The Times indicates there may be hope for the tenants of 475 Kent Ave. The article looks at the buildings history with more depth and context than most other stories. What comes out is a history similar to that of many other informal/non-legal artist buildings in NYC, a history which shows the tremendous value that these tenants added to the property.
“Painstakingly, foot by foot and floor by floor, the three began breathing life into 475 Kent. Colonies of rats were chased out and puddles of pigeon droppings mopped up. Windows were unsealed to reveal startling views of the Manhattan skyline, and of the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Pipes were stretched; walls were built.
Word spread, and more artists followed. Ms. Masters moved from Dumbo in 1998, building studios on the seventh floor using money that she said she received from a different settlement with Mr. Guttman. The boxy, soaring building soon became a place where ascendant and established sculptors, writers, filmmakers, musicians, printmakers and photographers worked, collaborated and thrived, and became enmeshed in one another’s lives.”
The residents of this building were not responsible for the city’s failure to provide safety in this area over the years. They also were not responsible for the lack of transit and infrastructure investment that made such a potentially valuable area undervalued and they certainly were not the creators of the antiquated zoning laws that barred mixed use residential development in the area. In fact they were one of the major groups to see the areas true value and unlock that value by deciding to live there. Now that the city has woken up to the value they helped create, its pure injustice to kick them out.
The just solution, for most of these buildings is at minimum some kind of buyout situation, which recognizes long term residents as de-facto co owners of the properties they helped make so valuable.