Stuy Town tenants, owners extend interim rent agreement

Tishman Speyer Realty and BlackRock Realty agreed with tenants to permit the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village lawsuit to proceed as a class action case, and also extended an interim agreement to lower rents until June, according to a joint statement from lawyers and the landlord.

Under the agreement, tenants will continue to pay, until the end of June, the lower of either their existing rent or estimated rent-stabilized rents. Tenants will also be granted certain rights that exist under the city’s rent stabilization law, including rights to renew leases and family succession.

After missing a $16.1 million interest payment, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock last month agreed to turn the 110-building complex over to creditors in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. The companies bought the complex in 2006 for $5.4 billion. Tenants won a landmark lawsuit alleging the landlord illegally deregulated apartments at the complex, which received J-51 tax benefits from the city.

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The money deposited into an escrow account in connection with the November and December 2009 rents will be fully reimbursed to tenants, either by reducing the March rent or a refund check to former tenants who moved out after paying November or December rent. The agreement was first reached in December.

The rents for an estimated 4,400 apartments will be calculated by an independent consultant, who has been selected but not formally retained.