Tishman Speyer inspects for code violations at Stuy Town, some skeptical

Tishman Speyer has been on the hunt for building and fire safety code violations at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, inspecting each and every one of the 11,000 units in the complex for noncompliant temporary walls. But given the owner’s well-documented financial distress, many residents and city officials are skeptical. The searches, they say, are a thinly veiled attempt at evicting longtime tenants, many of whom are rent-stabilized, so that the owner can rent those apartments at market rates. Tenants are being given little notice before inspections, said City Council member and Stuyvesant Town resident Dan Garodnick. “These inspections should not be used as a way to play ‘gotcha’ with residents,” he said. This isn’t the first time Stuy Town residents have clashed with their landlord. In May, a New York State Appellate Court ruled in favor of tenants who claimed Tishman Speyer had illegally charged market-rate rents on units that should have been rent stabilized.