"I wake up every morning to this," said Marion Billings, a resident of newly constructed properties comprising the Columbus Village development, which began in the fall of 2006. Interspersed among seven older buildings comprising Park West Village, the new development rising from 97th to 100th Streets between Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue, introduces market-rent housing, big-box retail, and constant construction to this three-block region. With new apartments weeks away from opening to prospective renters at market rate, uncertainty looms over the fate of this housing in the context of a deepening recession. "Park West Village is a wonderful place to live," Trudy Oothout, a resident of the area for 44 years, said. "Open space and air—before," she said, looking at 808 Columbus Avenue towering over her 20-story residence. "Now—who knows?" A complicated history Park West Village was created as part of the city's government-subsidized urban redevelopment plan in the 1950s. Middle-income tenants could seek apartments at an affordable rent with the draw of fresh air, greenery, and sunlight. The design made available open spaces, courtyards, and playgrounds within a dense city neighborhood. As part of his massive urban revisioning project in 1952, Robert Moses, then the city construction coordinator and chairman of the Committee on Slum Clearance, tore down 4,212 "slum" apartments from the area between Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue, from 97th to 100th Streets—a neighborhood then called Manhattantown. Moses replaced these older apartments with 2,662 new apartments, according to his book Public Works: A Dangerous Trade, published in 1970. In 1957, the city foreclosed Manhattantown properties and sold the land to Webb & Knapp, Inc.. The complex stands today as seven red-brick slab towers, redesigned and now called Park West Village. To ensure protection of this affordable housing, the City Planning Commission and Board of Estimate made a contractual agreement with Webb and Knapp, Inc. that there would be no "change in the project" for 40 years. The housing market in this area faced tangible changes in 1987, when two Park West Village buildings—372 and 382 Central Park West—left behind their rent-stabilized status and were converted to condominiums under the ownership of Harry Helmsley. The Park West Village Tenants' Association, State Attorney General, and the Board of Estimate argued that this breached the "change in the project" contract, but lost the case in court. In 1991, 392 and 400 followed their neighbors and converted to condos. Residents of the converted condos who had been living in rent-stabilized homes maintained their rents. With mixed condos and rentals, some at market-rate and others stabilized for decades, Park West Village remains one of the city's most controversial urban renewal projects, fostering a diverse Upper West Side population. Development during recession In 2007, Joseph Chetrit of the Chetrit Group and Lawrence Gluck of Stellar Management­—the team who inherited the property seven years prior—announced plans to add five new buildings to the complex to be called Columbus Village. The first building to start construction was 808 Columbus Avenue, which, at 30 stories, will house 359 rental apartments and more than three retailers, including Whole Foods. The other four buildings, in various stages of creation, are 775 Columbus Avenue, with 12 stories and 56 apartments, 795 Columbus Ave, with 15 stories and 132 apartments, 805 Columbus Ave, with 14 stories and 63 apartments, and 801 Amsterdam Ave, with 15 stories and 100 apartments. New tenants are expected to start renting in the coming weeks, with the goal of moving in by Memorial Day, Peter Rosenberg construction and development project manager, said. Though Rosenberg declined to comment on specific prices, he said that rents would be at market-rate, in the same range as other recent neighborhood developments. Despite the recession, Rosenberg said, "There is still a market for this product. I think it is a terrific neighborhood. People want to live on the Upper West Side, they want to be close to Central Park, and I think the apartments in this building are coming out great and people will want to rent them, maybe not at the same rents that they rented them at in 2007. So I think it will command a good rent, and I think it will be a good product." The new buildings differ from the existing seven in color, height, and façade. Although they were originally scheduled to finish in 2008, they are still under construction—which means noise, dust, and drilling are currently a central component of life in the neighborhood. Dean Heitner, legal committee chair of the Park West Village Tenants Association, said he expects the current economy to effect the building management's goals. "After the first four buildings were converted, there was the economic downturn, so the other three never happened," said Heitner, who is a resident of 784 Central Park West. "At this point, I don't think it would make sense for them to convert those buildings [on Columbus Ave]." "There's a fine line," said Albina de Meio, PWVTA Quality of Life Committee chair and resident of 788 Central Park West. "The construction is bad, but a building skeleton would have been even more terrible." Rosenberg said financial issues will not lead to any major halts in the construction. "Fortunately, this was always conceived as a rental property, it has always been rental housing, so it has a lot more flexibility than if it were a condominium. The rents will move with the market in the future, and we think it's still a good and viable project, and we are going to pursue it through until the end." The PWVTA in action With building development near completion, the PWVTA remains active in the discussion. The PWVTA has long combated infringements on tenant rights in both rentals and condos. Its focus has been fighting unjust evictions and improper rent overcharges, as well as raising concerns over the disruption of construction. And though deregulation is not as much of a pressing issue at Park West Village as in other area buildings, rents may increase through a proposed major capital improvement, which can be granted to a landlord in installations for the "operation, preservation and maintenance of the building," according to the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. Some residents expressed frustration over the use of MCI, which they see as a sign of larger changes. "In my building, the increase per room is $5.04 for these lobby renovations," de Meio said. "It's the second time they've redone the lobbies to make them more appealing for market-rent tenants." When rent-regulated apartments are vacated, it is common for the Park West Village management to renovate the apartment, deregulate the rent, and resell it at more than $2,000 per month. Further, if a tenant's income exceeds $175,000 for two years, the legal rent can be increased to $2,000 per month. "In the rental buildings, whenever someone moves out, they invest in new floors, new carpeting, everything," said Win Armstrong, a longtime PWVTA member and resident of 400. "Ownership usually spends 40 to 60 thousand in renovations, keeps one-fortieth of what they spent, plus get 20 percent in turnovers. This procedure will continue, though whether they will be able to charge the rents they anticipate is another issue." For many tenants, there is relief with the J-51 program. Administered by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, this program provides tax abatements at properties including those in Park West Village. In March 2009, the State's Court of Appeals made deregulation illegal for apartment buildings with J-51—though not in condos or co-ops. For tenants living in the buildings at 784, 788, and 789 Central Park West, this is pivotal: From 1994 to 2006, tenants in deregulated apartments began to pay $2,000 per month, or close to it. Those tenants are now eligible for entitlements and lowered rents. A changing landscape Amidst construction, some residents voiced major discontent with the large-scale changes coming to their neighborhood. "It's horrible," said Katherine Alt Keener, who has lived in her condo at 382 Central Park West since its conversion out of rent stabilization in 1987. "The construction is noisy and has literally divided Park West Village in two. We're all insanely unhappy." Developer Rosenberg said that ultimately, all the construction would create a larger, more cohesive neighborhood. Yet Heitner said that, instead of uniting the area, the development has already implemented a division. "All of this construction has put a huge fence between two parts of what had been a community. You can't just walk across the street anymore," he said. Other residents cite the new buildings as an intrusion. "Management ... wanted to call their project 'Columbus Village,'" explained Chuck Tice, PWVTA Communications Committee chair and resident of 372. He attributed this name change to the developer's desire "to get away from the Park West Village name that connotes the unique family-friendly near-suburban vista here, to be replaced by their forcing total change to this area as a destination shopping center, much like Columbus Circle." Though signs on the scaffolding still advertise the name Columbus Village, Rosenberg said that discussions in 2009 have led to a new name: Columbus Square. He expects the name to be adopted as the project moves forward, and said that the change had nothing to do with the use of the word "village" but that it simply "worked better with the marketing." Many tenants and PWVTA members said they fear the new development will contribute to a loss of community cohesiveness and identity. "There isn't a sense of camaraderie anymore," Billings said. "I met my friends from across the street at Park West Diner, but when that closed, it was harder to meet everyone. We were heartbroken." Rosenberg said that while the population will change, the new community will remain dynamic, and added, "It may skew the overall age of the neighborhood slightly younger, because there is an older population in the existing buildings. But I think that there is no reason that families and older people can't live in the same neighborhood." Still, Elizabeth Wright, a resident of 788 for 16 years, said that "a lot of families are moving out, and instead of long-term residents, there are short-term residents." She added, "there are a lot of students moving into the condos, splitting two-bedrooms between six people to bear the cost. They're transitory." Some residents acknowledged that change was inevitable while remaining optimistic. "Park West Village is not as economically, culturally, or ethnically diverse as it used to be," Armstrong said, "but we'll move on. We'll make the best of it." news@columbiaspectator.com