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Ira Drukier with the Hotel Chelsea (Getty, Patrick McMullan/Getty)
The Chelsea Hotel was once a bohemian utopia, home to the likes of Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith, and inspiring countless other artists.
But in the past decade, the historic property has become more of a dystopia, both for its owners and a small but vocal group of longtime tenants. Residents have sued owners past and present, alleging harassment via construction. And plans to renovate the hotel, which have been in the works since at least 2012, were temporarily halted in 2018 after the city issued a stop-work order.
Now, the current owners hoteliers Ira Drukier, Richard Born and Sean MacPherson, who also own the Jane Hotel and the Bowery Hotel have filed a lawsuit against the city, the Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, alleging that the delays cost them at least $100 million.
Last year, as the pandemic crushed the economy and public life, annual new housing construction in New York City dropped by 4,600 units to 20,200, the lowest since 2015, according to the city Department of City Planning. While new affordable housing kept pace with previous years and overall housing production picked up in the latter half of 2020, building permits remain relatively low in the first several months of this year, portending an uncertain future for the city s housing stock.
New York has faced a housing emergency for years before the onset of the pandemic, with low vacancy rates and a large portion of residents rent-burdened. The number of units on the rental market more than tripled last summer and remains more than double what it was pre-pandemic. But the ratio of new jobs to housing has remained high since the Great Recession and there is broad agreement among city planners and developers, among others, that more housing is a critical need in the near- and long-term.
arrow Dianne Morales greets a new volunteer at Jackson Heights Greenmarket on Sunday Cindy Rodriguez / Gothamist
Dianne Morales had a cold. Not COVID, she’s fully vaccinated, but when she arrived at the Jackson Heights Greenmarket on Sunday, acutely aware that this was a pivotal moment in the mayor’s race and for her candidacy, she was battling congestion and a slight sore throat. So she did what we’ve all learned to do: she wore two masks and proceeded with caution.
Dressed in a white shirt, linen blazer, and black pants, she elbow-bumped and chatted with prospective voters and volunteers, posing for pictures and listening to the issues that mattered to them. Her stump speech, which she delivers at campaign events like this one, is as much about making a case for her own candidacy as it is about broader involvement.
400 Grand St.
The residents of 400 Grand St., six people, have spent the past four years trying fruitlessly to get the attention of their landlord, the City of New York. Now, just three months from a preliminary move out date, the only residential tenants remaining on the former Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, remain in limbo. This week, they pleaded their case yet again before Community Board 3’s land use committee. City officials were there to listen, but the residents have little faith; many of them feel they might as well be talking to a brick wall.
The five-story tenement is located on site #5 of the Essex Crossing project, which is set to break ground in the spring of 2015. Recently, the residents learned they were being asked to move out at the end of June, so the developers can begin preparing the site for construction. Over the years, CB3 has passed multiple resolutions, urging the city to focus on their situation. While officials with the Department of Housing