Tishman Speyer Victory: Can Appeal Stuy Town Rent Ruling

Crain's New York Business:

Tishman Speyer Properties won a huge victory Monday when it was granted the right to appeal a decision that found it had been illegally deregulating rents at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

Monday's decision means Tishman Speyer will take the closely watched case to the New York State Court of Appeals with the hope of reversing a ruling that would have cost it and other landlords hundreds of millions of dollars.

Read the whole story: Crain's New York Business

Comments

[Solanto]

Three cheers to HuffPo for covering this case of corporate tax malfeasance. Tishman Speyer applied for and was granted a taxpayer subsidized J-51 abatement. J-51 abatements reduce the taxes a property owner would otherwise have to pay into state and city coffers. The only concession the city requires of developers/property owners who are granted these generous abatements is that the all apartments in the affected property will be governed by the rent regulation system for the life of the abatement. Our politicians and city agencies often tout the great benefit of an increase in "affordable housing" due to this concession.

Now, it has been revealed, Tishman and other property owners have been applying for these abatements with no intention of complying with the stated concession. They say their lawyers have found a loophole (defying the letter and intent of these regulations) which allows them to avoid the burden of complying with the rent regulation concession. NY city and state taxpayers are sick to death of the Tamany Hall atmosphere which has prevailed here for the last few years. The powerful real estate lobby has spent millions to employ lawyers and lobbyists to game the system in their interest. Their high profile lobbyist, Kathleen Cudahy, was Mayor Bloomberg's ex-campaign aide. NY taxpayers have had enough!