Clockwise from top left: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, 221 West 16th Street (credit PropertyShark) and Assemblyman Richard GottfriedA landlord is moving to evict rent-stabilized tenants from his Chelsea apartment building tomorrow by exploiting a loophole in the rent law that allows him to reclaim the units should he take residency in them.

The New York Daily News reported that Gary Brown, the president of Furnished Quarters which owns the building at 221 West 16th Street, has notified five tenants who have lived in the building for more than 20 years they they will no longer be allowed to live in their units for $200 to $300 a month. Brown, who acquired the property in 1997, plans to convert the units into a luxury duplex for his family. [more]

From left: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (credit Jonathan Fickies); Jed Walentas, vice president of Two Trees Management, (credit Jonathan Fickies); and a rendering of the hotel at 80 Wythe Avenue

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave the keynote address at the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable’s fifth anniversary luncheon today, but Jed Walentas, vice president at Two Trees, stole the show.

The casually dressed 30-something, son of pioneering Dumbo developer David Walentas, entertained the crowd of some 100 real estate professionals with updates on Two Trees’ projects, punctuated with candid one- liners that drew laughs from the audience.

For example, Walentas said he decided to undertake Two Trees’ new Williamsburg hotel project “to have a new experience and do something fun.”

He added: “To be honest, I have no idea how the economics are going to work out.”
[more]

Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross and President Jeff Blau were on hand at the official announcement that Coach would occupy about 600,000 square feet at the first building the developer plans to construct in its Hudson Yards project on the West Side. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, as well as executives from bag maker Coach, were present at the event at 30th Street and 11th Avenue this morning. CBRE brokers Mary Ann Tighe and Greg Tosko, represented Coach in the transaction. – Adam Pincus [more]

Online reviews company Yelp.com opened its new Manhattan office today at 104 Fifth Avenue, between 15th and 16th streets, the same office building where Apple is located. The 9,500-square-foot space is already home to over 65 full-time employees — 20 of whom joined Yelp just this past month — and includes local and brand sales executives and a marketing team.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Yelp CEO and co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman attended the opening along with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne, the mayor’s Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver and Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky. – Katherine Clarke [more]

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and 136 West 20th Street (building credit: PropertyShark)Thanks to failing projects elsewhere in the neighborhood, Chelsea residents fighting for a park at the soon-to-be-vacated Department of Sanitation facility site at 136 West 20th Street are optimistic their cause can become a reality.

According to Chelsea Now, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn reinforced her promise to find an alternative site for the affordable housing project originally slated for the Department of Sanitation land, and transform the plot on 20th street between Sixth and Seventh avenues into a park.

“We will continue to work hard and creatively in trying to find an alternative location for the affordable housing and are in the process of reviewing several potential sites,” Quinn said. [more]

The City Council today passed a resolution in support of New
York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into
the mortgage packaging practices of several banks and it calls upon
a taskforce of 50 state attorneys general to preserve his investigatory
and prosecutorial powers, according to New York’s Martin Act, in any
settlement with major financial institutions.

At the end of last month, Schneiderman was removed by Iowa State Attorney General Tom Miller as a leader of a panel
negotiating a settlement with U.S. mortgage servicers after he was
accused of trying to undermine the work of the group. — Miranda Neubauer [more]

The city has created a new list of buildings throughout the five
boroughs that are at risk of complete deterioration, Crain’s reported.
The list, on the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s
website
includes 34 buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx that are at
risk based on their number of housing code violations. It was
created after a roof-to-cellar inspection by the city’s Proactive
Enforcement Bureau, which was created as part of the new Proactive
Preservation Initiative that surveyed 335 residential buildings. The
list will be updated every six months and allow for the tracking of
the landlords’ efforts to correct the problem. [more]

After more than 100 uninvited community members expressed intentions to attend an exclusive breakfast with Walmart executives yesterday, there was a last minute location change from the Lindenwood Diner to a private office building on Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway.

“If they want to hear from the community, then why am I not in there?” asked one Community Board 5 member. “I was not invited. I went inside and they wouldn’t let me in.”

As reported earlier this week, Walmart hosted an invitation-only breakfast for East New York, Brooklyn local leaders as part of its efforts to gather community support for a Walmart store in the neighborhood. Most of the several dozen invitees, such as clergy or community board members, either support the project or are undecided, while those who have been openly critical of the proposal were not invited. [more]

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and 127 West 25th Street (building source:
PropertyShark)

The New York City Council is planning to join in a lawsuit attempting to block the Bowery Residents Committee homeless shelter at 127 West 25th Street in Chelsea, even as the Department of Homeless Services begins relocating people to the facility, the New York Post reported.

Yesterday, the council’s General Welfare Committee voted to allow the legislative body to join the lawsuit filed by the Chelsea Flatiron Coalition, which has long argued that the facility is too large and would pose safety issues for residents. The full council plans to vote today to permit the body to join the lawsuit. A New York Supreme Court judge rejected an injunction request submitted by opponents of shelter earlier this month. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who represents the surrounding district, was one of the most outspoken opponents of the homeless shelter and was disappointed by the ruling.
[more]

From left: Mary Ann Tighe, CEO at CB Richard Ellis, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn

Earlier this year, Mary Ann Tighe, a CEO at CB Richard Ellis and chair of the Real Estate Board of New York, held a fundraising event for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at her home across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Capital reported. About 50 real estate executives paid $1,000 to rub shoulders with the establishment’s choice for 2013 mayor.Despite her earlier career as a “radical” on the far left of city
politics, first as a campaign manager for Council member Tom Duane and
then later a Council member herself, Quinn has emerged as the real
estate community’s favorite for mayor, besting Comptroller John Liu and
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, co-sponsors of a rent control bill that
has plagued the industry. Quinn, on the other hand, is a fan of rent regulation but seems more flexible on other issues, such as development. [more]