A group of Harlem housing complex tenants has filed suit against its landlord, alleging they’re being harassed.
Residents of the Riverton housing complex at 2156 Madison Avenue, between 135th and 138th streets, claim that CWCapital Asset Management and affiliate Compass Rock Real Estate have allegedly been overcharging on rent in an effort to push out longtime residents.
The lawsuit was filed in Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, according to the New York Times. The complex is made up of seven buildings and originated as a sister development to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village and Parkchester in the Bronx.
While long a place for Harlem’s middle class — former mayor David Dinkins lived there at one point — the complex was sold in 2005 to Stellar Management, who hoped to flip the apartments and raise rents. Stellar defaulted on the property’s $225 million mortgage and their lenders foreclosed. CWCapital took control of the property following a 2010 auction, and CompassRock Real Estate has managed the property since 2013. [NYT] — Claire Moses