Tenants of Roosevelt Island building can buy units at reduced prices

A 400-unit residential complex on Roosevelt Island, called Island House, is going co-op. A new program worked out with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal will allow existing tenants of the building to buy their apartments at reduced prices, if they wish, David Hirschhorn, a general partner of the group that owns Island House, told Crain’s. He declined to provide prices for the apartments.

There were limited options available for the building, which was built under the state’s Mitchell-Lama program, but whose guarantees of reduced rent had expired. The program provides tax breaks for developers who in exchange have a ceiling on rents they can charge for a specified period.

“The options for the building would have been to convert it to unregulated rentals or to so something else,” Hirschhorn told the magazine. “For tenants we are giving them an opportunity to become a homeowner and rental protection, for us, [the owner], it allows liquidity through selling units.” [Crain’s] — Guelda Voien