The tenants of the red brick and concrete building at 1296 Pacific St. all told similar stories at a meeting Monday night: lugging groceries up six flights of stairs when the elevator stopped working, battling regular invasions of cockroaches and mice and watching the slow growth of mold in their bathrooms.
The six-story Crown Heights building is one of 93 properties in New York City that an entity tied to local landlord Pinnacle Group is eyeing sell at auction, after several companies went bankrupt in May. Now, more than 5,000 homes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn are likely to change hands at auction early next year, and renters are eyeing a rare opportunity to buy their homes.
“We want to work with the city and with preservation partners to purchase our buildings,” said Zara Cadoux, a member of the Pinnacle Tenants Union, a group of tenants of 40 Pinnacle buildings affected by the bankruptcy filing. “We are exploring various options to potentially participate in the bidding process.”
That bidding process is just months away, and in the meantime, tenants are organizing to make repairs to the dilapidated properties, which they say Pinnacle Group has failed to invest in or make much-needed repairs. And last week, tenants gathered outside 1042 and 1048 Union St. to protest power shutdown at the properties after ConEd briefly turned off the lights, Pix11 first reported.
Pinnacle declined to comment on the bankruptcy or conditions at its facilities, citing ongoing legal proceedings, a company spokesman said. But Kenneth Fisher, an attorney working on behalf of Pinnacle Group, told The Real Deal in September that the pandemic was responsible for some of the deferred maintenance. Other attorneys also cited high interest rates, inflation and weak rental income, The Real Deal reported at the time. The now bankrupt buildings generated more than $84 million in 2024 Bloomberg.
A rally for repairs
About 40 tenants of 1296 Pacific St. and other Pinnacle properties gathered outside the Crown Heights building on Sept. 29 to call for repairs to the property, which the Department of Housing Preservation and Development issued more than 100 violations for mold, cockroaches, a lack of heat and hot water, and the presence of lead paint.
Jon Deliz, a public school teacher who has lived at 1296 Pacific St. for 13 years, said he has recurring mold in the bathroom of his studio, for which he pays about $1,450 a month. He also recalled carrying elderly tenants on his back up the building’s stairs when the elevator occasionally stopped working. (Deliz himself got stuck in that elevator twice, he told Brick Underground.)
“Paying rent to this slumlord is like rewarding neglect,” Diaz said. “If I can’t accept bad behavior from my eighth-graders, I can’t accept it from this company.”
New York State Assembly member Phara Souffrant Forrest echoed his complaints. Souffrant Forrest told Brick Underground that she grew up in a Pinnacle building that was regularly infested with cockroaches, which partly inspired her to run for office.
“Why should we pay and receive a lack of service?” Souffrant Forrest asked the audience on September 29. “It’s time that when we pay the rent, we also get a little respect for it.”
Souffrant Forrest was hopeful that a new mayoralty would focus on tenants’ rights, she told Brick Underground after the meeting. When Brick Underground asked Souffrant Forrest if she had anything else to say, she added, “Fuck Pinnacle. You can quote me on that.”
What tenants need to know
The bankruptcy auction could impact hundreds of tenants across the city, though some New Yorkers may not be aware of the impending sale of their building. If you’re not sure if you live in one of the 93 buildings affected by the bankruptcy, you can check your address using a list of buildings auctioned (see page 22), according to filings with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
If you live in a rent-stabilized apartment in one of these buildings, the bankruptcy and auction will not affect your rights to live in the apartment, says Ronald Languadoc, tenant attorney at Himmelstein Gribben & Jozef. Any bidder offering to purchase or refinance the properties must adhere to the terms and conditions existing rental contracts, Bloomberg reports this.
The bankruptcy “does not affect the rights of rent-stabilized tenants to remain rent-stabilized tenants of their apartments,” Languadoc said.
Still, Languadoc recommended that tenant associations hire a lawyer because a bankruptcy filing can complicate certain tenant rights, such as recovering back rent after housing benefit disputes.
“Ideally, tenants would form a group and hire a bankruptcy attorney who would keep them informed of the situation,” Languadoc said. “That would be the best solution, but it may not be realistic or affordable for everyone.”
According to Cardoux, the Pinnacle Tenant Union is working with the Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Legal Services for legal assistance. She also encouraged tenants of all Pinnacle buildings to collectively negotiate repairs. (You can contact the Pinnacle Tenant Union at [email protected].)
“The only way we can get services is by fighting for them,” Cardoux said.
#Tenants #bankrupt #Crown #Heights #buildings #repairs #chance #buy #units