Co-op city

Co-op City, a 15,000-unit affordable housing community in the Bronx, has secured a massive refinancing which will allow it to continue to remain affordable for many years to come.

The community’s mortgage has been refinanced by Wells Fargo for $621 million, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency said. The loan is the largest ever insured by HUD and the only loan it has insured on a co-op property. The complex is home to more than 57,000 residents. [more]

From left: Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President, and Co-op City

The Metro-North railroad is close to approving plans for a new stations in the Bronx, including in grossly under-served Co-op City, Crain’s reported. The change could revitalize the Co-op City area, Crain’s said.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. called the plan to build a commuter railroad station in the community the “most important transportation investment in the Bronx since construction of the subways during the early 20th century.”

The 35-tower Co-op City is home to more than 60,000 residents. [more]

Co-op City

The residents of the nation’s largest co-op, Co-op City in the Bronx, are in talks to take out a $600 million loan that could allow the middle-income housing complex to remain in the Mitchell-Lama program, the Wall Street Journal reported. [more]

A disabled man triumphed in court over Riverbay for the second time in less than a year, arguing that the managers of Co-op City are obliged to install automatic openers at the front doors of his building, the New York Daily News reported.

John Rose, a longtime resident of the Co-op City building at 100 Aldrich Street in the Bronx, has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair but can’t open the front doors of his building alone. He can, however, enter through the handicap accessible side doors. … [more]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development filed charges against the RiverBay Corporation, which operates Co-op City in the Baychester section of the Bronx, for violating the Fair Housing Act, the agency said. RiverBay allegedly denied a disabled tenant’s request to live with a medically prescribed support animal and further harassed that tenant because of the animal.

Though the tenant did sign a “no pets” provision upon first moving in, that was “a number of years” before he requested a service animal, with letters from his doctor and the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene explaining his need for the animal.

But RiverBay allegedly denied the request and began refusing to accept the tenant’s rent payments while attempting to evict him. Eventually RiverBay stopped pushing for eviction, but continued to deny his request while security officers “harassed” the tenant and his wife for keeping the animal, according to the HUD. – Adam Fusfeld… [more]

Investigation into a member of Co-op City’s board of directors getting pushed to the top of the waiting list for a sought-after townhouse may not be the only scandal plaguing the 25-building development in Baychester, the Daily News reported. Now, applications submitted by two other board members for a pair of two-story townhouses may need to be re-examined to see if their stated incomes qualify them for the townhouses at the complex, a 320-acre housing cooperative managed by Riverbay. One board faction has brought in Riverbay’s lawyer to investigate. There are also rumors that there is a movement among that board faction calling for an outside independent investigation, according to the Daily News. The next step may be to bring in the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which oversees the Mitchell-Lama complex.

[NYDN, 1st item]

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Bronx’s Co-op City, a 25-building development in Baychester, is investigating allegations that a board member was pushed to the top of the waiting list for a sought-after townhouse. Though Co-op City is comprised mostly of apartments, it also has 236 smaller townhouses, with a five-year waiting list, sources told the New York Daily News. The complex is a 320-acre housing cooperative managed by Riverbay, which is overseen by a 15-member board of directors and one state housing representative. The board — whose members live there — voted Tuesday to have in-house attorney Jeffrey Buss investigate whether Riverbay’s sales department broke any rules by transferring the townhouse to a new owner who also is a board member. Last week, several board members called for a probe into the transfer, claiming that Riverbay sales director Steve Gold may have given board member Leticia Morales preferential treatment. Morales moved into the townhouse a month ago, and denies any involvement in being bumped up the list, while Gold has been suspended pending the probe. A spokesperson for the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which oversees sales and transfers at subsidized Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-op City, said the agency is reviewing the allegations. [NYDN]

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The North Bronx’s Co-op City has ranked as the hardest hit neighborhood in New York City, according to data compiled by research group ESRI. The 10475 zip code — most of which is taken up by Co-op city, a small community of 35 high-rise apartments — saw its jobless rate hit 12.3 percent in July, nearly double its rate at the same time a year ago. Council member Larry Seabrook, who represents the neighborhood, said that many area residents had been employed in construction or finance, two of the hardest hit industries in the financial crisis. “The impact of the financial crisis has an effect on Wall Street, but it has an effect on Co-op City Boulevard as well,” Seabrook said.