New Buyer Brings a Deal within Reach for 10 Dilapidated Bronx Apartment Buildings

"I'm holding my breath," said Peter Silva, a tenant at 2501 Aqueduct Ave. in Fordham. "We want to move forward."

 

The city and tenant advocates have yet to bless the $28 million deal, but Scarsdale investor Steve Finkelstein, who already owns about 30 Bronx properties, has vowed to renovate eight of the buildings, cap rent hikes for two years and not pursue back rent. He hopes to resell the two smallest buildings to a buyer approved by the city.

 

The tenants and their advocates aren't completely sold on Finkelstein, who has promised to mend 80% of the housing violations at the buildings in three months.

 

They say the would-be landlord's $28 million bid is too high, and he isn't allocating enough for repairs.

 

The 10 West Bronx buildings have racked up more than 4,000 violations for vermin, broken pipes and collapsed floors.

 

The tenants and their advocates believe the buildings - purchased by Milbank Real Estate in 2007 during the housing boom - need a $20million fixup.

 

Finkelstein said he expects to shell out up to $10million for the job.

 

"We don't have a deal yet," said advocate Dina Levy of the nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. "The final terms have yet to be worked out."

 

The tenants are driving a hard bargain because they've been to hell and back since 2009, when Milbank's monster $35million mortgage sank the firm and the buildings went into foreclosure.

 

Last year, Silva's building went without heat and hot water for six months; it had no heat last week.

 

Half the apartments are empty, speckled with mildew and mold.

 

"We have drug dealers using the vacant apartments," said Silva. "They do drugs and bring women there."

 

The mortgage holder, Florida-based LNR Partners, nearly sold the notes to a speculator last August, but nixed the swap under pressure from tenant advocates and the city.

 

Now Finkelstein, a Bronx landlord for 40 years, wants a crack at the slums.

 

"There's a lot of work to be done," he said. "But I know what I have to do. These are good buildings - they just need someone to take care of them."

 

The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development is demanding Finkelstein keep the buildings affordable long-term, and a spokesman called recent talks "encouraging."

 

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was cautious.

 

"At this time, the tenants are stuck between a rock and a hard place," she said. "They have to choose between this deal, which is risky, or wait and take their chances on a deal that could be potentially worse - or better.

 

"Either way, the City Council has been working diligently to ensure that the voices of the Milbank tenants are heard... and will continue to support them."

 

Silva wants to meet Finkelstein face to face.

 

"We know he's not responsible for what happened," said the tenant. "But he needs to know that neither are we."

 

by Daniel Beekman