A group of elderly tenants at the 59-building Flatbush Gardens complex in Brooklyn have received eviction notices from landlord David Bistricer on the grounds that they’ve been holding raucous parties at their apartments, the Daily News reported. “You… or guests of yours, have been observed smoking, drinking alcohol, loitering and gambling in the common areas of the building,” Bistricer, principal of Clipper Equity, wrote to tenant Victoria Davis, 69. Davis, a survivor of two strokes who has no children and who says she hasn’t had a drink in decades, pays $680 per month for her one-bedroom home.
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Posts Tagged ‘clipper equity’
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Brooklyn real estate developer David Bistricer of Clipper Equity has been added to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s watch list of slumlords. Bistricer’s Flatbush Gardens, a 30-acre, 59-building complex in East Flatbush has 6,475 open code violations, with 827 of them for serious threats to health or safety. “The landlord is clearly trying to change the nature of the development and make it more appealing to upper-income tenants,” de Blasio told the Daily News. “This may be a landlord who purposely wants to reduce the level of service to encourage… tenants to leave.” During a tour, the Daily News spotted raw sewage collecting in a graffiti-covered basement, broken locks, shattered windows and exposed wiring. Several tenants complained of mice and roach infestations as well ceilings collapsing from water damage.
Richard Rubenstein, a spokesperson for Bistricer, who led the group of investors that bought the complex in 2005 for $138.5 million, said the owners have addressed and removed over 5,000 violations and that they intend to meet with de Blasio to do what it takes to get off the slumlord list. The conditions at Flatbush Gardens — formerly known as Vanderveer Estates — were one factor federal officials cited when they rejected Clipper Equity’s $1.3 million bid for the 46-building Starrett City complex in 2007. They also cited a 1998 court order banning Bistricer from selling condos in New York because of financial irregularities. [NYDN]
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752 West End Avenue (source: PropertyShark)
David Bistricer’s Clipper Equity and the family-owned Rieder Holdings closed on the purchase of the 197-unit Upper West Side apartment building at 752 West End Avenue from Westbrook Partners for $72.36 million.The purchase of the former hotel built in 1931, known as the Paris, which closed today, is one of the most expensive apartment sales so far this year. The Real Deal reported in July that the building was in contract.Bistricer, a managing partner with Brooklyn-based Clipper Equity, confirmed the purchase and said the new owners would make improvements in the structure and did not plan on a condominium conversion.“We are long-term owners. Right now we will keep it as a rental. That is the plan,” he said. “We think it is a great location, a beautiful building. It was well-maintained by Westbrook and we are going to take it to the next level.”The sale has not yet appeared in city property records.Private equity firm Westbrook apparently took a $13 million loss on the approximately 161,000-square-foot building located at 97th Street, which it bought in August 2007 for $85.8 million, city property records show. Westbrook declined to comment.Aaron Jungreis, president of investment sales firm Rosewood Realty Group, was the broker on the purchase and Adam Spies and Douglas Harmon, senior managing directors at Eastdil Secured, were advisors to Westbrook.The only larger sales in Manhattan this year were the portfolio of three former Macklowe Properties apartment buildings for $475 million to Sam Zell’s Equity Residential; a $125 million purchase by New York University of a dorm; and the $125 million foreclosure auction of Riverton Houses.Bistricer was a bidder on the purchase of the 5,881-unit apartment project Starrett City in Brooklyn, but the $1.3 billion sale was blocked in 2007 by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. Bistricer also bid on the Riverton Houses at the foreclosure auction of the property in March, but was outbid by the lender, CWCapital Asset Management.The Rieder family began in New Jersey and owns and manages about 1,000 apartment units in the area, Samuel Rieder, a principal with the company, said. -
189 Bridge is now partly rentalFrom the November issue: Like many other development firms, the Clarett Group rode the wave of
the real estate boom expertly, building successful condos in Manhattan
and other markets across the country. Like a host of other developers,
however, the company hit a damaging riptide in Downtown Brooklyn. A few
months ago, Clarett’s condo, the Forté, went back to its lender,
Eurohypo AG. The move was the most boldface example thus far of the
difficulties developers have encountered selling condos in Downtown
Brooklyn, generally defined as the section of the borough bounded by
Nassau Street to the north, Ashland Place to the east, Schermerhorn
Street to the south and Court Street to the west. That catch zone
encompasses several micro-neighborhoods, including the western edge of
Fort Greene. Several big developers are feeling pain in the saturated
area, which has been generating a lot of attention lately because three
new luxury rental towers are preparing to launch. [more]
