Legends has just obtained the following court document in the arbitration hearing BD NY Hotels, LLC vs Chelsea 23 St. Corp. We link to it here in its entirety because it is a sworn affidavit from minority shareholder David Elder in which he states his intention to evict permanent tenants and turn their apartments into transient hotel rooms.
For the purposes of his financial calculations, Elder gives what he calls a “conservative” estimate to the effect that 20 of the 120 permanent units can be converted to transient use. (This is in addition to the 16 apartments secured by BD’s efforts to force out tenants.) Though this may not seem like a lot, remember, this is 20 of us (or maybe more, depending on how many live in these apartments.) So who will it be? The people who are behind on their rent? The elderly or unstable living in “cluttered” apartments? Those who have been luxury decontrolled? The people who haven’t yet hired a lawyer? Probably it will be a few from each of these groups.
What’s more, these are rooms that will never again house permanent residents – thus hastening the end of the Bohemian life style that has existed at the Chelsea for 125 years.
The other interesting thing that Elder reveals is that he and Marlene Krauss are planning a $15 million capital improvement project. Of course, money spent on certain types of capital improvements can be recouped by raising our rents (yes, this goes even for rent stabilized tenants), and presumably Krauss and Elder are hoping they drive some of us over the luxury decontrol threshold and/or make our apartments prohibitively expensive. -- Ed Hamilton (Image: PAGE 2 of the )
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