The lender to New York City’s one-time “worst landlord” is forcing him to sell three of his most troubled properties and fix nearly two dozen others in a deal finalized this week.
The property owner, Ved Parkash, agreed to sell the buildings— one in Queens and two in the Bronx — after lender Community Stabilization Partners gave him an ultimatum to avoid foreclosure on those sites and 21 others in his company’s portfolio. One of the buildings, a 79-unit complex on Noble Avenue in the Bronx, has been sitting empty since a fire displaced hundreds of residents in 2023.
Tenants and their advocates who spoke with Gothamist said they were optimistic about the deal.
“It sounds like a positive,” said Renee Thompson Castro, a security guard who was displaced from her apartment in the Noble Avenue building by the fire three years ago. “I just want people to be able to get back in.”
Thompson Castro said she was fed up after more than two years of living in a temporary shelter and decided to give up her lease and move into a new apartment in January. She said she hopes the agreement with the lender compels Parkash to fix his properties.
“He’s not doing what he has to do and so someone has to force his hand,” she said. “Maybe if they force him, he will start doing what he needs to do to fix the buildings.”
Community Stabilization Partners is a joint venture comprising the organization Community Preservation Corporation and the firm Related Fund Management that took control of the loans on 35,000 mostly rent-stabilized apartments owned by various landlords citywide following the collapse of Signature Bank in 2023. The city’s then-comptroller, Brad Lander, invested $60 million of municipal employee pension funds to take a 25% stake in the venture.
But more than two years later, some tenants began to complain that little had changed in their buildings despite top elected officials' pronouncements that the new arrangement would lead to better conditions for tenants.
Erin Burns-Maine, the chief strategy officer at the Community Preservation Corporation, one of the groups involved in the venture, said that’s what the new agreement is trying to achieve.
She said forcing Parkash to sell the three dilapidated buildings shows how Community Stabilization Partners is pressuring negligent property owners and demanding more accountability.
“This is us making sure that we are holding a [landlord] that we have lower confidence in accountable, and putting the tools in place for us to make sure that the repairs get made, that tenants are seeing real change in the buildings, and that some of these buildings are going to be changing hands relatively soon,” Burns-Maine said.
The organization is working with city officials to find nonprofit or other private entities, known as “preservation buyers,” to purchase and rehab the buildings, likely with funding and low-interest loans from the city, Burns-Maine said.
The arrangement comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and city housing officials have attempted to steer the sale of troubled rent-stabilized apartment buildings to entities such as nonprofits and community groups that they deem more responsible.
Parkash and his company did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment.
In addition to the Noble Ave. building, Parkash agreed to sell a 44-unit property at 1110 Anderson Ave. in the Bronx and an 84-unit complex at 89-20 161st St. in Queens, according to Community Stabilization Partners.
But the agreement also gives Parkash a chance to finally fix long-festering problems.
Under the plan, Community Stabilization Partners will discontinue foreclosure proceedings on 10 of the buildings and lower Parkash’s loan payments for two years. They will also install a third-party monitor to ensure he and his management companies complete building repairs and resolve housing code violations — including mold remediation, busted elevator repairs and crumbling retaining walls — across the buildings.
Community Preservation Corporation Senior Vice President Robert Riggs said the strategy gives Parkash one more chance to resolve problems affecting tenants instead of allowing buildings to fall into foreclosure as conditions worsen.
“ If we could snap our fingers and transfer all these buildings to preservation owners, we would do it, Riggs said. ”We hope that he performs, but if he doesn't, we have some tools we can use to take control of the buildings.”
Riggs said his organization will consider reducing the amount Parkash owes if his companies meet the terms of the agreement.
Riggs also said the three buildings Parkash is being forced to sell will likely be purchased by three distinct preservation groups, but no buyer is in place yet.
Legal Aid Society attorney Sam Kohn represents the tenants who were made homeless by the fire and said he believes a new owner is necessary to finally complete the renovations.
“To the extent that this agreement allows the reconstruction of the building and a change in ownership, it’s wonderful,” Kohn said. “Tenants have been out of their homes since June 2023 and they are still out.”
