Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association

Anyone remember the last time The Wall Street Journal had a good word to say about tenants?  How about Wednesday, April 14th.  In a short but oh-so-sweet article, the Lingling Wei, the reporter who has been closely following the aftermath of the Tishman Speyer debacle, had the following to say:

Tenants groups in New York are notoriously disorganized, but that isn’t true about the one representing tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

The apartment complex is the focus of one of the most high-profile defaults in the commercial-property downturn.

With an eye toward joining a bid for the property, the tenants group has lined up some big names as advisers, including white-shoe law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and financial advisory Moelis & Co.

Residents in more than half of the 10,500 occupied apartments have signed “unity pledges” to give the group their backing, as it pursues a plan that could allow residents to buy their units at discounts or remain as rent-stabilized tenants.

The tenants group has met with more than 40 potential partners and lenders to come up with a bid.  The property is being turned over by a partnership led by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Inc. to creditors after it defaulted on $4.4 billion in debt.

“As we build support for a tenant-led plan, many of the major players in real estate and finance are seeking to partner with us,” said New York City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who lives in the complex.

By Lingling, Wei