East Village residents turn down buyouts

Tenants in a rent-stabilized East Village apartment building are refusing buyout offers of $125,000 from Icon Realty Management, owned by Terrence Lowenberg and Todd Cohen. Although many of the residents pay less than $1,000 a month for rent in the six-story building at 176 East 3rd Street, they say that after taxes the buyouts wouldn’t be enough to live in Manhattan. An estimated six of the 48 residents have accepted the deal and moved out.