After the calm of the pandemic, colorful tenants and homeowners once again entangled with developers for large-scale projects.

Image credit: Karsten Moran of The New York Times

The developer provided the 73-year-old Sicilian mechanic Joe Nastasi (Joe Nastasi) with millions of dollars in cash and high-rise apartments, and even named their new luxury skyscraper after him-if he could take him Just sell them the humble three-story commercial building. In Long Island City, Queens, this is the key to the construction of the project.

Mr. Nastasi has lived on the top floor of the short bank building since the 1970s, and he is unmoved: there is no transaction.

"What do I do with this money?" On a recent afternoon, he said in a nearby car shop, making gestures with motor oil under his nails. "Thank God, and God bless America, I don't need money."

Again, it pays to persist in New York City.

After more than a year of sales and projects stalled due to the pandemic, as the market turns, developers are trying to advance large amounts of land and unused air rights to build the next wave of towers. But on their way are a handful of homeowners and tenants—they are the latest in a long tradition of stubborn and sometimes eccentric residents—who will not easily abandon their hard-working land. In other words, New York is back.

Jonathan J said that in 2020, during the first wave of Covid, there were 8,700 apartments in Manhattan that were unsold. Based on last year’s sales rate, it is estimated that it will take 8.7 years to be sold, which is the slowest absorption rate in at least six years. Miller, New York Appraiser. In a healthy market, it only takes about two and a half years to sell out.

But this year, due to rising vaccination rates and discounted prices, the sell-out rate dropped to 7.2 years, which is the first significant improvement since 2015. In August, the number of new contracts signed for Manhattan apartments increased by 35% from the same period last month. According to a report by the brokerage firm Douglas Elliman, in 2019, before the pandemic staggered the market. In Queens, which performed better than Manhattan, the median apartment price reached $704,481 in the second quarter, a record high.

"Suddenly, fate was completely reversed," Mr. Miller said, and a faster-than-expected transformation is encouraging some builders to continue their ambitious projects.

However, as there are fewer and fewer land plots that can accommodate large buildings, developers have to piece together several adjacent properties and either demolish or purchase unused development rights, which can be increased by making the project taller value. These combinations can take years and are often difficult to negotiate with residents who do not want to give up their long-term residences.

On East 86th Street near First Avenue, Extell Development has bought out or waited for the tenants of the neighboring low-rise, rent-stabilized apartment building it purchased a few years ago, and is demolishing a building that may become a large-scale mixed housing—using towers. Except for one tenant, the last tenant in the last occupied apartment in the combination who refused to move.

Tenant Greg Marshall, a long-term resident in his 40s, is fighting Extell’s attempt to demolish the building, arguing that the developer did not provide enough detailed information about what he planned to build or prove his ability Pay for the item. The state agency that administers rent regulations under these circumstances refused to allow Extell to refuse Mr. Marshall’s rent renewal until these conditions were met. Before the lease expired last year, his rent was $1,852 per month. He did not respond to a request for comment.

The tenant’s lawyer, Fred L. Seeman, stated that it’s not uncommon for developers to demolish buildings and leave the site vacant for many years when raising funds or dealing with other technical issues. Displaced tenants have to find new ones. Apartments usually cost much higher rents.

Extell founder and chairman Gary Barnett (Gary Barnett) stated that the company has met all legal requirements for the demolition and believes that the company does not need to provide more details about their planned construction. He said that they are "considering building" a school with apartments above, some of which will be below market prices. He said that even if they cannot demolish the last building, they will continue to move forward.

"This is someone who is trying to prevent the construction of hundreds of residential units," Mr. Barnett said, adding that they have provided tenants with millions of dollars in relocation fees.

"My client wants to be alone, in the meantime," Mr. Seaman said.

The story of the sticklers getting huge windfalls is a legend, but it is more common for the sticklers to get relatively little money by leaving. Before the comprehensive tenant protection measures passed in 2019 removed many financial incentives for developers to move out of rent-controlled tenants, tenants usually received little benefit when landlords refused to renew their rents or were evicted due to harassment.

"You may be told that this process is very tenant-oriented," said David Rozenholc, one of the city's prolific tenant lawyers. "That's a bull market," he said with a full spell, adding that many tenants with stable rents may take away tens of thousands of dollars, which is a small comfort for losing affordable rent for life.

But there are exceptions. According to people familiar with the matter, 49-year-old Tom Chernaik is a technology entrepreneur and a long-term stable rent tenant in the Upper East Side. In 2019, he gave up his money with a settlement agreement of more than 3 million U.S. dollars. Two-bedroom apartment (not including attorney's fee). trade. The property has since changed ownership and the building has been demolished to make room for a 13-story apartment with retail space and only 12 luxury apartments. The price has not yet been announced, but it may climb to seven figures.

One morning in 1993, Mr. Chernek discovered this apartment while browsing the Voice of the Country, and insisted on it for 26 years, and finally paid $3,200 per month for 1,100 square feet of space. He was very sad, but as the settlement was reached, he was able to move his family to a nearby three-bedroom rental house and bought a five-bedroom house with swimming pool in Connecticut. "The price is lower than the cheapest studio in Manhattan. "He said.

Others still have the right influence and brio, insisting on more. Herbert Sukenik is a stubborn tenant of 15 Central Park West, a luxury tower that was completed in 2008 and changed the market. He received $17 million to leave him at the Mayflower Hotel The studio apartment was demolished to accommodate the new tower. He also acquired a high-rise apartment in a nearby property overlooking Central Park at a price of $1 per month, and the rest of the rent was paid by the developer, which may be the largest expenditure of a single tenant in the history of the city. He was represented by Mr. Rozenholc, and he collected one-third of the settlement.

The 2011 obituary called him a "pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance." A relative contacted by phone said: "He is very smart, but he was misunderstood-at the same time, he has a grumpy temper."

For developers, concessions are sometimes more cost-effective, because time may be the builder's most precious resource. Brooklyn developer Doug Steiner said: "Considering the heavy holding costs, including financing and tax interest, development is a race against time."

By their nature, these transactions are also confidential. "People don't want to talk about portfolios," said Kyle Goodman, CEO of Marketproof, a real estate data company. "Because this will push up the price", this is what adherents can ask for.

In the Court Square area of ​​Long Island City, developers Tavros Holdings and Charney Companies are preparing to build a 52-story, 560-foot tower with 300 rental units — about 90 of which will be listed below market prices — 41 apartments. And a huge commercial footprint. To this end, they have quietly reached a deal since 2016 and purchased seven townhouses from adjacent homeowners, which have been demolished to make way for the new tower.

Then there are two.

Benito Barba is a retired baker who owns a tan townhouse under 7 train tracks and lives on the edge of a development site of more than 11,000 square feet. Adding his property to the site will create a wider foundation for the building and contribute area, which will help the project qualify for higher heights.

But one of the developers, Sam Charney, stated that Mr. Barba was in his 80s and bought the house in 1971 and he was not interested in selling it. "He wants to stay for the rest of his life."

After months of trying, they reached a different agreement: Mr. Barba will keep the house, but transfer the unused development rights of nearly 17,000 square feet above his house to the new project and allow the tower to be overhanging. On his three-story house.

In the rendering of the new project, Mr. Barba’s neat brick house is highlighted next to the glass skyscraper, just like a Disney movie set.

Mr. Barba did not respond to a request for comment through his lawyer Taso Pardalis. The developer would not disclose how much they paid him, but public records show that trust in Mr. Barba recently purchased three luxury apartments in the nearby tallest building in Queens, Skyline Tower, for more than $3 million.

He is not the only one who is optimistic about the nearby area. From the beginning of the year to August, Long Island City signed an average of 13 apartment contracts per week, three more than the frenzy at the end of 2018 and early 2019, when Amazon was expected to establish its headquarters there, according to Corcoran's agent Patrick W. Smith .

But to build the tower they really wanted, Mr. Charney and his business partner Nicholas Silvers knew that they also needed to deal with Mr. Nastasi, who was the owner of the building at the other end of the block.

They are not prepared. "He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met," said Mr. Charney, who spent several months proposing the purchase of Mr. Nastasi’s building because his unused development rights can be effective. The ground adds several floors to the proposed tower.

It soon became clear that they were not dealing with any mechanic. Mr. Nastasi is a former racing driver who immigrated to New York in his 20s and made a fortune in the 1980s and 1990s by modifying imported sports cars to meet the stricter environmental standards of the United States.

He and his girlfriend Linda Killen live in a simple apartment with Mediterranean tile floors on the top floor of the building he bought in 1977, above a bank and an insurance company. But in an industrial warehouse a few blocks away, he has nearly 30 exotic sports cars—mostly vintage Ferraris, Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo from the 1970s and 1980s.

On a recent afternoon, while making the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 prototype, he was wearing a pleated T-shirt and shorts, socks and sandals, and glasses around his neck. Despite his collection, the only car he drove on the street was a 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup with manual windows.

"Look at him, you wouldn't know that he has 10 dollars," said Ms. Killen, who first saw him in a game in 1981. (He won. And he is still in the competition.)

The couple said that once, the developer offered $18 million to buy the building, but Mr. Nastasi refused.

"I don't have a mortgage, I don't owe anyone anything," he said. "Why should I sell gold mines?" Besides, he is 15 minutes away from LaGuardia Airport. "I'm in the center of the earth."

Therefore, he offered a counter-offer to sell about 90,000 square feet of unused development rights to the developer, and he could keep his building. The transaction was completed at the end of last year and the amount was not disclosed, but Mr. Silvers said it was “several times” the payment to Mr. Barba because the property has more development rights.

Of course, the couple will have to endure the dust and noise of high-rise buildings until around 2025, when the tower is expected to be completed, but Mr. Nastasi is confident that it is the right choice to stick to it.

"Sometimes you work for money," he said. "And sometimes money has to work for you."

Research contributed by Alain Delaquérière

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