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Read the press release here.

Here's What the Stuy Town Deal Means for Current and Future Tenants

By Noah Hurowitz | October 22, 2015 6:06pm
 The company that bought Stuy Town for $5.3 billion also agreed to protect 5,000 units from going market rate for 20 years.
The company that bought Stuy Town for $5.3 billion also agreed to protect 5,000 units from going market rate for 20 years.
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DNAInfo/Noah Hurowitz

STUYVESANT TOWN — News of the $5.3 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village left many residents scratching their heads about what it might mean for their future.

Under the terms of the deal, the complex must maintain a minimum of 5,000 rent-stabilized, below-market-rate units until the deal expires in January 2036. At that point, buyer BlackStone will be allowed to incrementally raise the rent to market rate over the next five years, barring any additional protections.

So what does this mean for people already living in Stuy Town or people who might want to snag affordable units as they open up?

For current tenants:

►Units that are currently rent-stabilized will remain so. If a rent-stabilized tenant moves out of their unit in the next 20 years, they must be replaced by a tenant whose income qualifies for an affordable lease.

► If a current resident’s lease expires, he or she can renew under existing rent-stabilization regulations. If those regulations were to expire for any reason, the tenants’ rents would be protected under the terms of the new deal until 2036 (rents would be capped at 165 percent of the area median income), at which point BlackStone could raise the rent by a maximum of five percent per year over the next five years.

For current "Roberts Tenants":

► Tenants whose rents are protected from market-rate increases under the 2009 Roberts decision will be protected until 2020, when the J-51 tax abatement stabilizing their rent expires. BlackStone may then raise their rents no more than 5 percent each year for the next five years, at which point these tenants will again be subject to market-rate increases.

► If the lease of a Roberts tenant expires before 2020, they will be protected from market-rate increases until 2020.

For those who want to apply to live in an affordable unit in Stuy Town:

► Starting in January, when the deal goes into effect, there will be lotteries for any available rent-stabilized units in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village.

► New tenants who move into below-market, rent-stabilized apartments will be protected for as long as they live in that unit. When the 20-year deal is up they will be protected by traditional rent-stabilization regulations.

► You can apply to move into a new rent-stabilized apartment if your household income is no greater than 165 percent of the area monthly income, or $128,205 for a family of three. 

► A total of 4,500 of the 5,000 affordable units will be dedicated to middle-income tenants. For these units, rents may not exceed 30 percent of the household income, or about $3,205 per month for a family of three in a two-bedroom apartment.

► The remaining 500 units will be reserved for tenants making just 80 percent of the area median income, or about $62,150 for a family of three. These tenants will pay no more than 30 percent of their household income, or about $1,553, for a family of three in a two-bedroom apartment.

Other notes:

► According to Councilman Dan Garodnick, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and representatives of BlackStone, new tenants living in rent-stabilized units will have access to the same amenities as other tenants, and the day-to-day management of the complex will continue to fall to the current employees. 

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the cap on rents for affordable apartments under the Stuy Town deal. The correct figure is 165 percent.