A major leader
Greenbrook tenants fi nd powerful ally in Schumer
BY BEN VERDE
Tenants fi ghting the private
equity-backed landlord on
a buying spree across Brooklyn
gained a powerful new ally
last week when Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer signaled
his support.
The most powerful man in
the United States Senate joined
tenants just a few blocks from
his own apartment on Oct. 15
to blast the real estate company,
which now owns over 100
buildings in the borough, for
its “predatory” practices.
“There is nothing more despicable
than these predatory
real estate equity fi rms trying
to make billions of dollars on
the backs of tenants,” he said.
“This is a horrible thing.”
Schumer accused the fi rm
of exploiting the pandemic and
pushing New Yorkers out of
their homes to turn a profi t.
“They’re like bloodsuckers,”
he said. “They have a crisis,
and they stick their teeth
into it and suck the lifeblood
out of so many communities, so
many neighborhoods, so many
tenants”
70 Prospect Park West is
among the 107-and-counting
buildings recently acquired by
Greenbrook Partners, who took
advantage of the distressed real
estate market during the pandemic.
COURIER L 6 IFE, OCTOBER 22-28, 2021
Following a pattern that
played out in other buildings
Greenbrook has purchased,
residents in market-rate rentals
received notice that their
leases would not be renewed,
and that they would have to vacate
their homes. Vacated units
are then gut-renovated and
put back on the market as luxury
units, often for more than
double or triple their previous
rent.
Tenants at 70 Prospect
Park West sparked an organizing
movement that spread to
other affected buildings, where
they’ve not only found marketrate
tenants being forced out,
but also rent-controlled tenants
being made to watch their
buildings turned into dusty
construction sites with loud
work going on every day — a
tactic known to tenant advocates
as construction harassment.
“They make the conditions
in the building worse and
worse and worse,” Schumer
said. “What’s the goal? To have
tenants who might be paying a
reasonable rent leave so they
can just raise the rent.”
An investigation into
Greenbrook by the state Tenant
Harassment Prevention
Task Force has found over 800
safety violations in just 33 of
Greenbrooks properties, and is
continuing to investigate more
buildings, according to Councilmember
Brad Lander’s offi
ce.
Greenbrook, led by real estate
bigwig Greg Fournier, was
able to go on its pandemic buying
spree thanks in large part
to a $100 million investment
from the London real estate investment
fi rm NW1. The fi rm,
which promotes itself as “forging
a new path in real estate investment
management,” is partially
fi nanced by a stake from
the Texas Permanent School
Fund, a fund set up to benefi t
the Texas public education system
controlled by the Texas
Board of Education.
Tenants of 70 Prospect Park West, many of whom say they’re being
forced out of their apartments. Photo by Caroline Ourso
US Sen. Chuck Schumer rallied with tenants of 70 Prospect Park West on
Oct. 15. Photo by Ben Verde
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