Manager of St. George Dorm “Gouging” Students: Post

By on February 19, 2012 12:52 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Education, Legal, Real Estate

Educational Housing Services, the not-for-profit entity that manages the dormitory for students and interns at the St. George Hotel building, Henry and Clark streets, is giving its residents a bum deal while paying top managers choice salaries, according to an article by Annie Karni in today’s Post.

New York Post: New York City college students are getting a lesson in gouging from the nonprofit that rents them their dorm rooms.
…
[T]he tax-exempt group — which pays CEO George Scott $718,032 a year and steered $2.9 million in 2010 to his wife’s company for providing “Internet, phone and cable services” — charges starving students above-market rents for below-market quarters.

According to the article, local brokers say students could share the rent for studios or one-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood for less than they pay for crowded spaces with shared bathrooms and communal “food warming areas” in the dorm. EHS counters that the dorm rent includes utilities, TVs in the room, access to fitness facilities, and top-notch security.

The article also says state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has supoenaed EHS for information concerning its executives’ compensation. A hat tip to Teresa Genaro of Brooklyn Backstretch for alerting us to this.

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  • Monty

    To be fair, a lot of landlords would never rent to college students period, least of all for a 9-month stint. They are justified in marking up rents at least a little bit. I’d be more concerned about the money being steered to his wife’s company.

  • JC

    The dorm? The kids are all DRUNKS by Wednesday night. It goes on until the wee hours. Perhaps, THIS is why they are charged extra? Because the cops need to patrol regularly?

    They have become a liability in the hood.

  • Knight

    JC: that’s just plain wrong. I see the kids standing outside smoking but I have never seen any of them drunk. And considering how many of them live in the dorms, they’re really not all that loud. Any dorm on any campus would be just as noisy. The noise does not go on to the wee hours, except sometimes towards the end of a semester when exams are over. The NYPD does not visit regularly. In fact, the kids who smoke and are in front of those buildings all hours of the day & night make Clark & Henry safer streets to walk down than a deserted Orange, Pineapple, or Hicks … safety the NYPD isn’t providing. Coming home from the subway often late at night, I can appreciate that.

  • Willow St. Neighbor

    Knight,
    I lived at 60 Pineapple for two years. Our apartment was on a low floor facing the building that houses the dorms. I cannot tell you how many times we lost sleep due to the partying that went on not only in the dorms but right outside my window. It was nightmare. I complained to the management several times but it did no good.
    EHS are not good neighbors!!!

  • Knight

    I live next door to the Clark Street building, also on a low floor. I rarely hear them at night.

  • Andrew Porter

    I heard *someone* last night about 3am, loud shouting of someone walking up Pineapple toward Henry. Who else?

    Those salaries are astoundingly high, though. What sort of housing is offered by the dorms here in BH for Brooklyn Law?

  • Knight

    So Andrew, if the shouting person walking up Pineapple toward Henry HAD to be an EHS student, you must know where he was coming from, as well.

  • T.K. Small

    Probably the “shouting” person was complaining about the high salaries!

  • WillowtownCop

    That sounds like an excellent idea! The next time you need help, don’t call the police – call a drunken college student in slippers and sweat pants! He’ll burn the mugger with his cigarette or something.

  • BronxKid

    Poor students, poor us.

  • hicks st guy

    get rid of the students, bring back the SRO with the drunks, drug addicts and indigents so that you’ll really have something to complain about.

  • Maggie

    I live a block up Henry from the St. George and I’m shocked at how quiet the kids are. I’m absolutely not surprised to hear about the high room prices though. EHS is taking advantage of the fact that college kids would NEVER find a rental in this neighborhood. And, let’s face it, it’s still probably cheaper than what they would pay in Manhattan, while being convenient.

  • MonroeOrange

    Hicks st guy – Hilarious! Bring back the SRO in all it’s glory! The open threads on here would be entertaining!

  • WillowtownCop

    I moved here when I was in college.

  • Ex-Resident

    As an Ex-resident of the dorm I can tell you, the CHEAPEST housing offered was $12,000 a year. Some were paying $16,000. As for the drunks, if you are not 21 you were not allowed to drink in the dorms, maybe could have been better enforced. If you were 21 you could have a six pack of beer or a 750ml bottle of wine. There really should be no hard liquor in residence. But the EHS theory is that if you are not in the dorm you are not their problem, so no wonder there are loud “drunks” outside at all hour of the night. The St. George looks better than it has in the last few decades, but those prices are outrageous, I am surprised the kids have anything left to buy alcohol with!!

  • Mandy

    I too am an ex-resident of the building. New to the city in grad school- I didn’t realize I would be getting ripped off by EHS until I arrived. However, I stayed for two weeks until I found an apartment that was affordable for me. These students could do the same thing.
    I always loved the neighborhood and decided once I had the means I would return. Now that I live on Hicks I can concur with the others- I have lost sleep from the students being loud. This has caused me to call 311 on one occasion and imagining opening my window and shooting them with water guns on more than one occasion.

  • gsn

    If they have $10 to pay for all those cigarettes they smoke and all the $5 lattes they buy at Tazza, they aren’t “starving”.They choose to spend their money at Over-priced Gristedes and going out to clubs. They get a lot of amenities included in their rent.

  • Knight

    I’d like to see gsn be put in charge of welfare & food stamp distribution!

  • Colin

    For many of them, it’s mommy and daddy’s money. For the others, they’ll feel the pain of student loan payments in a couple years.

  • Current Resident

    A lot of students are living at the St. George Hotel as a package with their college, so it is cheaper to dorm, say, through Pace University, than it is to dorm independently and pay the advertised prices. And if their dorm is a packaged deal with their school, financial aid can make the cost lower.
    Just putting that out there.
    Also, as a current resident from the dorm, I am living here independently and although the prices are disgustingly high, I am on a full-tuition scholarship to my school so in the end the cost is better than it would be under otherwise.

    That being said, I think the prices at this place are obscene and that the kids living here are worse! We are so loud! On behalf of us all, I would like to apologize for everything/anything.