Rose Associates attempts to clear ancient trunks in StuyTown storage units

There’s an antique collection of storage trunks — and potentially a community of insects and vermin — in the bowels of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. But in its latest issue, the New Yorker reported that property manager Rose Associates has begun sending letters to tenants asking them to claim their belongings, as CWCapital, which took control of the property after Tishman Speyer defaulted, tries to make better use of the space in advance of a sale.

The 110-building complex has offered tenants trunk storage space since the 1940s. When Rose’s onsite manager, Jim Yasser, went to survey the units, he found military artifacts from World War II, cancelled checks drawn on the Corn Exchange Bank Trust Company, wedding dresses and record albums in aging trunks alongside rat carcasses and dead waterbugs. But Rose is unsure as to how to clear out the space and handle people’s belongings, as approximately one-third of the stuff belongs to people who are no longer alive, and much more of it is likely garbage. [New Yorker]