Rent Hike Rattles Biggest High Rise in the Bronx

File photo by Adi Talwar

Editor's note: A version of this story appears in the latest issue of the Norwood News, which is out on streets now. Tenants at Tracey Towers are meeting tonight to discuss strategy.

By Alex Kratz

Residents at Tracey Towers, the twin concrete high-rises (one of them looms in the background of the photo to your right) on Mosholu Parkway, are bracing for another battle with management over their desire to raise rents up to 77 percent over the course of the next three years.

In a recent letter to tenants, RY Management, which has run the 869-unit apartment complex since the early 1980s, said the current rent rates do not cover the cost of maintaining the buildings and they had applied for a rent increase with the city’s department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD). Because it was built under the state’s Mitchell-Llama program, HPD must approve any rent increase.

Tracey residents claim RY’s problems are the result of mismanagement and they shouldn’t be the ones to shoulder all of the burden.

In the past, tenants say, RY has squandered funding that tenants have paid for. A few years ago, RY received a $4 million loan to repair the roof and do some work on the façade, which was cracking and causing leaks. They paid to erect scaffolding, but instead of doing the roof and façade work, RY used the money to replace the boilers. Meanwhile, the scaffolding remains at a cost of $5,000 a month even though it isn’t being used.

Another Landlord/Tenant Dispute in the West Bronx

The so-called "home of hip-hop" isn't the only Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in the news this week. According to AM New York, tenants living in 1849 Sedgwick Ave. have bought a class action suit against their landlord who's allegedly failed to correct hundreds of housing code violations, leaving them without heat and forcing them to share their apartments with rats and roaches.

If you missed it, HPD recently decided to close the door on the proposed sale of 1520 Sedgwick Ave. The building, once home to hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc, is part of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program. (1849 Sedgwick Ave. also used to be enrolled.) Tenants and housing advocates were worried the sale to a wealthy real estate developer - and the building's removal from the program - would result in soaring rents. According to The Times, the sale was scuppered "because the financing of the sale was not viable under current rent restrictions." More here.

In January, tenants announced their intention to buy the building themselves and convert it into affordable co-operatives. Thanks to HPD's decision, that now looks more likely.

Battle in the Bronx to Save Hip-Hop's Home

Here's some shots from this morning's press conference at 1520 Sedgwick Ave., aka the "home the hip-hop," a 100-unit apartment complex in Morris Heights.

It's a building, say housing advocates, that's in danger of losing its affordability, following the landlord's decision, last February, to remove it from Mitchell-Lama housing program, a state program whereby landlords keep rents low in return for tax credits.

At today's event, tenants announced their intention to buy the building themselves (with a little help from HPD) and to convert the apartments into affordable cooperatives. The amount they've raised, however, is a couple of million short of what real estate developer, Mark Karasick, is after. A fundraising Web site has been launched to generate publicity and pull in the rest.


The west Bronx has become a graveyard of sorts for Mitchell-Lama buildings. In 2006, for example, both 1655 Undercliff Ave. and 1889 Sedgwick Ave. were yanked from the program. But it's 1520 Sedgwick Ave. that's getting the attention, chiefly because of its official status as the birthplace of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Originally, tenants and advocates hoped that the building's musical legacy, and the fact that it's now eligible to be listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places, would block the Mitchell-Lama buyout. This now seems unlikely, hence the tenants' decision to try and purchase it.

Pictured above is hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc, who lived in the building in the 1970s. (Herc said he'll be calling P Diddy, 50 Cent, and other stars with deep pockets to ask for a contribution.) Below is New York Senator Chuck Schumer with tenants. Above right, a view of 1520 Sedgwick Ave. from the street. (Photos by J. Fergusson)

More here in The Times. And here's what The Times' David Gonzalez wrote about 1520 Sedgwick Ave. back in May.

Mitchell-Lama Task Force to Meet Tomorrow at Fordham University

The Bronx Borough President's Office, Tenants and Neighbors, and the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition will host an educational session for Mitchell-Lama residents tomorrow (Saturday Septmber 29) at Fordham University. The event will be held in the McGinley Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

According to the Bill Egbert's article in the Daily News, "The talks will center on how to organize building residents, how to stop a buyout and how residents can make their voices heard in the legislative process now surrounding the Mitchell-Lama Housing crisis."

A similar event was held back in May.


UPDATE:

Crain's is reporting that the New York State Housing Financing Agency (HFA) will

"offer low-cost financing to owners of Mitchell Lama developments, in an effort to keep them in the affordable-housing program. HFA also said it plans to offer up to $15 million of zero-interest repair loans to Mitchell Lama developments in need of immediate improvement."

This move by Spitzer may keep some buildings in the program and improve conditions in others, both of which are good things.

Officially, The Birth Place of Hip Hop

Despite a steady downpour this morning, Congressman Jose Serrano, Senator Chuck Schumer, local residents and a handful of Bronx hip-hop legends showed up in the West Bronx to celebrate New York State's formal recognition of 1520 Sedgwick Ave. as the official birth place of hip hop.

The celebration was also an opportunity for the lawmakers to urge that 1520 Sedgwick remain affordable housing and to push for more affordable housing citywide. In February, the owners of the Birth Place of Hip Hop announced their intention to convert the property into market-rate housing. The 100-unit building is currently part of the city's Mitchell-Lama program, which keeps rents affordable, but is being phased out by owners throughout the five boroughs. Here's the Times' David Gonzalez's piece for some more background and depth.

Housing advocates say some 39,000 units may lose their Mitchell-Lama designation soon, forcing out many long-time tenants, unless Mayor Bloomberg puts a moratorium on buy-outs of all city-funded Mitchell-Lama buildings until a suitable preservation strategy can be created and implemented.

In the basement of 1520 Sedgwick, the hip hop music genre was born under the guidance and creaivity of DJ Kool Herc (aka Clive Campbell) in the 1970s. Herc and his sister, Cindy, threw parties in that basement featuring the first forms of hip hop music and dance. Since then, the Bronx has spawned hip hop icons such as Afrikaa Bambataa, Grandmaster Flash and KRS-One, to name just a few, and the genre has exploded across the globe.

West Bronx Housing

There's an interesting piece in today's New York Times about 1520 Sedgwick Avenue - a building widely seen as the birthplace of hip-hop. According to the Times, the building's landlord has recently opted out of the state's Mitchell-Lama Housing program, which will allow them to charge higher rents.

This part of Morris Heights has increasing home-ownership, and many buildings - including this one - have views of the Harlem River, the High Bridge, and Washington Heights. When you take into account the plans to renovate the Harlem River waterfront, not to mention the unprecedented development going on one mile south of the neighborhood (the new Yankee Stadium, the redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market), it's easy to see why landlords are getting excited.

Still, the west Bronx remains one of the cheapest (the cheapest?) places in the rent and to buy. On Sunday there was this article about buying in Highbridge, where house-hunters, priced out of Harlem and Inwood, can still find one-bedroom apartments for less than $100,000.