement between tenants and the property’s previous owners allowed them to deregulate the units.
In his judgment, Reed said the units had always been rent-stabilized and the company never acquired the rights to remove the protections and was always subject to future legislation.
“We have not issued a single rent increase above those legally allowed under rent stabilization so this ruling has no impact on our tenants,” Blackstone spokesperson Jillian Kary said.
The complex, located between 14th and 23rd streets on Manhattan’s east side, was built in the 1940s by MetLife Inc., with city assistance, to house World War II veterans. MetLife sold the property in 2006 to Tishman Speyer and BlackRock, who handed the property over to lenders after its value plunged in the financial crisis and tenants successfully sued to stop a dramatic increase in some rents.
The decision was first reported by the New York Times.
The case is the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Tenants Association v BPP St Owner LLC, 152397/2020, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.
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