A Starrett subsidiary got a rude shock last month after the New York State Supreme Court ruled that it had improperly de-regulated rents at a stabilized South Bronx building at 1600 Sedgwick Avenue, Crain’s reported. The ruling against the landlord, Riverview Development, and subsequent injunction to halt the eviction of those tenants who refused to pay higher rates, was based in part on the precedent set in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village case, which found that developer Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty had illegally deregulated rents there while taking government tax breaks. In the court filing, the judge cited the Stuy Town case as an influence, noting in this instance that “once defendants prepaid their mortgage it appears that they ceased to be subject to the regulations attendant to that mortgage… [while still] benefiting from the J-51 tax abatement program.”

Tenants at a Bronx apartment building at 1600 Sedgwick Avenue in Morris Heights will head to court today to make their case against landlord Riverview Redevelopment, which they say illegally hiked up rents in their building. The residents face eviction for refusing to pay rent, following the landlord’s move to take 80 apartments in the building out of the affordable housing program in February and raising rents to market rate. As a result, some units’ rent increased by as much as $500. The tenants have cited the recent landmark Tishman Speyer case at the Stuyvesant Town development as evidence for their case. Last month John Barone, a Bronx state Supreme Court justice, granted the tenants a temporary restraining order to stave off evictions.