Williamsburg, NY – A hipster hotel that occupies part of a converted loft building in Williamsburg has become such a crash pad that some renters are moving out.
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Tenants of a six-story building on Driggs Avenue and S. Fifth Street are accusing the operators of Hotel Toshi of creating a nuisance by allowing their transient guests to throw rowdy late-night parties.
One tenant said she often feared for her safety when coming home late at night and is now negotiating with her landlord to break her one-year lease after two months.
“When I come home at 1 am by myself, I am thinking what if I get mugged in my own elevator?” said the tenant, who declined to give her name. “I shouldn’t be thinking these things.”
Others lambasted Hotel Toshi and the building’s owner, Shlomo Karpen, for keeping the building’s side door open, displacing tenant mail, renting rooms for private parties that have spilled into the hallway and lasted until 5 am.
Hotel Toshi President Robert Chan says that he has been responsive to the concerns of his guests and lease-holding tenants in the building. And he said that his staff has put a stop to parties that have gotten too loud or gone on too late.
“We have a 24-hour superintendent,” he said. “We serve the whole building. We clean the whole building. When I run a building, I think I do an OK job.”
Chan believes that his hotel is operating within the letter of the law, despite persistent charges to the contrary by his foes.
“We provide furnished rental apartments,” he said. “We’re not stuffing a bunch of people into one room, with barracks-style bunk beds [like other hostels in the neighborhood]. What we’re doing is completely legal and I believe we are in the right here.”
It is a question that the city has had difficulty answering.
Over the past few months, city officials have investigated dozens of illegal hostels and hotels, but confusion remains over what constitutes a legal business.
Last month, the city raided a commercial building on N. Sixth Street that contained two hostels. One was shuttered, but the other was allowed to remain open because it had the proper fire exits and sprinkler systems.
One city source told us that more raids are imminent, but another source, said that the Department of Housing and Preservation Development is “overwhelmed” by the proliferation of hostels and hotels throughout the city.
Some of those hotels are operating in commercial buildings, which is illegal. But it’s difficult for the city to crack down on hotels in residentially zoned buildings, thanks to a 2009 Appellate Court decision that ruled that a hotel is legal if a majority of single-room units in a building are leased to tenants for a period over 30 days a month.
That appears to be the case at 808 Driggs Ave., where fewer than 50 percent of the units are rented to visitors, while the majority is occupied by permanent residents. Still, the building’s lease-holding tenants are furious.
Two weeks ago about 20 of the building’s long-term renters met with Karpen to air their grievances.
According to one tenant, Karpen told them the hotel is making him more money than the leases, that it is here to stay, and if this was unacceptable, they could move out. Calls made to the landlord were unreturned.
One couple is taking the offer and is moving out after two months.
“We really loved this apartment. We thought we’d be here for five years. We definitely wanted to stay here,” said one tenant.
should they go where the black pepper grows… nobody needs the artists in our area
Shame!
Shlomo is a great guy and runs a class A operation. This is clearly a one sided story.
you never know who these “hipsters” are that are moving in. b”H, the Ribono Shel Oylam works in mysterious ways. we do not know if any of them are yidden. what if someone somehow would end up becoming a baal tshuva? what if this is The Aibeishter’s way of starting the proces of the ultimate redemption, ultimately. this is the time of aschalsa de’geula. be open. ztarich adam ladun es kulam bekaf zchus.
This is a twisted Story,
Fact:
Ths Building is all ways Clean.
The Public area are all ways empty
The Super intendent all way on premises
The owners would have an open line of communication
YES some can play loud music So what can the owner do, the Super intendent will go there to stop it.
ITS ALL ABOUT TRYING TO GET LOWER RENT.
THIS BROOKLYN PAPER IS LISTENING TO LESS THEN 5% OF THETENANTS
PLEASE WE WELCOME YOU ALL TO US AS HAPPY RESIDENTS
GOD BLESS AMERICA
I agree he can do anything he wants to increase revenue, as long as he is not violating any law or contract breach, but reb shlomo, what’s up with the hotel name???
He is a real serious yingerman and a great talmid choochom you will allways see him with a sefer
IMHO, as long as the LL gives the Tenant the option to break the lease, the LL is 100% right. It is not even a question. If the LL did not allow the Tenant to break the lease, I would have a problem with that
Really a bizarre story – hipsters complaining to the Hasid about other hipsters! Pot, Kettle, Black.
I’m familiar with the facts here, this article is not 99% false its 110% false! its unbelievable what tenants can do in New York City in order to extort money or discounts from their landlord, they just have to pick up the phone and call up any low life reporter and tell him some bogus story and they have now all the rights to stop paying rent and not have to work & they can just fool around all day and smoke crack!
Shlomo, if only 20% of people in busines would have been as honest as you this world would have been a better world!
These are the same hipsters which when they got to williamsburgh started harassing their jewish neighbors which where living there for decades before them . with their bike lanes (I.e. running over their kids. Crashing in to their cars and then taking off since they have no regulation and there’s no way to identify them.) And when they where done with that they went after their neighbors on the other side of the river with the helicopter rides and now that they got this done their back with something new. Bottom line is their just a bunch of spoiled kids complaining on anything and anybody and a huge problem for their neighbors bruchnyuse and begashmyuse
While S. 5th is technically Williamsburg, it is outside the Jewish neighborhood, and therefore NIMBY is not the issue. No one minds them there; where we do mind them, is in our neighborhood where it is impossible not to be nichshal in re-eiyois assirois on a daily basis. They don’t believe in clothing, and don’t believe in window shades, and act ke-Udom hurishon kodem ha-chet. Sure we can’t throw them out, but as American citizens we have a right, and as Yiden we have a duty to use every legal means to minimize their presence among us. As to the bike unshikenish, just yesterday a hipster on a bike not being able to ride on the side of the road (because of double parked cars) decided that he, not the cars, had the right of way and held up the cars waiting for his 3 speed bike to finally turn away. I decided not to let him defecate on us and sped up so as not to allow him to block us again. He was forced to make a short stop and he pointed at me the finger curse. I pulled up alongside him, opened my window, looked him in the eye and told him that he is in the wrong, that the cars have the right of way, not he. Hope he learned his lesson, but thousands of others still haven’t.
Clean???? HAHAHA This whole thing is a frustrating disaster. GOOD JOB ROBERT AND SHLOMO, you have proven yet again that heartless, cruel, dirty, money hungry people are rampant wherever one goes!
There is no mail being delivered, shoved on a stupid table for everyone to see. The elevator and hallways smell of beer. Loud annoying frat heads party there all night long! All Shlomo wants is money, typical!!! 24-hour superintendent??? “We serve the whole building” is a JOKE! This is completely illegal! Lower my rent? I don’t think so! I pay a lot of rent to AVOID this sort of abuse…and yet, it still isn’t enough money! Shame on you! This is suppose to be a home! Not a party pad! You don’t live there…what do YOU know!?
No. 8. He meant : ay vay .
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/DMANUAL/chapter11-manual.htm
“The rules of the road and right-of-way apply to, and protect, bicyclists, in-line skaters, and non-motorized scooters. You must yield the right-of-way to them just as you would to another vehicle. Bicyclists and in-line skaters must obey the rules of the road, just as vehicle drivers do.”
As crazy as it may seem, you have to yeild to bycyclists. There’s your verse, now try obeying the law.
Its also common courtesy to leave a note for cars that you bump into when you park your cars. I’ve seen too many of my neighbors bounce in between cars while trying to fit there minibus/caravan between two cars. I mean, I’m just saying…
I can’t speak to the bicyclist’s knowledge of traffic law; However, the bicyclists that I know are very well versed in traffic law in order to maintain the safety of other motorists and peds, primarily, as well as avoid regular conflict with motorists.
The law is a matter of public safety first and foremost as selfish as the impediment to motor traffic may have come across. The research is out there to justify the bicyclists’ use of a full lane. There is also research that demonstrates that delays created by full-lane use by bicyclists are not statistically significant. Bicyclists and pedestrians are hit and killed every day in this country, because their right-of-way is not respected or understood by motorists. Gentile motorists in my neighborhood feel the same outrage that you express; However, in this instance they are frustrated with jews walking to shul en masse, obstructing their turning lanes at intersections, cross the street, etc.
Finally, as a U.S. citizen, the burden is in your court to become familiarized with current laws both federal, state, and municipal. Ignorantia juris non excusat.
Also, your speculation that bicyclists are prohibited from freeways, thruways, highways, interstates, etc. is indeed correct. Use of these aforementioned roadways is also prohibited for pedestrians. If you ever see a bicyclist on the freeway, please inform the authorities immediately in order to protect the personal safety of the bicyclist and the motorists.
Disclaimer: I am not attempting to excuse uncivil behavior (e.g. flipping the bird) by anyone. I am just trying to promote lawful and scientifically-proven measures for the preservation of public safety. Thanks.
Have a safe and restful sabbath,
David