DATE: April 8, 2025
FROM: Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, Councilmember Pierina Sanchez
CONTACT:
Allison Manuel, Director of Communications, Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition | (917) 213-6028 | allison@northwestbronx.org
Kim Castellanos, Director of Communications, Office of Council Member Pierina Sanchez | (929) 637-1705 | d14media@council.nyc.gov
Council Member Sanchez and Public Advocate Williams Join Organizers, Tenants of 2201-05 Davidson to Celebrate Momentous Ownership Transfer and Call for Citywide Reform
BRONX, NY - April 8, 2025 – Today, Council Member Pierina Sanchez and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams celebrated a major victory for tenant organizing in the Bronx alongside the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, The Legal Aid Society, and resident-leaders of 2201-05 Davidson Avenue in University Heights. After more than a decade of negligence, the building has completed the final step of the Third Party Transfer program – removing ownership from Romad Realty, who owed more than $27 million in municipal arrears and was responsible for over 600 open hazardous and immediately hazardous housing code violations.
As of last week, Neighborhood Restore now serves as interim owner and will begin to stabilize the building. Lemle & Wolff Companies, the sponsor developer, will manage a comprehensive rehabilitation of the property and work with tenants to convert the building to a limited-equity cooperative. More than 80 percent of tenants have signed the petition expressing their interest in becoming resident-owners of the building. As a part of this process, the property will also join the Bronx Community Land Trust, ensuring it remains permanently stable and affordable.
The successful transfer of 2201-05 Davidson is a case study in the need for a reformed Third Party Transfer program that addresses historic flaws and is focused on the most neglected buildings citywide. Council Member Sanchez’s legislation, the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act (Int. 1063), proposes a transformative set of reforms that would do just that – providing the City with the tools it needs to hold the worst landlords accountable and deliver safe living conditions for New Yorkers.
Local elected officials, advocates, and residents celebrated this extraordinary milestone at 2201-05 Davidson Avenue:
“The tenants of 2201-05 Davidson have achieved a hard-fought victory—after years of living in unacceptable conditions, they have now won the chance to take control of their own future through resident ownership,” said New York City Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Committee on Housing and Buildings. “The City has finally wrestled control of this property from its derelict owner, who amassed over $28 million in municipal arrears and left tenants to suffer with hundreds of active violations. For more than a decade, this building languished in neglect, but when I took office, I made it a priority to push the City to act. I am proud to have worked alongside tenant leaders and organizers to light a fire under City agencies, ensuring this ownership transfer became a reality. This success would not have been possible without the fierce determination of the tenants and the steadfast support of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and the Legal Aid Society,” she continued. "But our work does not end here. Thousands of buildings across our city remain in disrepair, with enforcement programs failing to hold bad landlords accountable. My legislation, the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act (Int. 1063), offers a bold solution—reforming the Third Party Transfer program to identify and rehabilitate the most distressed buildings, ensuring tenants have a path to responsible ownership. Let’s pass this bill and secure safe, dignified housing for all New Yorkers.”
“Tenants at Davidson Avenue organized for years under the weight of landlord neglect—and they never gave up. Their determination, combined with powerful organizing, public policy tools, and supportive elected partners made this victory possible. This is the future we’re building in the Bronx: one where responsible ownership means residents have the power to shape the fate of their homes and neighborhoods with dignity and stability,” said Sandra Lobo, Executive Director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.
Russell Crane, Staff Attorney in the Housing Justice Unit - Group Advocacy at The Legal Aid Society said, "We celebrate the transfer of 2201-05 Davidson Avenue through the TPT program—a major victory for the tenants we’ve represented for nearly a decade. This marks the end of years of neglect, including broken elevators, heat and water outages, and hazardous conditions. While tenants can now shape a better future, former owners David Kornitzer and Dov Guttman must still answer in court for their misconduct. On April 8th in Bronx Housing Court, we will present their record of contempt and push for legal consequences to deter similar landlords and compensate tenants."
“The transfer of this building to our interim ownership through the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program is an important step forward in providing a safe and healthy home for its residents.” said Salvatore D’Avola, executive director of Neighborhood Restore HDFC. “The residents have endured years of abuse and neglect by their former landlord, being subjected to dangerous living conditions. The only solution for putting 2201 Davidson Avenue on a positive path forward is through the City’s ability to foreclose and transfer title to responsible new ownership.” added Mr. D’Avola. “We thank Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, the Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Lemle & Wolff for their continued commitment to these residents.”
“Buildings should not have to reach such an extreme level of abandonment in order for tenants to have the opportunity to become owners,” said Arturo Miranda, a tenant of 2201-05 Davidson Ave for more than 20 years. “The Housing Rescue and Protection Act would reform the Third Party Transfer program to ensure that residents living in buildings with terrible conditions are passed on to responsible owners and do not have to struggle for a decade. We voted to incorporate our building into the Bronx Community Land Trust (CLT) to ensure our homes stay with us and our families, for generations to come. We need legislation like the Community Lands Act to ensure that CLTs are prioritized and given the funding they need so that more buildings and land are governed by residents. When land is incorporated into a CLT, we make sure that rents remain permanently affordable.”
“I am excited to be one step closer to co-owning my building,” said Dorothy Joseph, a tenant of 2201-05 Davidson Ave for 32 years. “It has been a long fight, and we have demonstrated time and again that we deserve a responsible owner. Today marks a milestone in our journey towards collective ownership of our building, and we are committed to a stable, sustainable, and affordable future not just for ourselves but for generations to come. We need a holistic approach to support residents to own our buildings and land, which the Housing Rescue and Protection Act, Community Land Act, and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act can provide.”
“I look forward to this next chapter of the building, which we now have the opportunity to take on as co-owners,” said Action Velasquez, tenant of 2201-05 Davidson Ave for 28 years. “Already, we have been co-managing our building, proving ourselves to be more responsible caretakers than our previous landlord. I am confident that together with our partners, we will be able to make this a reality, and be an example of how tenant ownership can stabilize buildings and protect affordability in New York City.”
###
