Booted tenants could make big profits on Second Avenue Subway work

Upper East Side renters displaced by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue Subway construction stand to get hefty windfalls when the agency temporarily boots them from their homes for four to eight weeks, beginning Saturday. According to the Post, relocated residents of the seven apartment buildings on which the MTA is planning critical repair work have been given two options: stay at the Hotel Marmara at 94th Street and Second Avenue for free, or take a daily stipend for room and board. The second option consists of $4,810 per month for studios, $6,000 per month for one-bedrooms and $9,000 per month for two-bedrooms, plus $40 per day per household member for food, moving and storage costs. The MTA has chosen to do the repair work itself instead of waiting for the landlords to get around to it. In all, the buildings’ rehabilitation project — including the costs of the relocation program — is slated to cost the agency between $6 million and $8 million. [Post]