Taxes blocking Stuy Town transfer

While Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village owners Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty said they’d transfer control of the residential complex to creditors two weeks ago, that promise hasn’t come to fruition, due in part to $90 million in unpaid state and city taxes, according to Bloomberg News. Rafael Cestero, commissioner of New York City’s agency on Housing Preservation and Development, said that either Tishman and BlackRock or special servicer CWCapital has to pay the taxes — but, so far, neither is jumping at the chance. State law mandates that the owner of the distressed property has to submit unpaid taxes upon transfer to a special servicer, otherwise the servicer is stuck with the bill. “The reality is [Tishman and BlackRock] can’t just turn back the keys.” Cestero said. “CW doesn’t want to pay the [back taxes] so they’re going to have to negotiate this.”