A landlord of an Upper West Side building is renting out a newly installed pool to a business that provides swim lessons to kids — a move that’s seen as an affront to rent-regulated tenants banned from using it themselves.
Stellar Management’s Larry Gluck, who poured $10 million into recent renovations, recently restricted residents of the 23-story Windermere at 666 West End Avenue who pay below-market rents from using the building’s amenities, the New York Daily News reported.
Along with the swimming pool, those residents no longer have access to the children’s playroom, lounge or rooftop patio, according to the Daily News.
Other city landlords have made similar moves, which Public Advocate Letitia James described as a “troubling pattern in New York City of long-term, rent-stabilized tenants being pressured to leave their apartments,” according to the Daily News. Some city officials have criticized the practice, including Assembymember Linda Rosenthal, who recently introduced a bill that would fine building owners as much as $25,000 if they bar rent-regulated tenants from using amenities, as previously reported.
SwimJim, the swimming school, has opened up lessons to all children in the building at a discounted rate. [NYDN] — Angela Hunt