Strange days at the Apthorp, the Upper West Side luxury compound where more than half of the 163 units are rent-stabilized (Nora Ephron famously paid just $2,000/month before getting the boot). As we all know, Lev Leviev did not pay $430 million for a 50% stake to keep the building in the hands of those pesky renters, that's for sure, and New York has an update on how the new ownership team (Leviev and co-owner Maurice Mann) is trying to maximize profits until that condo plan they won't cop to can finally move ahead. It's a doozy.
As late as July, Mann and Leviev neither confirmed nor denied the condo rumors. They were “exploring their options.” But residents were on edge, their fears running from massive rent hikes to flat-out evictions, and for some, the worst-case scenario happened almost immediately. Over the spring and summer, as lease after lease expired and got renewed, the building’s market-rate renters saw their rents rise by jaw-dropping sums all across the price spectrum. Apartment 3KS, a two-bedroom, went from $6,000 a month to $14,865. The monthly rate for one five-bedroom went overnight from $24,000 to $35,000. It is rumored that the monthly rent for at least one particularly spacious unit rose to $54,000—an impressive figure even for the rarefied Manhattan luxury-rental market.Jacked-up rents, celebrities and big bank accounts? It's like a sexed up version of Stuy Town!
· Apoplectic at the Apthorp [NYM]
· Apthorp Sold for Record Price, Going (Slowly) Condo [Curbed]