On a chilly January day, public advocate Jumaane Williams gathered TV cameras to Woodruff Avenue in Brooklyn.
The press convention was for the reveal of Williams’ “Worst Landlord Checklist,” however he was there in Prospect Park South to disgrace one specific landlord, A&E Actual Property Holdings. Two of the agency’s executives had topped his checklist, ranked by open housing code violations throughout their buildings.
Since then, A&E and its founder Douglas Eisenberg haven’t left the crosshairs of town’s tenant advocacy coalition. A&E has grow to be one thing of a stand-in for “unhealthy” landlords and has gained a good quantity of public consideration.
On Tuesday, the group Housing Rights Initiative introduced a go well with in opposition to three A&E associates, alleging that the corporate engaged in a “wrongful scheme” to decontrol rent-stabilized items and illegally elevate rents. The plaintiffs, residents in 5 Queens buildings, argue that no substantial work was carried out on their items to justify the boosts in authorized rents their items acquired.
“The fraudulent overcharges uncovered by this investigation characterize yet one more instance of this landlord’s already demonstrated sample of flagrant disregard for tenants’ proper regulation, and HRI is decided to play a job in persevering with to carry A&E accountable for his or her abuses,” Housing Rights Initiative wrote in a launch. The group additionally mentioned it will proceed investigating A&E’s portfolio.
A&E responded by taking goal at Roger Sachar, the lawyer at Newman Ferrara who filed the go well with.
“Roger Sachar has been unsuccessfully suing A&E-managed buildings for ten years and has gotten completely nowhere with them,” a spokesperson for A&E mentioned in a press release .“He’s an opportunist who seeks to revenue off his purchasers whereas blanketing house owners of rent-stabilized properties with lawsuits backed by absurd claims.”
Eisenberg previously told The Actual Deal that the agency has invested $10 million into 34-15 Parsons Boulevard, one of many buildings at challenge within the go well with.
That’s not all. Simply days earlier than Williams put Eisenberg on the prime of the worst landlords checklist, Mayor Zohran Mamdani introduced a $2.1 million settlement with A&E to “deal with tenant harassment and dangerous situations throughout 14 buildings.” (Though introduced and championed by Mamdani, the settlement was nearly definitely labored out through the Adams administration.)
And to additional bolster Eisenberg’s public profile, The New York Instances Journal, in a lengthy story about rent-stabilized housing, made him its stand-in for town’s landlords. Theirs was a extra sympathetic portrayal of Eisenberg than Mamdani’s.
“After 2019, we spent loads of time attempting to tinker with our mannequin to attempt to determine a method to make it work,” Eisenberg informed the Instances. “I feel what you’ve seen is that it’s unimaginable to make it work. The maths is simply the mathematics.”
I used to be there at Williams’ press convention and joined his employees and different reporters within the basement of the constructing in Prospect Park South, the place we noticed useless roaches and rat droppings.
A spokesperson for A&E mentioned the agency has invested $850 million in its portfolio. Nonetheless, it appeared apparent to me that there have been certainly some issues on the constructing. The query is then who in charge. Tenant advocates, together with director of the Mayor’s Workplace to Shield Tenants Cea Weaver, blame landlords themselves. Landlords like A&E blame the Housing Stability and Tenant Safety Act of 2019, which closed avenues to extend rents in stabilized flats.
“What Eisenberg sees as a virtuous circle — upgrading buildings, elevating rents, rising property values,” the Instances wrote in its story, “Weaver sees as a vicious cycle that New York lastly has the chance to interrupt.”
What we’re occupied with: It’s been one 12 months for the reason that tragic capturing at Rudin Administration’s 345 Park Avenue, the place 4 folks misplaced their lives. I wrote this week about the litigation that has adopted the occasions. However how else has the impression of the tragedy reverberated all through the trade and metropolis? Ship ideas to lilah.burke@therealdeal.com
A factor we’ve realized: LeBron James may live in New York Metropolis and commute to Philadelphia by way of helicopter to play for the 76ers after the NBA star signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the workforce final week. If he does, James would comply with within the footsteps of NBA Corridor of Famer Wilt Chamberlain, who primarily lived in New York whereas enjoying with the Sixers.
— Spencer Davis
Elsewhere…
— The West Harlem Neighborhood Preservation Group sued town to dam a 200-unit inexpensive housing improvement in Hamilton Heights they are saying may displace a group well being middle, Crain’s reports. The Metropolis Council authorised the challenge, often called Hill Prime Residences, in March 2026, however the clinic doesn’t have the funds to relocate, based on the lawsuit.
— Mayor Zohran Mamdani is standing by his feedback about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu accused him of “fomenting hate” and making Jewish New Yorkers really feel unsafe following the stabbing of a Jewish man and an Asian man on the Higher West Facet final week, amNY reports. “I’m not eager about getting right into a forwards and backwards with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Mamdani mentioned. “What I’ll say is that right here in New York Metropolis, certainly one of my prime priorities is conserving Jewish New Yorkers protected, conserving each single New Yorker protected.”
— Over 800 flights have been canceled at main New York Metropolis airports Tuesday following risk of a extreme thunderstorm that might bring 5 to seven inches of rainfall to New York Metropolis, New York Each day Information reports. The Nationwide Climate Service has issued a flood look ahead to New York and components of New Jersey by 8 p.m. Wednesday and the Federal Aviation Administration issued floor stops at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark attributable to staffing shortages.
— Spencer Davis
Closing time
Residential: The most costly residential sale recorded Tuesday was $47 million for a 7,074-square-foot sponsor-sale condominium at 217 West 57th Avenue in Instances Sq. North.
Industrial: The most costly industrial transaction was $188 million for an eight-story, 400,000-square-foot life & sciences property at 125 West Finish Avenue in Lincoln Sq.. Taconic Companions bought the constructing to ABS Companions.
New to the Market: The best value for a residential property hitting the market was $6.5 million for a 2,917-square-foot condominium at 61 North Moore Avenue in Tribeca. Brad Ingalls and Brendon O’Rourke with Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty have the listing.
Breaking Floor: The most important new constructing allow filed was for a proposed 369,603-square-foot, 828-unit mixed-use challenge at 243 East one hundred and twenty fifth Avenue in East Harlem. Paul Carr with S9 Structure filed the allow on behalf of Kristen Miller of Richman Group Growth.
— Matthew Elo
Learn extra
The Daily Dirt: The political theater of Mamdani’s bad-buildings list
