Tenants Fight Owner They Say Is Forcing Them From Pk Slope Homes

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Tenants of 70 Prospect Park West are facing displacement after a real estate and development firm bought their building — and the residents, along with Sen. Chuck Schumer and other officials, will fight it on Friday.

Over the last two years, private equity-backed firm Greenbrook Partners has purchased over 100 multifamily buildings — including 70 Prospect Park West — after receiving a $100 million investment from the Texas Permanent School Fund, Council Member Brad Lander's office said in a news release.

Now, Greenbrook Partners has "moved quickly to displace and harass tenants out of their homes in order to dramatically increase rents and turn a quick profit," the elected official said.

Friday's rally will take place at 11 a.m. in front of 70 Prospect Park West.

During the rally, tenants and elected officials will call on the Texas Permanent School Fund — which is controlled by the Texas Board of Education and was set up to benefit that state's public schools, according to its website — to withdraw its $100 million investment from Greenbrook.

In March, tenants learned that the new owners of their apartment building would not be renewing any of their leases (with the exception of 10 rent-stabilized units).

Read more: Tenants Tackle 'Morally Reprehensible' Landlord In Park Slope

Then, once Greenbrook ends the market-rate leases, it starts doing construction "in a way that's designed to be really difficult to live with," likely to drive out the remaining rent-stabilized tenants too, Lander said.

Anh-thu Nguyen, a tenant at 70 Prospect Park West, told Patch in May that at least one already-vacated unit that was last rented at around $4,000 per month returned to the market at double the cost.

Schumer, Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, other city and state elected officials, housing advocacy groups and affected tenants facing eviction across multiple Greenbrook-owned buildings will attend Friday morning's rally.