Realtors deny plans to purchase ‘worst’ building

Posted

Real estate firm A&E Holdings has denied media reports that it was planning to purchase buildings owned by the estate of Harry Silverstein—the “worst landlord” in the city, according to Public Advocate Letitia James’ 2016 list. 

The story “was based on a faulty report and is incorrect,” an A&E spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The company has held no conversations with the Silverstein family regarding acquisition of these buildings.” 

Real estate news website TheRealDeal.com reported last month, citing unidentified sources, that A&E was in talks with Silverstein’s son, Eric, about a possible purchase of 14 buildings owned by the Silverstein estate. 

Eight of Harry Silverstein’s buildings were listed on the New York public advocate’s list of the city’s “worst landlords” last year. Those buildings include one in the northwest Bronx—at 3971 Gouverneur Ave. 

While under Silverstein’s ownership, his buildings—mostly in Brooklyn and Queens—amassed 2,032 Housing Preservation and Development Department violations, along with 50 violations with the Buildings Department.

Meanwhile, A&E Holdings is currently facing a lawsuit in the Manhattan Supreme Court from a coalition of tenants who have alleged that the firm, the fifth-largest in the city, illegally raised rents on rent-stabilized apartments. 

According to Aaron Carr, the founder of the Housing Rights Initiative, whose investigation sparked the lawsuit, A&E Holdings used individual apartment improvements, or IAIs, as a loophole for raising rent on stabilized units. 

“In theory, IAIs allow landlords to make improvements to apartments. In practice, IAIs are a breeding ground for fraud and a sink hole for our city’s affordable housing stock,” he said in a statement.

The current lawsuit comes on the heels of another in 2014, when state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office accused A&E of illegally buying out the tenants of rent-stabilized apartments. The real estate firm settled for $540,000.

 

Comments