On Thursday afternoon, a group of tenants gathered at the corner of West 55th Street and Sixth Avenue.
“Don’t let our houses be sold to another slum landlord!” they said.
A few blocks away, a very different meeting took place: an auction for those same houses.
Bids were circulating at the law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges for more than 5,000 mostly rent-stabilized apartments. They are owned by Joel Wiener’s Pinnacle Group, which had forced them into bankruptcy.
We’re told the auction started Thursday morning and went into the night. But the winner was confirmed at 4pm on Friday: Summit Properties, run by chairman Zohar Levy, will become the new owner of the units.
It is a deal that has received a lot of attention. The city has expressed concerns about the profitability of the minimum bid and has sought to postpone the auction. Tenants clearly view Summit as a slum landlord. Reporting from Bisnow on Wednesday revealed connections between Summit and Wiener’s brother Jonathan Wiener.
But beyond the back-and-forth about the sale price and Summit’s stewardship, the pushback, in my opinion, is really about tenants and the Mammani administration sensing an opportunity to take these units beyond the purview of a traditional private landlord and into something different.
They haven’t quite figured out yet what that something else is. The words “cooperative,” “conservation,” and “community land trust” have been thrown around. I’ve written before about the very real and audacious dreams of alternative ownership from advocacy groups and city officials. But so far there is no clear picture of what tenants and Mamdani want for these units.
What is clear is that they only have a limited time to get it. A delay would have given them time to think and plan, but that attempt was rejected by the bankruptcy judge. Summit now almost has the keys in its hands. A hearing is scheduled to confirm the auction result on January 15, leaving the city with just a few days to act.
Things aren’t looking great for the city right now, but what could happen next is anyone’s guess.
“I don’t think we have that many examples that show us what’s possible here,” Ariel Hirsch of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board told me at the meeting.
What we’re thinking about: Who buys rent-stabilized buildings? Since the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 took away landlords’ ability to raise those rents, rent-stabilized buildings have been said to be worth next to nothing. But clearly someone is willing to pay for it. We’ve already profiled Peter Hungerford. This auction will rename us. We hear that many local long-term rental owners plan to stay in the business. Do you have any information on the people who are getting into the rent stabilized game while everyone else is getting out? Email lilah.burke@therealdeal.com.
Elsewhere:
– Mamdani did that endorsed Claire Valdez, a 36-year-old member of the State Assembly from Queens, is running to represent New York’s Seventh District in Congress. The district is a major “Commie Corridor” territory and includes parts of Bushwick, Ridgewood, Clinton Hill, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and the mayor’s own Astoria. Valdez is a fellow member of the Democratic Socialists of America. The seat was previously held by Nydia Velázquez and is also being pursued by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
– More red light cameras are heading to the streets of New York City, writes Gothamist. The Department of Transportation has a goal of 600 cameras by the end of the year, up from 150.
Something we learned: A growing number of Americans are getting their mortgages from places that aren’t banks. That number now stands at 64 percent, up from 42 percent in 2014.
Closing time
Residential: The highest residential deal recorded on Friday was $14 million for 53 West 53rd Street, 59B. The Midtown Central apartment is 3,200 square feet. The property last sold as a new development in 2020 for $12.8 million.
Commercial: The best recorded commercial deal was $15.2 million for 4275 Boston Road. The industrial building in Eastchester is 72,248 square feet. UPS acquired the property from Excelsior Investors, which bought the site five years ago for $8.1 million.
New on the market: The highest price for a home to hit the market was $11.9 million for 50 Bridge Park Drive, Unit 26A. The Brooklyn Heights apartment is 4,500 square feet. Compass’ Lindsay Barrett, Taylor Schultz and Christopher Mohr are the listing agents.
— Joseph Jungerman
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