83 Year Old Bossert Tenant Worries About Its New Owners

By on November 20, 2012 7:06 am in Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Paper reports that one of the Bossert Hotel’s four rent-controlled tenants, 83 year old Monica Grier, has some concerns about life under the building’s new owners.

Brooklyn Paper: “When they go altering things, there are a number of things that can go wrong,” said Grier. “You always wonder what is it, and I didn’t want to wait and see.”

But an attorney for the new ownership, Clipper Equity and the Chetrit Group, said Grier and the three other tenants that live in the building have nothing to worry about.

“The owner recognizes there are four protected tenants who live in the building and their rights will be fully protected,” said Michael Sillerman, who added that he hadn’t heard Grier had hired a lawyer.

But Grier’s attorney, Richard Klass, hinted that landlords will sometimes make life difficult on tenants with guaranteed low rents in hopes of forcing them out — and he wants to make sure that doesn’t happen to his client.

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  • Still Here

    From a rent escalation POV, it is better to have a stabilized apartment than a controlled apartment.

    Approximately 40% of all apartments in Brooklyn are stabilized.

  • Nick BC

    Kudos to the new Bossert owners for doing the right thing and not harassing the very few remaining rent-controlled tenants. I’m glad we live in a city that has laws to protect the homes of these retirees.

    Does anyone know when the renovations will start and end? And when the new hotel will actually open? I’m excited about the new “Marine Roof”.

  • God Almighty

    Watch that lip Mr. Sacamano, and you shouldn’t be caught out in any thunderstorms for a while :)

  • Moni

    I was born in Manhattan, a wondrous place to grow up in the 40’s & 50’s. I came to Bklyn Hgts n the 60’s — a fabulous place to be young and thriving. The Heights was a charming, free, progressive, environment. All of NYC used to be fabulous — affordable rents, reasonable ticket prices for B’way, the opera, the ballet & other cultural gems (museums were free ). Yes, Bob has a right to express his views, but his views and those of other money-obsessed, self-important grubbers have ruined what used to be the greatest city in the world. As for Gerry — get real. No one is going to pay those elderly tenants of the Bossert a million bucks to get out. Like Bob, you have dollar signs blinking on and off in your deteriorating soul. I hope the owners of the new hotel are more compasionate.

  • Andrew Porter

    Gerry: Rent controlled apartment rents increase 7.5 percent *every year*—not just once every several years, as with Stabilized apts—so you can see after a while one is paying substantial amounts. If improvements are made, such as new windows, boiler, etc., these costs can also be passed on to the RC tenant. All this information is available by using the services of Mr. Google.

    When RC was established, there were more than 100,000 RC tenants in NYC. That has now dwindled to about 25,000, I believe.

  • Wiley E.

    Rents on Rent Control Apartment units increase by 7.5% per year. That’s compounding over time. It has been that way for years. Rent Stabilized rents go up around 3 or 4% per year. Those rates are set by the Bloomberg Administration.

    http://metcouncilonhousing.org/

  • Wiley E.

    Lookie, lookie. Read all about it!

    http://observer.com/term/david-bistricer/

  • Gerry

    @ Moni – i did not suggest that the new owners of the Bosset were going to pay tenants a million dollars to vacate I had explained a stituation on Montague Terrace where a landlord paid a tenant a ton of money to leave as an example of how to remove a tenant — get with the program Moni wake up and smell the coffee Moni read before you blog-off with inaccurate information Moni good thing for you being foolish is not illegal.

  • Wiley E.

    Gerry, have a chili-dog.

  • shamrock

    @ Gerry, your punctuation should be illegal.

  • Mr. Crusty

    I think Gerry’s keyboard must be defective. No period or comma keys. Either that or it is Gerry that is defective. Take your pick.

  • Scrambler

    @gerry did mention Montague Terrace in two of his responses on a thread about 4 people at the Bossert.

  • lori

    Now that I know the whole story, I will comment. A three bedroom apartment in a wonderful building in Brooklyn Heights for $1,000 a month? That is ridiculous! I know landlords are always the bad guy, but with taxes and all other expenses going up year after year, how could a landlord pay all his bills if his tenants pay the same rent they did over 40 years ago. Let’s be realistic.

  • lori

    Also, I know one bedroom apartments in buildings like 57 Montague Street where people are paying over $1,000 a month in maintenance alone on a cooperative they own! Don’t know what it would be for a three bedroom.

  • Gerry

    @ Lori – for each rent stabilized apt. at $1K a month most landlords have 4 other apts on the same floor that rent for $6K – $10K and up.

    It is the high market rents on the deregulated apartments that is used to pay bills, taxes, ulilites, etc.

    No landlord is burdened by rent stabilized tenants they can afford them the reason they want them out is so that they can get more money.

  • Wiley E.

    Landlords never open their books for public audit. It is not in their interest to do so. Don’t have pity on the greedy private slumlords. Most are doing just peachy by misleading you about profits they won’t disclose.

  • Knight

    I’m a cynic, as you may have surmised from earlier posts. I don’t understand why a tenant who has not either been harassed or experienced any ill will from the new owners would hire an attorney. Sounds more like a lawyer taking advantage of an 83 year old woman’s fears.

  • Gerry

    @ Knight – i agree I dont know what a lawyer is doing in the mix?

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