The Architect's Newspaper, May 7, 2008

When Tishman-Speyer dropped $5.4 billion on Stuyvesant Town in 2006, it was the largest sum ever paid for a single residential property. Now they're mining the neighborhood for some way to make good on their investment, and residents aren't happy.

Though big—110 buildings, 11,200 apartments—Stuy Town isn't exactly a cash cow. It was built by Met Life in the '40s as affordable housing for veterans, and most of the apartments are still rent-stabilized. Tishman-Seyer is kicking out illegal tenants of rent-stabilized apartments, and raising rents on market rate units, sometimes by as much as 25 or 30 percent. This prompted an angry letter in late March from city councilmember Daniel Garodnick, who says Tishman-Speyer's tactics are dangerously imprecise as some legal, long-term residents are finding non-renewal notices in their mailboxes.

"Unfortunately," Garodnick said, "many legitimate long-term tenants are getting swept up in this. They're scared, angry, and frustrated."

Tishman-Speyer promised no major changes when it bought Stuy Town. In a statement issued after the sale, CEO Jerry I. Speyer said, "The thousands of tenants in rent-stabilized apartments are completely protected by the existing system. No one should be concerned about a sudden or dramatic shift in this neighborhood's make-up, character or charm."

Still, residents are worried that this signals the end of Stuy Town as they knew it. The tenant shake-up combined with lingering—though officially unconfirmed—fears of new developments on Stuy Town's beloved green space have kicked a long-standing effort to landmark the neighborhood into high gear.

"It's worth preserving, certainly now that the community is changing," says Susan Steinberg, Vice President of the Tenants Association. Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council says that making Stuy Town an official landmark wouldn't just protect the physical site—a towers-in-the-park postcard from the days of mid-century Modernism—but also highlight the philosophies behind the plan.

"Met Life stepped up to the plate," he said. "Here was a corporation honoring the needs of regular people. In 20 years, when it's impossible to live anywhere in the city, Stuy Town will be a reminder that hey, it WAS possible, and maybe it can be again."

Steinberg doesn't hesitate to admit, laughingly, that Stuy Town's towers aren't beauty pageant material, but, she says, it's what inside that counts.

"Every now and then we get a letter like, 'That place is ugly! Who are you kidding?'" Steinberg explains. "But they don't understand that there's so much more to it than that. While not an architectural stunner, it certainly has a lot of history."