Daily Archives: December 21, 2015

Garodnick: Stuy Town plumbing service has gone down the toilet

Councilmember Dan Garodnick (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

Councilmember Dan Garodnick (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

For months now, residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village who’ve had plumbing problems have been made to wait longer than they’ve ever had to previously for someone to fix the problem.

Susan Steinberg, president of the Tenants Association, said the issue has been going on since last summer and she has brought up the issue to CWCapital as well as new owner Blackstone. Wait times for plumbers had risen to 10 days, and then recently spiked again to over two weeks or three weeks, Steinberg said.

Last Friday, Council Member Dan Garodnick sent a letter about the plumbing pileups to Jonathan Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, noting that in some cases, residents have gotten so frustrated with the lack of service they’ve sought emergency repairs from the HPD.

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Fannie Mae to back Stuy Town deal

Jonathan Gray (photo by Sabina Mollot)

Jonathan Gray (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae recently announced that it will be backing Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge’s acquisition of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village with a $2.7 billion credit guarantee.

The government-backed company made the announcement last Monday, The Real Deal first reported, noting that to finance the acquisition, an affiliate of Blackstone will secure the loan from Wells Fargo’s multifamily division, one of Fannie Mae’s lenders. This mean that Wells Fargo will originate the acquisition loan and pass it on to Fannie Mae, then sell it off to investors in the form of commercial mortgage-backed securities.

The agreement means that the federal government will effectively back Blackstone’s $5.3 billion acquisition, on top of the $225 million subsidy from the city for the buyers.

The loan carries a 10-year term, although Fannie Mae did not disclose its interest rate.

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