Tenants Association and Brookfield Have Partnered to Bid for Ownership

Tenants Association president Al Doyle announces the agreement in the following letter to residents:

Dear Neighbor:

I wish to share with you some exciting and important news. Today the Tenants Association reached an agreement to work with Brookfield Asset Management to put together a bid to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

Our community has been through a lot over the past five years, and we continue to live in a state of limbo, with the future ownership of the property unclear. We simply cannot – and will not – sit idly by and wait for our future to be determined for us.

That is why for the last year the TA has been actively working with its professional advisors and our Councilman Dan Garodnick to determine the best way to restore long-term stability and affordability to Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town. We believe that the time is now right to put forth a conversion proposal that will give residents the opportunity to buy their apartments at a reasonable price, while also allowing rent-stabilized tenants to continue renting without fear of harassment should they decide not to buy. In addition, our plan would:

Preserve open space and protect our community from new development
Improve maintenance and upkeep across Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village
Aim to create permanently affordable rental units with help from government sources

After an extensive process, the Board of the TA decided to work with Brookfield Asset Management as our capital partner. Brookfield is a highly respected global real estate and investment manager, with extensive expertise in complicated transactions like this one. Most importantly, they also share our goals. That said, our agreement with Brookfield is flexible enough to allow us to entertain alternative concepts and proposals as we develop our bid. We expect that with Brookfield on our team, CW Capital, the entity representing the senior bondholders of the property, will find it extremely difficult to ignore us.

This is an important moment for our community and for empowered tenants across the city, but it is only the beginning. Over the coming months we will be gathering input and holding a community wide conversation as we finalize our bid. Join us for the first step in that conversation this Saturday, to hear more details and get answers to your questions:

Saturday, December 3, 2011, 1:00 P.M.
Mason Hall, Baruch College, Lexington Ave. & 23rd Street
(Doors open at 12pm; pre-registration is advised)
RSVP & Details at http://stpcvta.org/decembermeeting

You can also visit us at our website at http://www.stpcvta.org or feel free to call us at our dedicated Protect ST/PCV hotline: 1(646)403-9747.

Our efforts will be guided by the strength and commitment of the residents of this community. And as always, our unity in purpose will be our strength.

Sincerely,

Al Doyle

P.S. Our move to protect our homes and take our future into our own hands is already gaining attention, please see the NY Times article here: http://goo.gl/t5dfR