BY DENNIS LYNCH | The second-ever Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village housing lottery is open through March 10. Here’s how to throw your hat in for an (relatively) affordable apartment in arguably one of the most sylvan neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan.
The lottery is completely random, so someone who turns in her application on March 10 at 11:59 p.m. has the same chance of being chosen as the very first person to apply. The application is free to fill out, although management charges a $50-to-$75 nonrefundable credit check fee “as units become available and StuyTown contacts an applicant to verify eligibility,” according to the management’s Web site.
Head to www.stuytownlottery.com/application to start electronically. You can also download a paper application via that Web page, which you can only mail in, or request the application via snail mail. To request an application, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Wait List, Peter Stuyvesant Station, P.O. Box 1182, New York, NY 10009
But before you do, there are a few easy-to-answer qualifying criteria you should know.
Are you looking for a one- or two-bedroom home? If your answer is yes, that’s good, because those are the only apartments available through the lottery. Do you have a minimum pre-tax household income of $84,150 or a maximum pre-tax household income of $149,490? If so, you’re in good shape, because you have to be within that band to qualify.
Are you looking for an apartment alone or with a maximum of three other people? Good, because four people is the maximum number of residents that can get a single apartment through the lottery. You only send in one application per household, not one for each prospective household resident.
You can have a maximum of two people living in a one-bedroom and four people living in a two-bedroom and rent doesn’t change with the number of people living in the apartment — monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,805 per month and $3,366 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. Apartments are available in both Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Apartments in the latter are slightly larger.
The income qualifications are on a scale and increase with the number of people who will live in an apartment and the number of bedrooms in the apartment.
For example, a single person looking for a one-bedroom needs to make between $84,150 and $104,775 before taxes to qualify, but the upper income limit is increased to $119,625 if another person applies with him to live there. There are other qualification requirements too, including credit history.
There is no income recertification once you sign a lease, so you can continue to live in your apartment even if you end up getting a juicy raise or two that pushes you above the upper income limit.
Remember to include bonuses and overtime pay in your income estimate. Once StuyTown contacts you to verify your lottery eligibility, you’ll need your most-recent pay stubs, tax return and a document listing your assets. There’s a cap on assets: If your household’s combined assets — excluding some savings and retirement accounts — exceed $250,000, you won’t qualify for the lottery.
New York City residents are given preference in the lottery, although living within city limits is not a requirement to qualify.
Built in 1947, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is the city’s largest apartment complex. It houses 30,000 people in 11,200 units in 110 apartment buildings. MetLife owned it for years until 2006 when it sold the property for $5.4 billion to Tishman Speyer and BlackRock. Then the recession hit and the new owners relinquished the complex to their creditors, CWCapital, four years later after defaulting on a $16 million payment. CWCapital, in turn, sold it to Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge in 2015 for roughly the same price Tishman Speyer and Blackrock bought it for almost a decade earlier.
Stuy Town reps couldn’t say how many apartments were up for grabs in the lottery, only that they come out of a pool of 5,000 that Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge agreed to keep below market rate for 20 years when they purchased the property in 2015. If you aren’t a lucky lottery winner, you and all other applicants will be put on a waiting list for future vacancies.
As of Feb. 27, market-rate, one-bedroom apartments at Stuy Town rented for between $3,384 and $3,702, while two-bedroom apartments were available for between $3,972 and $5,819. Rates are dependent on location and the interior “finish” of the apartment. You can see market-rate apartments at www.stuytown.com.
