Loft residents in Williamsburg, who claim to be the some of the original gentrifiers of the neighborhood, are fighting their eviction from a mostly vacant building, citing a new law that allows lofts to be rent-regulated. “The people like us who made Williamsburg cool are now the ones being given the boot,” resident David Opdyke who moved into the building in question, at 338 Berry Street, in the 1990s, told the Post.
The seven remaining residents at the building, between South 4th and 5th streets, say that when the state revised a law that excluded lofts from rent protections in 2010, the change applied to their homes, even though they had signed an agreement previously agreeing to move out in 2011.
While A Recent Brooklyn Supreme Court decision sided with landlord Mona Gora-Friedman, the residents have appealed, the Post said. [Post]