Stuyvesant Town and Robert Scaglion, a senior managing director with property manager Rose Associates

Rents on nearly 600 vacant units at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are set to climb an average of $2,100 or more in the coming months, according to property manager Rose Associates, following the completion of an average renovation of $84,210 to each unit.

The project, set to cost roughly $48 million, according to special servicer CWCapital, which took control of the property early last year, includes the renovation of the 570 apartments in a similarly modern style to former owner Tishman Speyer, which renovated many of the units when it bought the 110-building complex for $5.4 billion in 2006, according to Robert Scaglion, a senior managing director with Rose Associates.

Scaglion said that despite the increases, which would bring rents roughly up to the market value of similar apartments, the units will remain rent-stabilized. Many of the units have rents of $900 a month, he noted, which would mean those rents would go up to roughly $3,000 a month. [more]

While the rent-to-own sales plan showed little momentum in many New York City developments recently, Downtown Brooklyn condominium Oro may be finding some success in the strategy. The 303-unit building at 306 Gold Street has sold 20 apartments through the rent-to-own program, according to Robert Scaglion, a senior managing director at Rose Associates, the building’s exclusive sales agent. Oro, which launched sales in February 2007, first began offering the rent-to-own option a year ago. TRD [more]

Inside a unit at the Oro condominium

The Oro condominium in Downtown Brooklyn announced today that it will offer a rent-to-own program for interested buyers. Under the program, 50 percent or more of the monthly rent cost goes toward a down payment. The development, which slashed prices on its units by as much as 25 percent in October, has notoriously struggled with sales in the two years since it began marketing units. As The Real Deal reported in the December issue, approximately 12 buyers at Greenfield Partners’ Oro — at 306 Gold Street — are currently disputing their contracts. The building currently has approximately 40 percent of its 303 units
sold and is financially stable, according to Rose Associates, which is
marketing Oro. Robert Scaglion, senior managing director at Rose, said
that the program has been implemented in order to help buyers secure
financing for their purchase. “In today’s market, obtaining financing
is often the greatest hurdle,” Scaglion said. “Oro’s rent-to-own program gives buyers the flexibility of having a 12-month period to obtain financing, improve credit scores or make a larger deposit.” TRD [more]