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Sandy-related rent credits are finally coming to Knickerbocker

DTE Sandy Brooklyn Battery Tunnel entrance 8 30PM JSF
Photos by Jay Fine

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  Residents of a Lower East Side low- and middle-income housing complex will receive rent credits for their time without heat and electricity as a result of Superstorm Sandy, elected officials announced Dec. 17.

The private owner of Knickerbocker Village — a 1,600-unit Mitchell-Lama development on Monroe St. — will provide the residents with nine days’ worth of credits, according to the joint announcement by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, state Senator Daniel Squadron, Borough President Scott Stringer and Councilmember Margaret Chin.

“I have worked tirelessly to help deliver this rent credit to the tenants of Knickerbocker Village and I am enormously pleased that they will now receive it,” Silver said. “Residents of this complex suffered in cold and darkness after Superstorm Sandy and they deserve to be compensated for their hardship.”

The credits will come in the form of a 15 percent reduction in residents’ January and February rent bills.

Average monthly rents at Knickerbocker Village are around $800 for a one-bedroom apartment, $1,100 for a two-bedroom apartment and $1,350 for a three-bedroom apartment, according to Bob Wilson, a longtime tenant leader at the complex.

Ares Management, the development’s owner, originally promised the rent credits days after Sandy struck, under pressure from Silver and the other electeds. As time went on, however, some were concerned that funding for credits would have had to eventually come out of tenants’ pockets through later rent increases.

But that situation has now been avoided, since Ares will pay for the credits with money from an insurance settlement, according to the Dec. 17 announcement.

That settlement became possible after Silver brought in the state’s Department of Financial Services to facilitate dicussions between Ares and its insurance company.

“This is a huge victory for Knickerbocker Village tenants,” said Wilson, who just two months ago said he was worried the rent credits were potentially unfeasible.

In October, the city agreed to provide $1.46 million from its post-Sandy Build it Back program to finance repairs on all Knickerbocker Village’s elevators. The city has also committed to helping fund the replacement of the entire complex’s electrical and heating systems.