By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — An Upper West Side butler who inherited two apartments in the famed Dakota apartment building has been deemed eligible to apply for ownership of the apartments by the co-op board.
Indra Tamang, a Nepalese butler and caretaker for more than three decades for the late actress Ruth Ford, was left two apartments in the famous building when she died in 2009.
There was speculation as to whether Tamang would be allowed to apply for ownership of the apartments, but the co-op board released a statement in response to this "baseless speculation," according to the Wall Street Journal.
"We at The Dakota are proud that for many years ours has been an extraordinarily diverse community of residents," the statement said.
Tamang, who has worked at the Dakota for decades, is held in high esteem by all those in the building who know him, according to the statement.
Tamang put the larger of the two apartments on the market in December, but told the Journal that he was considering requesting permission to keep the smaller studio apartment in the mean time.
Ford, Tamang's benefactor, was the married to Hollywood actor Zachary Scott. Scott and Ford moved into a three-bedroom apartment in the Dakota in the 1950s, where they both lived until their respective deaths.
