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Real Estate

By Ross Barkan 4/29 2:30pm

Real Estate

Marc Landis. (Photo: Facebook)

Leading West Side Council Candidate Tied to Controversial Developer

When Marc Landis, a leading candidate to represent the Upper West Side in the City Council next year, talks about himself, he often boasts of his long record of fighting for affordable housing in New York City. The attorney and Democratic district leader, praised by his many endorsers for his tenant advocacy, also works closely with Tahl Propp Equities, a large real estate developer that has been sued by Manhattan tenants and accused of “predatory” financial practices in rapidly gentrifying Harlem.

“Tahl Propp was one of the early companies that we and other organizers spotted coming in and buying up large amounts of affordable housing and they weren’t a known actor in the affordable housing or real estate world,” said Emily Goldstein, coordinator of preservation and policy at Tenants and Neighbors, a statewide tenant advocacy group. “In more recent years, I know that they’ve said they care about affordable housing. They’ve said they care about the Harlem community. And yet their actual practices in many of these buildings have been detrimental to low and moderate income tenants, to the physical housing stock and arguably to the community.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 10/11/12 5:52pm

Real Estate

An aerial view of Rick Lee's home in Danville, Kentucky. (Photo: Google Maps)

Looks Like Biden Found a Pretty Nice Place to Hang Out Before the Debates

An aerial view of Rick Lee’s home in Danville, Kentucky. (Photo: Google Maps)

It seems like Vice President Joe Biden is spending time at a large home with both a pool and its own lake before his debate with Paul Ryan tonight. According to a campaign official, Mr. Biden “will spend time with family and friends at a private residence owned by local supporters” prior to this evening’s vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. The Obama campaign hasn’t released any other details about the home, but thanks to some details from the White House press pool report and some of our own legwork, we believe it is the well-appointed home of an executive at a company that makes conveyor belts used in factories, mail sorting facilities and to handle baggage at airports. Read More

By David Freedlander 4/11/12 5:36pm

Real Estate

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Nadler Wants More Compromise Over NYU Plan

Congressman Jerry Nadler said today that the new NYU expansion plan doesn’t go far enough to address community concerns.

“I thank NYU for engaging in these productive conversations.  However, there is still significant work to be done to make this proposal more appropriate to the surrounding area,” Mr. Nadler said.  ”NYU must continue to find ways to better fit the proposed expansion into the fabric of the Village.”

Mr. Nadler specifically said the university needs to do more to ensure that a Mitchell-Lama site near campus remains affordable.  Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/27/12 6:24pm

Real Estate

Gracie Mansion (Photo: NYC.gov)

Bill Thompson Defends His Right To Move Into Gracie Mansion

Bill Thompson doesn’t agree with Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the next mayor shouldn’t move to Gracie Mansion. In a statement released this evening, Mr. Thompson, who finished a close second to Mr. Bloomberg in the 2009 mayoral election and is running again next year, said the mansion is the traditional home of the city’s chief executive.

“Mayors living in Gracie Mansion are part of the rich tradition and history of New York City. Mayor Bloomberg’s remarks fly in the face of former mayors Rudy Giuliani, David Dinkins, Ed Koch and every other former mayor who has lived there,” Mr. Thompson said.  Read More

By Azi Paybarah 6/16/11 3:10pm

Real Estate

Assembly Democrats Hit Senate Democrats as ‘Foolish’ and ‘Grandstanding’

Some Democratic infighting is deepening, with Assemblyman Keith Wright, Danny O’Donnell, Robert Rodriguez and Guillermo Linares accusing State Senators who voted against rent regulation extensions of voting “politically rather than practically.”

The Assembly members called it “totally irresponsible to leave these tenants without protection for even one minute.” They also said it was “absolutely ridiculous that these Senators chose not to extend the current law in order to make a political statement.” Read More

By Azi Paybarah 5/19/11 2:04pm

Real EstateAds

Landlords Say New Laws Protect ‘Wealthy Manhattan Renters’

Real estate owners in the Rent Stabilization Board Association are out with a series of new radio ads aimed at blocking state lawmakers from strengthening rent stabilization laws.

The key is to cast the proposed legislation as only benefiting “wealthy Manhattan renters” at the expense of small, outer borough building owners.

It’s attempting to rewrite the popular and well-documented narrative that cast landlords as rich and greedy, and their tenants as humble and scraping by.

The RSA’s efforts were bolstered by an editor at the Atlantic, who wrote “most of the people I know who had rent controlled apartments were, in fact, extremely affluent.”

One woman featured in the new ads is Constance Nugent-Miller, who says:

I provide six units of affordable renting housing in Crown Heights.

Vacancy and luxury decontrol? Not an issue in my neighborhood! There’s no six-figure incomes in my building. My tenants are doubling and tripling, living with strangers, not as families like wealthy Manhattan renters can afford to do.

Who is Albany really protecting? Nobody in Brooklyn. Just wealthy Manhattan renters.

Scripts from three other ads after the jump. Read More