STUYVESANT TOWN — The tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have decided to cut out the middleman and go right to the source in purchasing the massive residential complex.
In a letter sent out to residents on Tuesday, the complex’s tenants association announced that it would no longer deal directly with CW Capital Asset Management, the company that controls the property, and would go straight to the bondholders that own it.
The association said CW Capital had been unwilling to work with residents on putting together an offer that would allow tenants to buy the complex.
“[CW Capital] consistently declines to engage with us,” John Marsh, president of the tenants association, said in a statement.
In the letter sent to fellow residents, the tenants association charged that CW Capital "has a responsibility to engage with us directly when we stand before it with our solid financial partner, Brookfield [Asset Management], prepared to make the bondholders whole.”
“It is time for us, as residents of this community, to have stability in our lives again — not endless speculation,” the association wrote.
Representatives for CW Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The tenants association of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village announced its intention to purchase the property late last year.
It planned to finance the deal with help from Brookfield Asset Management and pledged to allow those who wanted to purchase their apartments the opportunity to buy, while accommodating those who preferred to remain rent-stabilized.
But in the letter sent out to fellow residents Tuesday, the tenants association said CW Capital has refused to engage in discussions that would allow a tenant-led bid to move forward.
City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who represents Stuy Town and is also a resident, sent a letter to CW Capital informing the firm of the tenants’ decision to cut the company out of the negotiations.
“To the extent that CW Capital cannot see the wisdom of having this conversation with an organized community that has secured a capital partner prepared to get you a full recovery, perhaps these others will,” Garodnick wrote in a letter to Charles Spetka, CEO of CW Financial Services, CW Capital's parent company.
“After decades of peace in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the last six years have brought conflict, upheaval and instability,” Garodnick added. “While we cannot point fingers at CW Capital for creating the problem, we certainly can fault you for prolonging it.”
