MORNING BULLETIN: SRO BUILDINGS CONTINUE TO VANISH, CABBIE ROBBED, HOMELESS TRAGEDIES

The sun sets over the Hudson. Photo by Jesse Upchurch from 76th and West End.

July 11, 2016 Weather: Sunny, with a high of 83 degrees.

Notices:
The 111th year of free concerts at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park continues Tuesday. Find info about that and many more events on our calendar.

It’s free Slurpee day at 7-Eleven. Find the nearest location.

News:
An SRO building on 79th street called the Park 79 that was fined for operating as a hotel has been sold, and the apartments are expected to be converted into new residential units, with a potential expansion because of air rights. “Fairstead Capital has purchased the vacant seven-story, 108-key Park 79 Hotel at 117 West 79th Street, on the Upper West Side, for $22.5 million. The new owners plan to convert the 32,172-square-foot SRO building into an undisclosed number of residential apartments…The property comes with 27,780 square feet of air rights, allowing for a potential expansion.”

A cab driver was robbed last week. “The first robbery happened on the Upper West Side when two men stuck up their driver, 43, at Broadway and W. 105th St. at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, cops said.”

A real estate company is looking to sell the 146 rent-regulated apartments in a building that converted into condos for $105 million. “Starrett, a division of Cohen’s Pembroke Cos., is looking to unload the rent-regulated apartments at 175 West 95th Street, a 28-story rental building that Starrett converted into a condominium property in 2013. The building, with an alternate address of 733 Amsterdam Avenue, also has three commercial units.” The question now: How long will those rentals stay under rent regulation?

The Upper West Side home of Cosmo girl Helen Gurley Brown has a new owner, who paid a pretty penny for it. “Helen Gurley Brown’s turreted quadruplex atop the exclusive Beresford co-op at 211 Central Park West, where she lived for four decades until her death in 2012 and which was bedecked in midcentury glamour, has finally sold. At $19,380,000, it was the second most expensive transaction of the week, according to city records.”

A homeless person stabbed a 24-year-old homeless man near Strawberry Fields in Central Park on Thursday morning. “The police said the victim was uncooperative.  No arrests have been made.”

Renters may be entitled to large rent breaks because of a city tax break given to landlords called J-51. “To learn whether your building is currently receiving J-51 benefits, go to the Department of Finance’s Property Tax Benefit Information portal on the Internet. This site contains information about tax breaks. Click to search by property address, enter your borough, house number and street name, and the results should tell you about any tax benefits, including J-51.” ProPublica has more on what to look for, and how landlords have been overcharging some tenants.

Police blocked off access to the Broadway median at 89th 88th Street in the morning and early afternoon Sunday, as seen in the photo below. Our anonymous tipster spoke to a security guard, who said a homeless person had been found dead on the scene. Neither an NYPD spokesperson nor Helen Rosenthal’s office had information about what happened. Update: police say the deceased person was a man, but did not have further details.